Swans Slip From Top Five With Loss To Royals

SWAN Districts has slipped out of the WAFL top five following a fifth straight loss at the hands of East Perth on Saturday at Steel Blue Oval in what was the final appearance of Todd Banfield.

Swan Districts and East Perth both did battle at Steel Blue Oval with both teams on significant losing runs but with the knowledge that the winner would take a significant step towards taking part in the finals in the WAFL in 2018.

Swans had lost four matches in-a-row since beating East Perth in Leederville Oval back in Round 8 and then Perth a week later while the Royals hadn’t tasted victory since prior to the State game break, losing six games in succession after being 4-1 at that stage.

So the stakes were high coming into Saturday's clash at Bassendean and it was the Royals who made the impressive statement with a dominant performance.

East Perth kicked seven goals to two in the first quarter and still led by 32 points at half-time. They kicked another six goals to nil in the third quarter on the way to the emphatic 18.7 (115) to 8.6 (54) win.

The victory improves East Perth to fifth position on the ladder with a 5-7 record while Swan Districts has now lost five in-a-row to be 5-8 and now sit outside a finals spot.

Matthew Rogers and Corey Gault kicked two goals apiece for Swan Districts with Gault also having 16 disposals, eight hit outs and seven marks.

Jesse Turner continued his good form for Swans with another 29 possessions while Matt Riggio had it 26 times, Tobe Watson 24, Freddie Clutterbuck 21, Rhys Palmer 20 and Steven Payne 19.

Tony Notte battled hard against the odds for 19 possessions, six tackles, four marks and a goal.

Todd Banfield also announced that it would be the 65th and last WAFL game of his career at Swan Districts. He had 10 disposals in his final appearance.

East Perth was coming off the bye and with the combination of wanting to end a six-game losing run and players trying to impress for West Coast, the Royals started brightly with the opening two goals thanks to Jack Petruccelle and Luke Partington.

Swan Districts did get on the board at the 10-minute mark with a goal to big man Corey Gault. But the Royals were on song and responded quickly with two goals to Josh Rotham and Nathan Blee before Swans did manage to add a second from William Reidy.

East Perth finished the opening term with goals to Will Maginness and then two to Liam Ryan, though, to have seven on the board by quarter-time to hold a 31-point advantage.

It was then just two goals apiece in the second quarter with the conditions at their most challenging as they would be for the afternoon with East Perth entering the main break up by 32 points.

The Royals were anything but done from there with the visitors piling on six unanswered goals in the third quarter thanks to Petruccelle, Brendon Ah Chee, Nathan Vardy, Dom Sheed, Maginness and then Hamish Brayshaw to hold a dominant 72-point lead by three quarter-time.

Swan Districts did come out and kick three quick goals to Adam Faulkner, Matthew Rogers and Tony Notte to start the last quarter, but it mattered little with East Perth cruising to the 61-point win to see them replace Swans in the top five following 15 rounds of the 2018 season.

Swan Districts' reserves pulled off another nail-biting victory for the second time in three weeks recovering from a goalless opening quarter to end up beating East Perth by a point.

East Perth's reserves started strongly kicking the only four goals of the first quarter and the Royals were still in control leading by 18 points at half-time and still 18 at the last change.

But in the final term it was all Swan Districts with the home team kicking the only three goals to end up winning 9.8 (62) to 8.13 (61).

Steven Wityk kicked three goals from seven kicks and four marks for Swan Districts with Taryce Stewart also kicking two goals.

Ethan Maguire racked up 22 possessions for Swans, Mitchell Bain 19, Josh Cipro 18, Albert Dean 18 (nine tackles), Patrick Italiano 17 (eight tackles) and Jarrod Cameron 17.

The Swan Districts and East Perth colts played out a thrilling contest that was tight all morning at Steel Blue Oval with East Perth ending up winning by five points.

With Swan Districts fighting for a top two finish and East Perth attempting to keep in touch with the top five, there was plenty at stake for both teams as well and little separated them the whole way through.

Scores were tied at quarter-time before East Perth went in at half-time with a one-goal advantage over Swan Districts.

Swans then kicked two goals to one in the third quarter to have tied the scores once again by three quarter-time.

It set up a tense finish to the game and in the end East Perth had eight scoring shots to three for the quarter and while both teams kicked two goals each, that was enough for the Royals to end up winning 7.11 (53) to 7.6 (48).

Nathan Ireland kicked two goals for Swan Districts from five kicks and eight hit outs.

Brenton Hilton finished with 20 possessions, six tackles and five marks for Swans.

Patrick Farrant also gathered 19 disposals for the black-and-whites, Blake Pescud 16, Jackson Beck 16, Joe Hinder 15, Sebastian Bright 15 (13 tackles), Ethan Nordahl 14 and Malaki Rodoreda 14 (nine tackles.

Swan Districts will now attempt to snap its five-game losing slide this Saturday against a refreshed third placed West Perth at Joondalup Arena with the Falcons coming off the bye and a win against East Fremantle.

SWAN DISTRICTS                             2.0          4.0          4.1          8.6          (54)

EAST PERTH                                        7.1          9.2          15.7        18.7        (115)

SWAN DISTRICTS – Goals: Rogers, Gault 2; Faulkner, Riggio, Notte, Reidy.

Best: Turner, T Watson, Notte, Gault, Clutterbuck, Riggio, Rogers.

EAST PERTH – Goals: Ryan, Petruccelle 3; Maginness, Brayshaw, Ah Chee 2; Blee, Partington, Brander, Sheed, Rotham, Vardy.

Best: Sheed, Brayshaw, Vardy, Nelson, McGinnity, Petruccelle, Dobson.