So Close To Perfect Swans Day Against Tigers

IT was so close to the perfect afternoon at Steel Blue Oval on Saturday with the Swan Districts reserves and colts winning crucial games ahead of finals but Claremont snatched the league victory after the siren.

Swan Districts hosted Claremont in the final round of the 2018 season and that started with Swans' colts winning to end up locking away a finals second chance.

The day continued to go well for the black-and-whites with the reserves winning to earn a finals position as well before the league team put in their best performance in some time before being denied victory after the final siren.

Claremont had every reason to head to Steel Blue Oval feeling confident on Saturday in the form they had been in to have a finals position locked away and with Swan Districts struggling having won just one of its past nine matches.

But it was a significantly more motivated Swans' line-up who took it right up to the Tigers and at several times of the afternoon appeared to have a match-winning advantage.

That included the dying stages and the stakes were high for Claremont with a loss meaning that they would concede fourth position to East Perth and subsequently give up home ground advantage in the elimination final.

But Jye Bolton came up huge when he kicked a goal after the siren and that delivered Claremont the emotional and crucial 13.13 (91) to 13.8 (86) victory.

Swan Districts ends the season losing nine of its last 10 matches in eighth position with a 6-12 record.

While Swans had nothing but pride to play for and Claremont had a home elimination final riding on the result, it was the black-and-whites who threw the gauntlet down to the Tigers and were still in front when the siren sounded.

There were plenty of encouraging performances for Swan Districts too despite the disappointing finish to the season to miss out on finals. Jesse Turner again stood out and has continued to emerge into an elite WAFL midfielder this season with another 30 possessions, eight inside-50 entries, six marks, four tackles and a goal.

Swans' talls did well also led by Nathan Blakely with 23 possessions and 23 hit outs in the ruck supported by Corey Gault who finished the day with 18 disposals and 24 hit outs.

Then in attack, Brayden Noble kicked four goals form 18 possessions and 10 marks with Tony Notte also booting three majors from 13 disposals and six marks.

Brandon Erceg continued the best run of form of his career down back too to show he is someone worth persevering with moving forward for coach Adam Pickering.

Rhys Palmer also returned to rack up 25 possessions for Swans while Matt Riggio had 21 disposals, Albert Dean 20, Tobe Watson 18, Patrick Italiano 17, Ethan Maguire 17 and Steven Payne 17.

It was an exciting debut by 17-year-old Mitchell Bain who had 14 possessions, five tackles and a goal of the year contender where he ran almost 100m, took a host of bounces and kicked truly.

It took 13 minutes for the first goal of the game and that came the way of Swan Districts to Brayden Noble. That started an impressive opening for Swans with Jesse Turner goaling soon after as did Noble again to give the home team an early 19-point lead.

Claremont got one back through Tyron Smallwood just before quarter-time but Swan Districts still led by 12 points at the first break.

Tony Notte gave Swans the ideal start to the second term with an early goal and then after Tom Lee got one back for Claremont, Noble added two more to have four to his name already by the 11-minute mark of the second quarter with the black-and-whites leading by 24 points

Claremont did get another one back courtesy of captain Ian Richardson but Swan Districts moved further on top with Notte kicking his second and fellow co-captain David Ellard adding another.

Things were getting a little out of hand for the Tigers but they did manage the last two goals of the first half through Alex Manuel and Haydn Busher to be within 16 points at half-time.

It then took less than a minute into the second half for Lee to add his second for Claremont and when Tom Ledger kicked truly soon after the Tigers only trailed five points.

By the time Manuel added his second at the 22-minute mark, Claremont took a narrow lead but it wouldn’t last with Swans back on top by a goal at three quarter-time following a goal to Tobe Watson.

Three goals in the first 15 minutes of the last term for Manuel put Claremont on top, but Swan Districts stayed in touch with a stunning running goal by debutant Mitchell Bain.

Swans were then back on top courtesy of goals to veterans Notte and Riggio as they appeared set to finish their season on a high and deny Claremont a home elimination final in the process.

But Claremont had the last say with a pass from Manuel finding Jye Bolton who went back after the siren and kicked the goal from the 50m arc and kicked the Tigers into a home clash on Sunday against East Perth.

Swan Districts' reserves delivered a thrilling win of its own and it turned out being a crucial result against Claremont too to secure a finals berth.

To reach the finals, Swans' reserves needed to not only beat Claremont on Saturday but to also hope Perth lost to Subiaco and South Fremantle lost to East Fremantle.

Both the other results went their way, but they still needed to take care of business themselves and that was anything but easy with Claremont fighting to win to finish in second position.

The Tigers started strongly with three goals to one in the first quarter and still led by 16 points at half-time. But Swans turned it on in the second half with six goals to two in the third quarter, and then then managed to hold on and win 14.7 (91) to 12.13 (85).

That means Swan Districts finishes in fifth position at 9-9 ahead of an elimination final against West Perth on Saturday at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

Steven Wityk kicked four goals for Swan Districts, Taryce Stewart three, Adam Faulkner two and Josh Cipro two.

Jackson Slater amassed 32 possessions for Swans, Faulkner 28, Freddie Clutterbuck 26, Ben Holman 25, Jacob Coniglio 23, Chad Daniels 23 and Warrick Wilson 23.

Swan Districts came into the colts round in fourth position with the knowledge that a victory would leave the prospect of them snatching third alive while Claremont was out of the finals race for a rare occasion in the colts.

Swan Districts started strongly kicking the only two goals of the first quarter but Claremont had closed the deficit to just seven points by half-time.

Swans again held the Tigers goalless in the third quarter to lead by 19 points at three quarter-time and then extended the advantage in the last term to come away with the 10.8 (68) to 5.7 (37) victory.

The result meant that Swan Districts did improve to third position on the ladder but whether they stayed there or not would depend on what happened with East Fremantle the next day at Subiaco Oval.

When East Fremantle lost to South Fremantle, and the Sharks' percentage slipped below that of Swans, it meant Swan Districts remained in third position with a 10-8 record to set up a qualifying final contest with Peel Thunder and earn a finals double chance.

Atem Deng was tremendous for Swan Districts with 24 possessions and three goals with Patrick Farrant also kicking two goals as did Nathan Ireland.

Riley Garcia racked up 31 possessions for Swans, Blake Pescud 25, Graydon Wilson 23, Joel Curtis 22, Kade Wallrodt 22, Farrant 20 and Seb Bright 17.

Matthew Germs had 40 hit outs in the ruck.

SWAN DISTRICTS                             3.2          8.3          10.7        13.8        (86)

CLAREMONT                                      1.2          5.5          9.7          13.13     (91)

SWAN DISTRICTS – Goals: Noble 4; Notte 3; Ellard, Watson, Riggio, Turner, Dean, Bain.

Best: Turner, Blakely, Gault, Noble, Erceg, Palmer, Dean.

CLAREMONT – Goals: Manuel 5; Lee 2; Yu, Richardson, Bolton, Ledger, Busher, T Smallwood.

Best: Manuel, Bolton, Mitchell, Hardisty, Clark, Lim.