Swans break duck with big win over Falcons

SWAN Districts had gone close in the opening three games of the season and it all came together on Saturday at Joondalup Arena with the Black Ducks beating West Perth impressively by 44 points.

With Corey Gault standing tall booting five goals and George Hampson producing a best on ground performance, Swan Districts delivered an impressive display for the first win of the season on the back of three narrow losses to South Fremantle, East Perth and Perth.

Corey Gault spent more time in attack than the ruck for Swan Districts and it paid dividends with the 2017 Swan Medallist kicking five goals from 18 possessions and six marks.

George Hampson was also brilliant for Swans with 31 disposals and three goals while Leigh Kohlmann kicked another two goals and so did Jesse Turner along with gathering 26 disposals.

Matt Riggio also picked up 25 disposals for the Black Ducks, Nathan Blakely 24 (26 hit outs), Steven Payne 19 and Josh Cipro 18.

Both teams came into the Round 4 clash having yet to taste the winning feeling in 2019 so that was going to change for one of them on Saturday for the sixth straight time to commemorate ANZAC Day.

Swans had only lost their opening three games by a combined 25 points and they went on to start the game well on Saturday at Joondalup Arena with the opening four goals thanks to Josh Cipro, Jesse Turner, Alex Howard and Corey Gault.

West Perth eventually got a goal on the board thanks to small forward Keegan Knott and then another to gun veteran Andrew Strijk, but Gault booted a second for the Black Ducks as the visitors led by 21 points at quarter-time.

Gault's hot start continued into the second quarter when added a third goal to put Swans  up by 26 points before Knott booted his second for West Perth.

And the Falcons did have a better second quarter to close Swans' lead to just 16 points at half-time.

Swan Districts pulled away once more, though, to start the second half with goals to Leigh Kohlmann and then Gault with his fourth major.

West Perth did manage a couple of their own goals before three quarter-time but Swan Districts was still on top leading by 32 points.

The Black Ducks booted another five goals to three in the last quarter to open their account for the season as they ran out 16.12 (108) to 10.4 (64) winners.

The reserves contest started proceedings on Saturday at Joondalup Arena with West Perth beating Swan Districts 14.14 (98) to 7.6 (48).

Jackson Slater collected 25 possessions for the Black Ducks, Mitchell Bain 24, Freddie Clutterbuck 23, Patrick Italiano 23, Mitch Howlett 21, Jacob Coniglio 20, Brayden Hackett 19 and Albert Dean 18.

Swan Districts' colts continued its perfect start to the 2019 season making it four straight wins with a 17-point win over West Perth at Joondalup Arena on Saturday evening.

The colts contest at Joondalup Arena began at 5pm following the league clash with Swan Districts looking to continue its perfect start to the 2019 season under new coach Simon Bergin.

Swans did start the game with six scoring shots to four in the first quarter, but the Falcons took their chances better and that saw the home team lead by three points at quarter-time.

It was then two goals apiece in the second term with West Perth still clinging to a four-point lead at half-time.

West Perth was then able to maintain its slight advantage to still lead by four points at three quarter-time. But Swan Districts delivered three goals to no score in the final term to win 11.9 (75) to 9.4 (58).

Ethan Nordahl continued his impressive start to the season for Swan Districts with two goals to go with 31 possessions, five inside 50s, three marks and three tackles.

Jack Allen also kicked two goals to go with 20 disposals and 11 marks for the Black Ducks while Ben Taylor and Bodhi Nordahl also booted two majors.

Brenton Hilton also racked up 25 possessions for Swan Districts, Jak Watson 22, Seb Bright 22 (11 tackles), Brock Fisher 21, Jack Allen 20 (11 marks), Hudson Babich 19, Atem Deng 18, Dylan Brockbernd 17 and Ben Hewett 16.

Ryan Letessier did well in the ruck as well with 13 touches and 22 hit outs.

Swan Districts' last game now before the State game against South Australia takes place this Saturday at Steel Blue Oval against Subiaco.

SWAN DISTRICTS        5.3    7.6    11.11    16.12    (108)
WEST PERTH            2.0    5.2    7.3    10.4    (64)

SWAN DISTRICTS – Goals: Gault 5; Hampson 3; Kohlmann, Turner 2; Cipro, Riggio, Howard, Maguire.
Best: Hampson, Gault, Blakely, Turner, Riggio, Cipro, Payne.
WEST PERTH – Goals: Strijk 4; Lourey 3; Knott 2; Keitel.
Best: Strijk, Black, Chalmers, Nelson, Peirce, Wilhelm.