Swans come up short against the Lions

KICKING just the one goal in the first half was never going to be enough for Swan Districts against Subiaco on Saturday at Leederville Oval, but to Swans' credit, they continued to fight and ended up outscoring the Lions in the second half.

Swan Districts were coming into the clash with Subiaco on a high coming off a drought breaking win against the West Coast Eagles last Saturday at Steel Blue Oval.

But taking on Subiaco was a whole other thing with the Lions having locked away a fifth consecutive minor premiership. Then the Lions kicked 10 goals to one in the first half on Saturday at Leederville Oval to set up the eventual 62-point victory.

However, to the credit of Swan Districts, they didn’t give up fighting and ended up kicking six goals to five in the second half to show some encouraging signs despite the Lions ending up winning 15.16 (106) to 7.2 (44).

Dylan Smith and Nathan Ireland kicked two goals apiece for Swan Districts with both showing encouraging signs for the future of what they are capable of.

George Hampson continued to fight hard against the odds for Swans to finish the afternoon with another 28 possessions, four marks and two tackles.

Warrick Wilson maintained his good form too with 25 possessions while Jesse Turner picked up 24 disposals, Matt Riggio 23, Jackson Beck 20, Josh Cipro 19, Aidan Clarke 18, Tony Notte 17 and Mitch Howlett 17.

Nathan Blakely also found some good touch in the ruck again with 17 possessions, six marks, three tackles and 41 hit outs.

It was always going to be a potential mismatch with the top placed Subiaco hosting the wooden spoon bound Swan Districts, and that's how the game panned out in the first half as Subiaco set up the eventual 15.16 (106) to 7.2 (44) victory.

Subiaco dominated from the opening of the contest even if their first four scoring shots were behinds. Eventually they found the target with Ryan Borchet and Rhys Waters kicking goals before Swans opened their account with a Tony Notte behind.

Bailey Matera then kicked another goal for the Lions before Swans kicked a goal just before three quarter-time thanks to Aidan Clarke.

The Lions then really dominated the second quarter with Swans not managing a single score. Subiaco would go on to kick seven goals with Ben Sokol booting four of them with Ryan Vermeersch adding two and Harry Marsh the other to see the Lions up by 63 points at the main break.

Swan Districts, though, fought hard in the second half and that included third quarter goals to Nathan Ireland, Josh Cipro and Dylan Smith even though Borchet and Waters finished the term with goals for the Lions to keep the margin at 59 points.

Sokol then kicked his sixth goal to open the last quarter and Max Walters also added another to make it 71 points. But goals for Swans to Nathan Ireland and Dylan Smith means the black-and-whites remained competitive.

Mitch Howlett kicked the last goal of the game as well for Swans to cut Subiaco's winning margin to 62 points.

Swan Districts now looks locked into bottom position unless they win their last two matches against Peel Thunder and Claremont while hoping one of East Fremantle or East Perth lose their last two games.

The reserves clash at Leederville Oval turned out to be a thrilling affair with Subiaco ending up prevailing 9.12 (66) to 8.6 (54).

Leigh Kohlmann kicked another three goals for Swan Districts while Jak Watson collected 25 possessions, Denzel More 24, Patrick Italiano 23, Jiah Reidy 21 and ruckman Matthew Germs 17 to go with 29  hit outs.

Meanwhile, the Swan Districts and Subiaco colts travelled to Kalgoorlie to do battle on Saturday evening with the Lions ending up beating Swans 12.8 (80) to 8.8 (56).

Thomas Edwards kicked four goals for Swan Districts with singles to Kade Wallrodt, Jamison Ugle, Ryan Letessier and Jermarl Daly.

Jehb O'Donohue, Max Chipper and Thomas Edwards were among the better performers for Swan Districts.

SWAN DISTRICTS        1.1    1.1    4.2    7.2    (44)
SUBIACO            3.6    10.10    12.13    15.16    (106)

SWAN DISTRICTS – Goals: Smith, Ireland 2; Cipro, Howlett, Clarke.
Best: Hampson, Blakely, Wilson, Beck, Turner, Cipro, Clarke.
SUBIACO – Goals: Sokol 6; Waters, Borchet, Vermeersch 2; Marsh, Walters, Matera.
Best: Horsley, Kitchin, Sokol, Delahunty, Waters, Edwards-Baldwin, Clark.