The Swan Districts Round 2 Wrap-Up

Round 2 saw all six of our teams play Claremont away at Revo Fitness Stadium over the weekend.

While it wasn’t the result we wanted for five of our sides, the women’s Reserves were able to notch their first win of the season.

Check out the breakdown of each game below…

WAFL Colts

It was a tough day at the office for our Colts team who went down to an in-form Tigers outfit; 18.13 (121) to 5.4 (34).

Claremont started quickly, kicking the first two goals of the game in as many minutes.

Held scoreless in the first quarter, it was a struggle for our young Swans to get the ball forward of their centre-line, with the Tigers pressure on the ball an obvious focus.

Going into the second, the black ducks intent improved dramatically, with their first goal coming early in the quarter, after a great tackle from Luke Taylor caught his opponent holding the ball around 35 metres from goal.

Moving the ball by hand over 70% of the time in the first half started to prove costly, with simple turnovers often resulting in numerous scoring shots for the opposition.

After the main break, the Swans intensity in hunting the footy was still high, but were unable to make an impact in front of goal.

Zane Trew and Ayden Cartwright finished the day with 31 disposals each, and were voted the best two players on ground respectively, with Kade Screaigh rounding out the top three.

Colts coach, Simon Bergin, said there were a lot of positives signs out of the game, with opportunities to improve in a number of different areas.

“Our first efforts at the ball were really good” he said. “It’s our second and third and fourth efforts for longer periods of time that we need to focus on, especially against the bigger bodies.”

“Across passages of play when we were trying to move the ball from back to forward, we overused the handball and got caught out. The boys couldn’t adjust quickly enough to kicking the ball and just getting it forward.

“There were still some really pleasing signs, regardless of what it said on the scoreboard.”

WAFL Reserves

The Reserves came up against last year’s Grand Finalists and had a strong start to the game, with the Swans taking a 13 point lead into quarter time.

There was plenty of feeling in the game during the second quarter, with tensions boiling over as the half time siren sounded, with a large melee starting in the middle of the ground and lasting a few minutes.

In what was expected to be a vengeful second half, the black ducks were able to put it behind them as they fought back to regain a 10 point lead going into the final term.

After kicking the first goal of the fourth quarter, the ball then spent the majority of the time in Claremont’s forward 50, seeing the Tigers kick nine behinds, before hitting the lead with less than two minutes to go.

In a controversial finish, the siren sounded four seconds early with the ball deep in the Swans forward pocket, as they went down; 10.19 (79) to 11.8 (74).

WAFL League

The League side came up against a very confident Tigers outfit, having knocked off 2019 Premiers, Subiaco, last weekend.

In a physical first quarter that saw the game start with a lot of feeling, it was Claremont who hit the scoreboard first.

With the Swans dominating the inside 50’s, they couldn’t capitalise on their efforts with the Tigers defence consistently running the ball out of the backline. Leigh Kohlmann proved strong in attack, grabbing two big marks and kicking truly to see his side down by just a goal at quarter time.

The second term saw teams trading goals, with the black ducks struggling to put on scoreboard pressure as they continued to spend the majority of the quarter inside their forward half. A couple of quick goals from turnovers kept Claremont in front at the main break.

The third proved to be a disappointing one for the Swans, with the Tigers taking control of the ball in attack, keeping the side goalless for the entire quarter.

The defensive six stood strong in the final half, but with the ball coming in quickly, it was difficult to stop the opposition scoring, as they ran over the top of the black and whites; 13.7 (85) to 7.6 (48)

After a particularly strong first half in attack, league coach Adam Pickering, said it would have been nice to have seen more reward for his sides efforts, with the third quarter proving to be costly for them.

“I felt in terms of our KPI’s throughout the day, especially the first half, we were on top and we should have been in front” he said.

“I think the difference between the two teams is they’re a lot more mature. We’ve got probably 15 guys that have played a total of 160 games between them.

“Our guys, I can’t question their effort or their endeavour. I thought they were terrific, but there was little moments in the game where a fumble cost us a goal, or a missed handball cost us a goal, or we’d go inside 50 and instead of hitting a target, it drops short.

“Apart from our top echelon with (Tony) Notte, (Matt) Riggio, (Alex) Howard, (Corey) Gault and even Jess Turner, the rest of them are really young and they’re still learning their craft and they’re going to make mistakes.

“I think that’s been the difference the last two weeks against some more senior sides, in terms of experience. Our guys are making some fundamental errors and the opposition are capitalising.

“We need to be better than that. We need to improve. We need these guys to work at their craft week in, week out, and make sure that we’re getting better.

“I think the future is bright. I think we’re on the right path in terms of the way we want to play, the people we’ve got here and the culture is building.

“We just need to build a winning culture as well to give some reward for the effort these guys are putting in.”

WAFLW Rogers Cup

A much stronger showing this week from the youth girls saw them applying pressure around the ground and improving their efforts significantly, before going down 7.4 (46) to 2.3 (15).

In a horrible incident in the final minutes of the game, Jorjina Kean (who was later judged as best on ground) was taken from the ground in an Ambulance, after suffering a nasty ankle injury.  

WAFLW Reserves

It was a nail biting finish to the game for our Reserves women, who won their first game of the season with a tight 3.10 (28) to 5.2 (32) victory.

A strong first half saw them in attack for the majority of it, with Claremont only scoring in a few minutes of lapsed concentration and pressure.

The third quarter saw Claremont take the game on their terms, locking the ball inside their forward half of the ground. The Tigers inaccuracy in front of goal, due mostly to the defensive pressure, kept the Swans girls in it, with scores tied going into the final term.

A hard-fought slog in the final term saw the black and whites hit the lead late in the fourth. Enter Lexi Chapman… who with only 20 seconds left on the clock and the ball deep in defence, came up with a game saving smother and tackle, holding the game up for long enough for the final whistle to sound.

WAFLW League

Swan Districts vs Claremont is an important game on the WAFLW league calendar, for more reasons than just footy. Teams play for the Dhara Kerr Memorial Cup, to honour one of the best female players throughout the early 90’s, the late Dhara Kerr, who won almost every football award imaginable before losing her life to a long battle with mental illness.

The Swans women kicked the first goal of the game in the first minute of play, and looked sharp early. Claremont immediately settled into their style of game play, with a constant sweeper behind the ball allowing quick outlets around each stoppage, catching our girl’s off-guard.

With the defence under constant pressure, the black ducks score remained at a solitary goal, as the half time siren sounded.

The third quarter saw a very different Swans team take to the park, tackling strongly and applying greater pressure around the ball. Two quick goals saw them get within just a couple of kicks before their opponents capitalised late to retain a healthy lead going into the fourth.

With the game slipping away, it was Shanae Davison who provided the highlight of the game, rising from the back of the pack to take what will arguably be voted as the mark of the year.

As the final siren sounded and for the first time in five seasons, it was Claremont’s turn to take back the Dhara Kerr Memorial Cup, with an 8.8 (56) to 5.5 (35) victory.

Interim coach, Jo Taylor said she was really impressed with the girl’s resilience and solidarity, with a lot of positives to be taken from the game.

“Claremont are a good team” she said.

“It was really good for us to get some midfield time into some of our players, like Bri and Mikayla Hyde, who usually don’t play through there. It gives us some really good depth moving forward.

“Our backline worked really well together and I was so proud that the whole team kept fighting until the final siren, after going through quite a tough week this week.

“There are things we need to fix, but I certainly can’t fault their effort.”

Make sure you turn Steel Blue Oval into a sea of black and white this weekend, with all six teams hosting the Subiaco Lions at home.

Saturday 1^st August

Reserves (Men’s)             9:30am

League (Men’s)                 12:40pm

League (Women’s)          3:10pm

Sunday 2^nd August

Rogers Cup (Women’s) 10:15am

Reserves (Women’s)      12noon

Colts (Men’s)                     2pm