Swans deliver dominant performance at Lathlain

Swan Districts could very well have put together their best performance in Adam Pickering's time as coach to beat Perth by 50 points at Lathlain's Mineral Resources Park on Saturday night.

Perth was coming into the game after a Round 1 win over the West Coast Eagles on top of breaking their finals drought in 2020 while Swan Districts put in an encouraging performance against Claremont despite a first up loss on home turf last Saturday.

So the stage was set for a tantalising match up between the two teams but Swans blew the game wide open through the second and third quarters kicking eight goals to one during that period.

That saw Swan Districts open up a match-winning advantage before going on to win 14.15 (99) to 6.13 (49) impressively against Perth.

It was a dominant performance from Swans as they finished the game with 64 more disposals than the Demons along with 11 more inside-50 entries and 29 scoring shots to 19 on the way to the 50-point victory.

Finding avenues to goal has been a concern for Swan Districts in recent years but Jesse Palmer looks to be a definite answer after kicking another four goals. Matt Riggio also spent more time forward to kick four goals to go with 20 possessions and six tackles.

Reigning Sandover Medallist Sam Fisher delivered a monster showing for Swan Districts with 41 possessions, seven marks, seven inside-50 entries, six tackles and a goal.

Frank Anderson also racked up 31 disposals for the black-and-whites, Nelson Waite 29, Aidan Clarke 28 (14 marks), Jesse Turner 27, Josh Cipro 23, Jackson Beck 21, Brandon Erceg 20, Lachlan Riley 18 and ruckman Corey Gault 18 to go with 25 hit outs.

It was a Saturday evening battle at Lathlain with Perth looking to stay undefeated to start 2021 and Swan Districts trying to open its account, but it was Swans who started well with the game's opening goal courtesy of Jesse Palmer.

Perth had a few missed chances before getting their first goal to Jaiden Hunter. Matt Riggio put Swans back on top, Brent Edmonds responded for Perth and then Palmer's second goal of the first term helped the black-and-whites to a six-point advantage at quarter-time.

Swans then kicked away further in the second term with the only three goals thanks to Thomas Edwards, Riggio and Sam Fisher and they were in control with a 26-point lead by half-time.

Swan Districts then further put their foot down in the third quarter to open up a match-winning advantage by three quarter-time. Swans had kicked five goals to one in the quarter and were in a dominant position to be 53 points to the good heading into the fourth.

It was three goals apiece in the last term but the Demons couldn’t make any inroads and Swans were able to cruise to the impressive 50-point win under lights at Lathlain.

Earlier in the day, Swan Districts colts were even more dominant beating Perth 18.12 (120) to 2.6 (18).

Kobe Farmer, Luke Taylor and Tyrell Metcalf all kicked three goals for Swans, and Rhett Bazzo, Cristiano Paduano and Brayden Jones two while Max Chipper racked up 32 possessions, Noah Hannan 27, Ty Sears 24, Bailey Jenkin 20 and Darcy Jones 20.

And then in the Reserves, it was Perth narrowly defeating Swan Districts 10.10 (70) to 8.7 (55).

Kade Wallrodt and Tim Oosterhoff kicked two goals each for Swans with Jak Watson gathering 20 possessions, Jacob Sideris 20, Dylan Ralph 19, Denzel More 16 and Callum Garcia 16.

OPTUS WAFL PREMIERSHIP SEASON – ROUND 2

SWAN DISTRICTS                              3.4          6.7          11.12     14.15 (99)

PERTH                                                   2.4          2.5          3.7          6.13 (49)

SWAN DISTRICTS: Goals – Palmer, Riggio 4; Clarke, Fisher, Reidy, Edwards, Noble, Jones.

Best – Fisher, Anderson, Clarke, Riggio, Gault, Waite, Turner, Cipro.

PERTH: Goals – Reid 2; Langlands, Richardson, Edmonds, Hunter.

Best – Grey, Taylor, Edmonds, Masten, Nicholas, Davis.