WAFL Round 10 Match Report

Swan Districts produced a scintillating second half even without their senior coach on Saturday to beat Subiaco by 51 points at Steel Blue Oval.

The odds were right against Swan Districts with them coming into the game with senior coach Adam Pickering sidelined through COVID with Andrew Pruyn taking charge in his absence.

Subiaco has also dominated Swans for a long time including having won 13 of the last 14 meetings between the two teams, and then the Lions were still a point up at half-time on Saturday.

From there, Swan Districts kicked the only six goals of the third quarter and 10 goals to two in the second half to end up winning 16.8 (104) to 7.11 (53).

It was a tremendous performance from Swans to see them improve to a 6-4 record on the season to return to fifth position ahead of the Round 11 bye.

Swan Districts co-captain Jesse Turner was playing his 111th match and he had the afternoon of his life finishing with 47 possessions, nine marks, four inside-50 entries and a goal.

Jesse Palmer and Tom Edwards both kicked three goals in the win for Swans while Sam Fisher and Ryan Kemp added two goals apiece as well.

Fisher also racked up 29 disposals to go with his two goals with Tobe Watson also finishing with 28 touches, Aidan Clarke 25, Josh Cipro 24, Brandon Erceg 24, Kemp 20, Jarvis Pina 19 and Tony Notte 19.

It was an ominous start to the contest with Ryan Borchet kicking a goal for Subiaco to continue his impressive form while the Lions would have been confident of continuing their dominance of Swan Districts on the back of it.

Swans were able to steady, though, and got the next goal of the game courtesy of Seb Bright and the trading of goals continued leading into quarter-time with Jesse Palmer booting a couple for the home team, and Ben Sokol and Max Walters combining for the two for the Lions.

Subiaco clung to a narrow one-point lead at quarter-time and then the Lions went further ahead to start the second term with a goal to the in-form Liam Hickmott.

It remained a tight contest, though, with Swans back within three points with a goal to Ryan Kemp before co-captain Jesse Turner added a goal to what was turning out to be a remarkable afternoon for him.

Sam Fisher then added another for the black-and-whites to put the home team up by seven points but it was Subiaco still up by a point at the long break following a late goal to Sokol.

It had been a tremendously competitive first half but it was all Swan Districts coming out of the break and that started instantly from the first bounce when Palmer kicked a goal to regain Swans' lead.

A few minutes later and Josh Cipro kicked truly before Chris Jones put Swans 17 points in front and then Lachlan Riley made it a 23-point lead just 16 minutes into the third quarter.

Two more goals for Swan Districts to close the third quarter from Tobe Watson and Tom Edwards saw Swans turn that one-point deficit into a 37-point lead having held the Lions scoreless for the term.

Borchet did open the fourth quarter by kicking his second goal to give Subiaco its first score of the half, but it mattered little with Swan Districts going on to kick four of the game's last five goals to win emphatically and impressively 16.8 (104) to 7.11 (53).

The day began at Steel Blue Oval on Saturday with the colts match up where Subiaco beat Swan Districts 15.8 (98) to 6.7 (43).

Brayden Jones and Brodyn Fitzgerald kicked two goals apiece for Swans while Evan Smith was tremendous in the ruck with 19 possessions and 33 hit outs.

Subiaco then also beat Swan Districts in the reserves match up 9.9 (63) to 8.7 (55).

Jaxon White kicked two goals for Swans with Max Chipper collecting 26 touches, Tarir Bayok 24, Greg Ottaviano 20, Ben Hewett 18 and Brenton Hilton 17.

The WAFL will have a general bye this coming weekend before Swan Districts plays host to Perth on Saturday July 9 at Steel Blue Oval for NAIDOC round.