WAFL Round 6 Match Report

Swan Districts put together a tremendous three quarters at Steel Blue Oval on Saturday but then conceded the only five goals to Claremont in the last quarter to lose in heartbreaking fashion.

Despite coming into the contest missing a string of key players and taking on a Tigers team sitting on top of the WAFL ladder, Swans came out on fire back at the Bassendean venue on Saturday afternoon.

Still by three quarter-time and Swan Districts were on top of Claremont by 29 points, but the Tigers then kicked the only five goals of the final term to snatch the 11.9 (75) to 10.13 (73) victory over Swans.

Despite the heartbreaking nature of the loss, there was plenty to like in the performance from Swans especially considering the absence of co-captain Chris Jones, key defender Will Collins and standout midfield trio Aidan Clarke, Frank Anderson and Sam Fisher.

Swan Districts made a blistering start while hunting a second win of the season despite being shorthanded up against the league-leaders. It took just 10 minutes for Swans to already have three goals on the board thanks to Jehb O'Donohue, Tom Edwards and Nathan Ireland.

Brayden Noble soon added another and Swan Districts had the first four goals of the contest before Claremont got on the board courtesy of small forward Zac Mainwaring at the 17-minute mark.

Swans weren’t going to let up the momentum, though and Jesse Palmer added their fifth goal, and then O'Donohue capped off his stunning first quarter while running with Jye Bolton with a second and third goal.

That saw the Swans' lead grow to 37 points but Claremont was able to keep in touch with two late goals to Jack Buller.

While the two teams combined for 10 goals in the first quarter, it took more than 13 minutes in the second term for either team to find the major opening. That came courtesy of Palmer for Swans to push the lead back out to 32 points.

Claremont got one back thanks to Mainwaring but Swans closed the half with Palmer's third goal and that saw the home team remaining in control leading by 32 points.

Swan Districts looked set to be cruising to the upset victory when starting the second half with another goal to Edwards. That put the onus back on Claremont to respond and the Tigers did, building on the confidence from their comeback win last week against East Perth.

Claremont did respond with two quick goals from Talon Delacey and Max Minear, but couldn’t build any momentum and Swans missed the chance to put the game to bed by kicking four successive behinds to close the third quarter.

Swans were still leading by 29 points at three quarter-time but the Tigers came out an inspired outfit and it took only 15 seconds into the last term for a goal to Delacey.

Claremont had the belief of being able to overrun Swans and Mainwaring's third goal brought the margin back to 16 points and then another to Bolton at the eight-minute mark made it 10.

Eventually another to Delacey at the 20-minute mark and the Tigers were within three points and it was Callan England who kicked the winner.

Jehb O'Donohue had a fascinating afternoon for Swan Districts where he was given the task of running with Jye Bolton for most of the game. He ended up kicking three first quarter goals and 17 possessions for the day.

Jesse Palmer also continued his impressive form for Swans with another three goals from just four kicks while Tom Edwards added two goals.

Jesse Turner maintained his first-rate form in the midfield for Swan Districts with 30 possessions and nine inside-50 entries while Jarvis Pina gathered 21 disposals, Josh Cipro 20, Greg Ottaviano, Jackson McLachlan 19 and Nathan Blakeley 19 in the ruck along with 15 hit outs.

Captain Brandon Erceg had another 16 possessions and five marks while limiting Max Minear to five kicks, two marks and one goal.

In Round 6 of the Reserves, Swan Districts defeated Claremont 14.17 (101) to 5.9 (39) with Kristian Caporn kicking five goals for Swans, Jack Cox two and Adam Brock two. Ayden Cartwright amassed 34 possessions to go with 13 inside-50 entries and 12 marks.

Jacob Sideris also collected 27 touches, Lawson Humphries 25, Bailey Jenkin 22, Lewis Tester 19 and Matthew Germs 18 to go with 24 hit outs and a goal.

Claremont's colts defeated Swan Districts 8.8 (56) to 6.7 (43). Lewis Zolnier-Owens kicked three goals for Swan Districts and Evan Smith two who also had 20 possessions, 11 hit outs and eight marks. Tom Cathcart finished with 27 touches and Luke Kelly 25 to go with 11 tackles and a goal.