Round 7 WAFL Match Report v Subiaco

Despite the stunning return of Aidan Clarke and another afternoon full of positives, it was a fifth heartbreaking loss already of the WAFL season for Swan Districts on Saturday against Subiaco.

Swan Districts made a spectacular start to the game at Leederville Oval on Saturday with the WAFL season resuming following last week's State game break.

Swans kicked the first three goals of the game to lead by 20 points quickly and it was the returning Aidan Clarke at the centre of everything.

However, in the end Subiaco was able to overrun the black-and-whites to nab the 8.9 (57) to 7.11 (53) victory.

For Swan Districts, they are now 1-6 on the season but five of the losses have now all been by seven points or less.

Swan Districts made the best possible start once again chasing that second win of the season with Aidan Clarke on fire on his return from injury. He picked up right where he left off to start the season by dominating through the middle early in the game and kicking the first goal after just two minutes.

Greg Ottaviano added another goal soon after and when Clarke added a second goal at the 20-minute mark, Swans were leading by 20 points and had held the Lions scoreless up until that point.

Eventually Subiaco got its first score of the game and that was a goal to young small forward Koltyn Tholstrup at the 21-minute mark.

Swan Districts were still in control leading by 14 points at quarter-time but Subiaco was working back into the game through the middle on the back of Zac Clarke's work in the ruck, and got the first goal of the second term from Corey Hitchcock.

Jesse Palmer kicked the lone goal of the quarter soon after for Swans with a nice finish from the pocket around his body with his first kick of the day. However, Subiaco got one back through Jack Mayo to cut the lead for the black-and-whites to 12 points at half-time.

Ben Sokol kicked his first goal of the game in a fascinating match up with Tobe Watson for the opening goal of the second half too and when Stefan Giro added another for the Lions, they were in front for the first time in the game.

Jiah Reidy ensured that didn’t last for long when he restored the Swan Districts lead and then Jarvis Pina extended that to ensure the visitors were leading by nine points at three quarter-time still.

However, the story of the season for Swans is becoming being overrun in fourth quarters and that again was the case on Saturday with Subiaco kicking three goals to one in the last term.

All three came inside the first 10 minutes to Ryan Borchet, Max Walters and Sokol to end up being enough for Subiaco to secure the four-point win.

Aidan Clarke had a spectacular start to the game for Swan Districts with two early goals and the majority of his 31 possessions, seven inside 50s and five marks for the game came in the first half in his return game after injuring a hamstring back in Round 2.

Jarvis Pina collected another 23 possessions off half-back for Swans with Jackson McLachlan picking up 22 touches, Josh Cipro 19, Tobe Watson 18, Jehb O'Donohue 16 and Lachlan Riley 16. O'Donohue also ran with Stefan Giro for the day and limited him to 14 possessions.

To start the day at Leederville Oval, Round 7 of the Colts saw Subiaco beat Swan Districts 9.12 (66) to 10.5 (65) in a thriller.

Anthony Hansen and Lewis Zolnier-Owens kicked three goals each for Swans while Jack Saunders picked up 25 touches, Josh McElwee 20 and James Sullivan 18 to go with seven tackles and two goals.

Swan Districts defeated Subiaco 12.7 (79) to 9.6 (60) in the Reserves at Leederville Oval.

Jack Cox kicked four goals for Swan Districts and Frank Anderson and Ben Hewett two apiece. Max Chipper collected 26 disposals, Lawson Humphries 24, Mitch Bain 21, Tarir Bayok 21 and Ayden Cartwright 20.