Reserves Grand Final Match Report

Swan Districts have won a first Reserves premiership since 2006 holding out West Perth in a thriller on Sunday at Optus Stadium to win by three points.

On the back of winning their way into the Grand Final with a second semi-final win against West Perth, Swans were waiting for their opponents with the week off for the preliminary final and it turned out it was the Falcons they would be facing again.

Having been ambushed by Swan Districts early in the second semi-final, West Perth started the Grand Final strongly on Sunday morning at Optus Stadium with the only two goals of the opening term.

However, Swans were able to work back into the game and get on top from there to lead by as much as 14 points late in the third quarter, and hold on to score the 7.15 (57) to 8.6 (54) triumph.

It's a first Reserves premiership win for Swan Districts since Brian Dawson led them to the triumph in 2006 and now Greg Harding becomes a flag winning Reserves and Colts coach with the black-and-whites to go with the seven seasons he spent at League level.

Ben Hewett was judged best afield on the back of kicking two goals for Swan Districts to go with 20 touches, seven marks, seven tackles and six inside 50s to win the Merv McIntosh Medal.

Jack Cox threatened to be a match winner for Swans in the forward-line too with six scores from his seven kicks, but he managed to just convert two of those into goals.

Jiah Reidy showed all of his 64 games of WAFL experience to be terrific in the premiership win for Swan Districts with 24 possessions, eight marks, five inside-50 entries and three tackles.

Jacob Sideris ran hard all morning on the wing for 21 disposals too while Lewis Tester was superb down back for 19 possessions, six marks and six tackles. Will Collins (16 touches, five marks, four tackles) and Luke Taylor (11 disposals, seven marks) also held up well defensively.

Matthew Germs was strong in the ruck with 17 touches and 31 hit outs with Max Chipper also collecting 18 possessions, Brodyn Fitzgerald 18 and Prendergast Medallist Mitch Bain 17.

Swan Districts might have been the team who won the second semi-final and had the week off, but it was West Perth who came out ferocious in the Grand Final to dominate the opening quarter.

With Mark Hutchings, Kane Bevan and captain Luke Reilly setting things up through the middle, it was all West Perth in the first term and the first goal came at the six-minute mark through key forward Zak Patterson.

Jasper Scaife added another soon after but West Perth didn’t quite capitalise fully on the dominance with just the two goals in that first quarter to be leading by 13 points at quarter-time.

Swan Districts came out ready to work back into the contest in the second term and eventually Jack Cox did kick the first goal of the Grand Final for Swans at the four minute mark.

However, West Perth responded with the next two from Corey Rundle and Zarne Robis and suddenly it was threatening to blow out to a match-winning lead for the Falcons up by 18 points.

Swans had worked back on top in general play, though, but kicking straight was proving quite the challenge inside Optus Stadium.

Ben Hewett did manage a second goal for the black-and-whites but the Falcons responded through Scaife and that saw the minor premiers leading still by 11 points at the main break with Swan Districts left to stew over eight behinds for the second term.

It was a ferocious Swan Districts team that came out after half-time ready to start putting that ascendancy on the scoreboard and it was Cox who kicked a second goal of the game to get things rolling.

Henrick Alforque then added another to put Swans in front for the first time in the game. Tom Smith and Brodyn Fitzgerald added goals before three quarter-time as well and after holding West Perth scoreless, the black-and-whites were on top by 14 points.

It was West Perth's turn to respond and the Falcons did exactly that desperate to not lose consecutive Reserves Grand Finals. Callum Johnson kicked a long bomb to start the final term and then Reilly added another and suddenly it was a three-point ball game.

West Perth was then back in front when Logan Foley bombed one from 50m and the challenge was back on Swan Districts to respond.

It became a ferocious contest over the final 15 minutes with the premiership on the line and both teams had their chances, but it was a clever snap in congestion with his left foot from Merv McIntosh Medallist Hewett that put Swans back in front for good.