Round 3 WAFLW Match Report

Swan Districts had to dig deep to avoid being the first WAFLW team to lose to East Perth but dominated the final quarter to win by 19 points at Steel Blue Oval on Sunday.

Swans were fresh off their first win of the 2024 WAFLW season the previous Sunday also at Steel Blue Oval against Peel Thunder as they prepared to host the winless East Perth on Sunday afternoon once more.

To the full credit of the Royals, they produced their best performance so far since entering the WAFLW competition at the start of the 2023 season, even hitting the front in the third quarter.

However, Swans were able to regroup and dominate the last quarter and kick the last three goals of the game to secure the 7.4 (46) to 3.9 (27) victory.

Courtney Zappara continued her impressive start to the season in the forward-line for Swan Districts kicking another two goals to go with 11 kicks and four marks.

Lily Paterson finished the afternoon with 21 possessions for Swan Districts with rising star Carys D'Addario continuing her blistering form with 19 touches, four marks, four tackles and a goal.

Kayley King also kicked a goal to go with 17 possessions with Isabella Edgley finishing with 17 disposals, Hope Ugle-Hayward 15 (10 tackles), Indiana West 12, Kelly Polla 12, Demi Liddle 11 and Kayla May 10.

It took less than two minutes into the game for Swan Districts to make the perfect start with a goal to Kayley King.

East Perth steadied well from there, though, and would have the only other four scores of the opening quarter but the Royals just managed four behinds from those with Swans leading by two points at quarter-time.

It took almost 12 minutes for either team to manage a score in the second quarter and that saw Courtney Zappara continue her standout goalkicking form to start the season when she added Swans' second of the afternoon.

East Perth did get its first goal of the game just before half-time thanks to Matilda Bennett, but Swans were able to respond courtesy of Megan Carron to go into the long break with a seven-point advantage.

It was a tight contest and it remained that way through the third quarter with East Perth having the first four shots of the second half. The first three were behinds but when Hannah Challender kicked a goal, the Royals were in front and their first ever WAFLW victory was a distinct possibility.

Swan Districts needed to respond and did so with a goal to Tayla Thorn, but the Royals weren’t going away and responded themselves courtesy of Chloe Sauzier.

Swans did manage to regain the lead by three quarter-time thanks to a second goal to Zappara before the home team had the better of the final term with the only six scores that included goals to Carys D'Addario and Hope Ugle-Hayward to secure the 19-point win.

Swan Districts also scored a Rogers Cup victory to start the day at Steel Blue Oval on Sunday, beating East Perth 3.8 (26) to 2.5 (17).

Swans started the game well with two goals to one in the first quarter but scores were all tied by three quarter-time. It was Swan Districts who managed the only goal of the last term to secure the nine-point win.

The goals for the black-and-whites were kicked by Olivia Rasenberg, Luka Davis and Madison Fisher.