Round 8 WAFL Match Report v West Perth

Swan Districts dug deep to come back from a 35-point deficit and losing two players to injury to score a spirited 13-point win against West Perth with the last two goals of the game.

Coming out of the State game break, it wasn’t the start Swans were hoping for with West Perth opening up a 35-point lead by midway through the second quarter.

Swan Districts also lost Leigh Kohlmann to a concussion and Seb Bright to a knee injury just to add to the challenge, but the black-and-whites persisted and the last two goals in the final five minutes ended up securing the 13.9 (87) to 10.14 (74) victory.

Tom Edwards had an impressive afternoon in attack for Swan Districts to end up kicking four goals to go with 21 possessions and 10 marks.

Brad Lynch was the other multiple goal scorer in the game too for Swans, kicking two from 11 kicks, five marks and five inside-50 entries.

Jye Chalcraft backed up his appearance in last week's State game for the WAFL by racking up 35 possessions in the midfield for Swan Districts along with six marks, five tackles, six inside-50 entries and a goal.

Nik Rokahr also amassed another 29 disposals while Jackson McLachlan gathered 24 touches, Jarvis Pina 23, Aidan Clarke 22 and Jehb O'Donohue 20.

It was game 299 in the remarkable career of Tony Notte for Swan Districts. He had another 18 touches and eight marks down back, and was just relieved afterwards with the important win.

"They really did challenge us and obviously they started well and we were a bit poor defensively in the first quarter and-a-bit, and were down in a few areas," Notte said.

"But always against West Perth you know you are coming up against a good team and great club, and we always have good battles against them, but for us we just showed good character.

"We've done it this year and we've been in every game so we know we can match it against good teams and can come back from being down a little bit in areas. It was a good character building win and it's something that gives us that confidence that we can do it even if we get down that little bit."

Swan Districts and West Perth match ups never fail to deliver in terms of drama and Saturday was no different with the Falcons getting the better of the start away from home with the first two goals to Jasper Scaife and Conal Lynch.

Swan Districts did manage to get on the board thanks to Bernie Naylor Medal leader Leigh Kohlmann, but then the Falcons kept their momentum going with two more heading to quarter-time to be up by 22 points at the first change.

West Perth was then out to a 35-point lead with the first two goals of the second quarter as well and Swans had to respond with the game slipping away, and that's exactly what they did on their home deck.

It was Seb Bright who kicked Swans' second goal of the day at the 24-minute mark of the second quarter to bring the deficit back to 28 points.

Josh Cipro also added another before half-time as did Jiah Reidy with Swan Districts cutting the West Perth lead to 22 points at the long break.

West Perth again started the second half well with the first goal inside two minutes but Swan Districts quickly responded with goals to Tom Edwards and Brad Lynch.

Edwards then added two more in quick succession heading towards three quarter-time. When he kicked a third in the space of five minutes, suddenly Swans were in front for the first time in the game and to be leading by those two points at three quarter-time.

It was then goal for goal in the last quarter with Aaron Black putting West Perth back in front before Jye Chalcraft brought scores back level, and then Jackson McLachlan gave Swans the six-point lead at the 21-minute mark.

West Perth drew back level two minutes later thanks to Keegan Knott, but it was Swan Districts who wouldn’t be denied with the last two goals of the contest from Lynch and Aidan Clarke to secure the 13-point victory.

The day's action began at Steel Blue Oval on Saturday morning with the colts contest which saw West Perth win a high-scoring affair 16.5 (101) to 14.5 (89).

Adam Sandrini, Jessie Hollins, Lukas Dolliver and Carlos Partington all kicked two goals apiece for Swan Districts with Chayse Martinson gathering 25 disposals, Luke Cotellessa 21, Otis Harvey 20 and Lucas Andrews 18.

The Swan Districts reserves were then able to open their account for the 2024 season on the back of winning last year's premiership with the 14.10 (94) to 9.12 (66) win against West Perth.

Henrick Alforque kicked four goals in the win for Swans with two apiece to Ayden Cartwright and Lyle Sibosado. Cartwright also racked up 31 disposals, Oliver Zolnier-Owens 28, Luke Kelly 27, Tarir Bayok 23 and Tom Panuccio 18.