WHILE it ultimately proved a fruitless venture, West Perth finished off its WAFL Women’s season on a high by defeating South Fremantle by 12 points. The Falcons needed to win against the Bulldogs and hope that Swan Districts beat East Fremantle by roughly a combined five goals, and while the former achieved it with a two-goal victory, the latter only got up by four points handing the Sharks fourth spot.

On Friday night, it was the Falcons who did enough against the Bulldogs to secure the four points despite the visitors’ best efforts to try and hit the line hard. South Fremantle kicked a couple of goals to close within five points late in the game before West Perth steadied for the 8.7 (55) to 6.7 (43) victory at Joondalup.

From early on, it was apparent the ball supported the Falcons as winger Megan Norbury had the perfect run and connection, while an incredible right-angled bounce from a Hayley Bidefeld snap in the last 30 seconds drove the dagger in further. By the time the first break had rolled around, West Perth lead by 13 points.

Shannyn Pomersbach – who kicked a goal either side of quarter time – looked dangerous, while Annalie Polimeno also looked like a threat in the front half. A great running goal from experienced midfielder Bailey Hunt put the Dogs within reach before a couple of behinds handed the visitors an unlikely lead.

That advantage did not last long however as bottom-age jet Lexi Strachan produced a brilliant finish and extended the lead back out to six points at the main break. An almost identical finish from Norbury as her first quarter major in the premiership quarter bridged the game to 12 as West Perth really took control not conceding a score in the third.

A combination of Strachan and Mia Russo were on top around the ball, and when the latter thumped it deep to the pocket, it allowed Kayla Van Den Heever to weave her magic from a ridiculous angle close to the boundary. Boasting a 19-point buffer at the final change, the Falcons were only a couple of goals off catching East Fremantle’s percentage.

However South Fremantle had other ideas as they peppered the goals early through Madison Hadley and Jessica Watts and by the halfway point of the final term, the deficit was back under a kick. Just when the Falcons needed a hero, it came in the form of three teenagers with Strachan dishing off to Russo who found Leuca Krmpotic inside 50. The top-ager went back and duly delivered what would be the match-sealing goal to aide in the Falcons winning the match.

Strachan would finish with 24 disposals, three marks, three tackles, two inside 50s and a goal, working in tandem with Russo (21 disposals, four marks, five tackles and five inside 50s) on the inside. Wings Norbury (13 disposals, four marks and two goals) and Taylor Ferguson (14 disposals, four marks and four inside 50s) were both superb, while Van Den Heever kicked two goals from eight touches and laid five tackles as the spark up forward.

For the Bulldogs, the experience of Hunt (14 disposals, two marks, four tackles, four inside 50s and a goal) and Tahleah Mulder (13 disposals, five tackles and three inside 50s) was critical, with Hannah Burt and Renee Morgan providing plenty of tackling pressure around the ground. Forwards Pomersbach (nine disposals, two marks and two goals) and Polimeno (10 disposals, two marks, four tackles and a goal) were targets inside 50.

WEST PERTH 4.2 | 5.4 | 7.5 | 8.7 (55)
SOUTH FREMANTLE 2.1 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 6.7 (43)

GOALS:
West Perth: M. Norbury 2, K. Van Den Heever 2, H. Bidefeld, L. Strachan, S. Riou, L. Krmpotic
South Fremantle: S. Pomersbach 2, M. Hadley, J. Watts, B. Hunt, A. Polimeno

RMC BEST:
West Perth: L. Strachan, M. Russo, M. Norbury, T. Ferguson, K. Van Den Heever
South Fremantle: B. Hunt, T. Mulder, S. Pomersbach, H. Burt, A. Polimeno

AROUND THE GROUNDS

On one of the muddiest decks you could imagine, Swan Districts slipped and slid their way to a four-point win over East Fremantle. The Swans won 2.3 (15) to 1.5 (11) despite scoring just one behind after half-time. With conditions making it impossible to put on a big score, East Fremantle did enough to ensure the Sharks would play finals, and even had more inside 50s (25-21) than their opponents.

Jaime Henry and Carys D’Addario combined for 27 tackles in the game, as the Swans laid a team total of 122 and still had nine less than the opposition. Kayley King (21 disposals, eight tackles, three inside 50s and a goal) was busy as always for the winners. Meanwhile, Shark Amber Kinnane laid a mind-bogging 23 tackles from 14 disposals, as Chloe Reilly took a game-high three marks in the wet to go with her 18 disposals and 12 tackles.

On the same day in similar conditions, Claremont kept Subiaco to just one behind to snatch the minor premiership for another year. The Tigers won 4.10 (34) to 0.1 (1) with two goals in each half of football. Another 225 combined tackles were laid in the match with Sarah Viney (25 disposals, 17 tackles) leading the way, though Jayme Harken, Matilda Sergeant and Juliet Kelly were also fierce. Layla Quinn-Schofield topped her side’s disposal count with 21, as well as four marks, nine tackles and six inside 50s.

In the other match, Perth picked up its third win of the season with a strong 26-point victory over East Perth in a battle of the bottom two. The Demons piled on four goals to one in the first half which proved the difference, as Jorja Haines (two goals) was the sole multiple goalkicker. Co-captains Isabella Shannon and Holly Britton had 45 disposals between them, while for the Royals, Lucy Greenwood (24 disposals, three inside 50s).