Red hot Demons outmuscle their rivals

A career-best haul of five goals from key forward Spencer White set the Demons up for their best win of the season of the weekend against rivals Swan Districts.

White, who has had an injury interrupted season of just nine games, dominated in the first half kicking two majors in the first term and a further three in the second.

The St. Kilda recruit also pulled in five marks and showed his true ability on a muddy Bassendean Oval.

The Demons recorded their seventh win of the season with a 50-point victory in arguably the club’s best performance of the season.

Perth kicked three unanswered goals in the opening term to lead by 19 points at the first change.

The Swans got on the board through Alex Howard at the nine minute mark of the second term. However that goal was cancelled out by the Demons who piled on seven goals for the term to stretch their lead out to a commanding 55 points at the main break.

After the main break the game ebbed and flowed, with both sides struggling to find any real continuity through their ball use despite the improved conditions.

Both sides managed to kick three goals a piece in the third but the sting was taken out of the game in the final term, as Perth surrendered three late goals to Swan Districts to finish off 50-point winners.

Clint Jones did his chances of winning the Sandover Medal no harm with a 47 disposal effort in the midfield.

Jones, who is averaging 34 touches a game this year, was exceptional in linking the ball between his fellow teammates and distributing to the forwards to a particularly high standard.

Aidan Tropiano made his return from an illness and showed no signs of fatigue with a well-rounded 41 disposal effort, which included eight tackles and eight inside fifties.

Other midfielders to have profound impacts around the grounded include Liam McKenna (30 disposals) and Julian Jacobs (23 disposals), while Matthew Taylor (24) and Ashley Boyes (23) both has plenty of the ball from the half-back line.

Jesse Turner was a standout for the black and whites with 34 disposals, while Adam Faulkner (26), Mathew Rogers (22) and Brandon Erceg (21) all tried hard for the home side.

The colts side slipped to second on their ladder with a 12-point defeat while the reserves put up a brave fight in the rain to go down by 16 points.

Perth will play their final game of the season next week at Lathlian Park where they take on South Fremantle, with bounce down at 2.15pm.

TOTAL

PERTH                         3.3       10.4     13.8     15.10 (100)

SWAN DISTRICTS       0.2       1.2       4.5       7.8 (50)

GOALS

PERTH: S White 5, M Jones 3, D White 2, A Graham 1, L McKenna 1, C Eyres 1, J Jacobs 1, B Edmonds 1

SWAN DISTRICTS: J Simpson 2, T Stewart 1, A Howard 1, C Daniels 1, T Notte 1, M Rogers 1.

BEST

PERTH: C Jones, S White, A Tropiano, A Boyes, L McKenna, M Sinclair, B Edmonds

SWAN DISTRICTS: A Fulkner, J Turner, R Riddoch, T Ames, L Grescos, T Notte.

UMPIRES: M Edinger, M Worobec, C Snadden

CROWD: 1100 (approx) at Bassendean Oval