Demons finish season on dour note

Perth’s final home and away game for season 2016 finished on a dour note, going down to second-placed South Fremantle by 52 point at Lathlain Park on Saturday afternoon.

The home side went into the game with seven wins for the season, and looked to build on last year’s effort of just the two victories even more.

South Fremantle went into the match without Shane Hockey and Brock Higgins through late withdrawals and key defender Josh Pullman with an illness. However the Bulldogs showed no signs of letting themselves fall behind without their stars, kicking a whopping eight goals to Perth’s no score by quarter-time.

The Bulldogs dominated the stat sheet to quarter-time, with the home side struggling to get their hands on the ball around the contests.

Perth battled to get their hands on the ball in the clinches again in the second quarter but conceded just the two goals for the term.

Despite notching just the two behinds to half-time, the Demons slotted the first three goals of the second-half, and negating the dominance of the South Fremantle midfield by winning more of the ball around the ground.

The Bulldogs continued to press in the final term but missed some opportunities, losing the quarter by three points.

The Demons rallied somewhat in the final stanza kicking four goals to three, but the damage was already done in the first half as South Fremantle claimed the 14.14 (98) to 7.4 (46) win.

Bulldogs key forward Ben Saunders was instrumental in the forward line kicking 4.5 to win the Bernie Naylor Medal for the leagues leading goal kicker.

Mason Shaw was a potent threat forward in the first quarter and kicked three goals before quarter-time.

In the middle Dylan Main (31 disposals and seven inside fifties) and Ashton Hams (26 disposals and five inside fifties) both led the way for the away side, while both Steve and Brendan Verrier had 30 disposals each as well.

For the Demons, Clint Jones capped off a stellar season with 31 disposals in the midfield, including seven marks and five inside fifties.

Jones has been a shining light for Perth this year, finishing the season with a total of 684 disposals with an average of 34.2 a game.

Aidan Tropiano worked tirelessly for his 26 disposals while laying nine tackles for the afternoon. Liam McKenna (23 ) and Julian Jacobs (22) both tried to give their teammates some run through the midfield as well.

The colts finished off a successful season with a 30 point win to finish first on their respective ladder, while the reserves also notched up an impressive 24 point victory.

TOTAL

SOUTH FREMANTLE                8.2       10.7     11.10              14.14 (98)
PERTH                                     0.0       0.2      3.3                   7.4 (46)

GOALS – SOUTH FREMANTLE: Saunders 4; Shaw 3; Hams, T Pickett 2; S Verrier, Johnson, Cook. 

PERTH: S White 2; Wolfenden, C Walley, D White, Wilkins, Boyes.
BEST – SOUTH FREMANTLE: Hams, Saunders, Main, Wilson, B Verrier, M Pickett, S Verrier. 

PERTH: C Jones, McKenna, Tropiano, Gianatti, Jacobs, Sinclair.
UMPIRES: M Worobec, A Martin, D Johansen.
CROWD: 1300 (approx) at Lathlain Park.