Round 4 Wrap: Perth defeat East Fremantle

EAST FREMANTLE 8.10 (58) lost to PERTH 10.4 (64)

Perth were made to work for in a spirited affair as expected but the Demons did manage to hold off East Fremantle on Saturday to remain undefeated so far this WAFL season.

It was quite the exciting first quarter as well with both teams combining to kick 10 goals. From there, things significantly tightened up with only eight more kicked for the game but Perth did enough to stay undefeated and win 10.4 (64) to 8.10 (58).

It ended a remarkable run of outs at East Fremantle's home of New Choice Homes Park for the Demons as well. East Fremantle had won its last 14 home matches against Perth dating back to 2009.

Perth managed the opening two goals of the game fresh off the bye courtesy of Jacob Coniglio and Matthew Rogers before East Fremantle got one back through Anthony Montauban.

But it was a hot start from the Demons with Logan McDonald and Marshall Jones also kicking truly to put them up by 18 points just 10 minutes into the game with five goals on the board between the two sides.

East Fremantle responded with goals of their own to Ryan Lester-Smith and captain Jonathon Griffin in his 100th WAFL appearance, but Perth still managed to lead by 11 points at quarter-time with a late goal to Jones.

Goals then became decidedly tougher to come by the rest of the way with Perth's lead growing at the start of the second quarter to 17 points with a goal to Rogers.

The only other goal of the quarter came at the 20-minute mark to East Fremantle from Lachlan Bailey to make it a seven-point game at the long break.

East Fremantle opened the third term with a major to Tom Bennett to make it a one-point ball game.

The only other two goals of the quarter went Perth's way thanks to Kieran Delahunty and that saw the Demons lead by 14 points at the last change.

Perth's lead was back out to 20 points to start the final quarter with a second goal to teen sensation McDonald but the Sharks soon took over to dominate the rest of the game. 

That brought about goals to Cam Eardley and Bennett but they could only manage four behinds over the final 10 minutes to end up falling six points short of the Demons.

Kieran Delahunty played his best game since joining Perth with three goals from eight kicks while Matthew Rogers, Marshall Jones and Logan McDonald kicked two each.

Chris Masten did compile a game-high 21 possessions for the Demons on the wing while captain in the absence of Corey Yeo. Michael Sinclair was tremendous with 19 possessions, six tackles and five marks.

Matthew Taylor also finished with 18 disposals for Perth and Brant Colledge 15.

Written by Chris Pike for WAFC.