ROYALS DOMINATE AGAINST THE DEMONS

Article By Mark Thornber

Photos By Kerrie-Ann Pendal

Round 21, Perth v East Perth

Lathlain Park , Saturday 16 August 2014

Perth                           4.1        8.2       12.4      14.6      90

East Perth                  5.2       12.6      22.9      28.14    182

East Perth completely outplayed an undermanned and outsized Perth side to win easily in fine conditions at Lathlain Park on Saturday.

It wasn’t long until the Royals scored the first major in the opening minute of play through key forward Josh Smith until pocket rocket Callum Collard converted a free kick at the 6 minute mark for the Demons.

Usual backman Nick Kane goaled for Perth twice in the opening minutes as both team’s traded goals in a free flowing first term. It was Smith though that was causing Perth problems in the backline and along with veteran Craig Wulff both goaled again to edge the visitors in front by 7 points at quarter time.

The start of the second term saw Perth kick an early goal through Collard to level the scores. The usual contributors for the Demons in Adian Tropiano and Dene White were again playing well for Perth.

About half way through the quarter East Perth slowly started to assert their ascendancy on the match largely through Paul Johnson dominating in the centre along with Wullf and Captain Brandan Lee.

East Perth pilled on 7 quick goals and took a comfortable lead of 28 points in half time. The second half saw the Royals continue on with plenty of run as they continually found space through the middle of the ground.

The Royals booted 4 quick goals and Perth simply had no match for their superior opponents. They ran away to kick another 10 goals to Perth’s 4 and open up a match winning lead of 65 points at the last change.

The last quarter unfortunately for loyal Perth fans saw Perth give away some cheap goals through some undisciplined free kicks as Smith carried on his goal kicking form to finish with 6 goals as the visitors ran away to win by 92 points in a match that had very few highlights from a Perth perspective.

Perth had few winners on the day with Tropiano and White both continuing their fine form for the year while Collard was effective up forward booting 4 goals.

Next week Perth has a bye and then plays West Perth in the final round of the year.

Goals: Collard 4, Kane, Bevan 2, Bateman, Hug, Eyres, Tropiano, Houghton, White 1.

Best: Tropiano, White, Collard, Bevan, Browne, Florio.