DEMONS NO MATCH FOR SURGING SWANS

Round 1, Perth v Swan Districts

Steel Blue Oval, Saturday 21 March 2015

Perth                           0.1        4.4       5.7       7.9       51

Swan Districts            4.9       9.11      14.18    21.21    147

Goals: M. Morton 3, Eyres, Power, McKenna, Sinclair 1.

Best: Tropiano, J.Morton, White, Eyres, Payne, M. Morton.

Swan Districts easily accounted for a disappointing Perth side in blustery conditions at Steel Blue Oval on Saturday.

Kicking with the aid of strong breeze to the Guildford end of the ground the Black and Whites had a goal on the board early.

Perth was fortunate that Swans were wasteful in the first term as they continually went forward but peppered the goals. Former Demons Aaron Earli and Matt Rogers were causing plenty of headaches for Perth as Swans went into quarter time kicking 4 goals 9 while Perth could only manage 1 point.

The second term certainly saw the work rate improve from Perth with Aiden Tropiano and Dene White leading by example. Mitch Morton finally kicked Perth’s first goal at the 4 minute mark of the term after pulling down a classic high mark.

The home side though soon responded with majors to tall forward Ricky Carey and the experienced Matt Riggio. Ruckman Christian Eyres was giving it his all in the middle of the ground. This good work slowly started to pay off for the visitors with former Peel player Liam Mckenna on debut kicking Perth’s second goal and then Mitch Morton the next just before half time.

The half time lead was 37 points and the Black and Whites jumped out of the blocks early in the second half with goals to Carey and the ever dangerous Tim Geappen, who was well held in the first half.

Perth try as they might simply did not have the same running power as Swans and this was clearly shown when Rudy Riddoch kicked a wonderful running goal for the home side at the half way mark of the term.

The Demons could only manage 1 goal for the quarter after Michael Sinclair converted truly after taking a strong chest mark. At the final change the lead to Swan Districts was now an insurmountable 65 points.

The last quarter again saw a dominant Swan’s side take complete control of the match finishing with far too run in their legs than their opponents.

The home side despite kicking against the wind stormed away kicking 7 goals to 2 in the final term to win by an impressive 96 points.

It was certainly a disappointing way to start the season for the Demons and they will certainly need to find more avenue’s for goal next week.

None played better for Perth than Tropiano who amassed 34 possessions and was well supported by new Club Captain Dene White playing in his 100^th game. Eyres tried hard all day in the Ruck and Jarrod Morton was solid all day across half back.

Perth had 7 players making their league debuts comprising Jared Bell (league player number 1562), Toby Gianatti (1563 ), Brent Latch (1564 ), Liam Mckenna (1565 ), Jacob Payne (1566), Hayden Tanner (1567), and Brett Wolfenden (1568).

Next week Perth plays the Bulldogs in their first home match of the season.