Bulldogs gear up for finals with win over Falcons

SOUTH Fremantle continued its recent domination against West Perth and maintained its good history at Joondalup's HBF Arena by coming away with a four-point victory on Saturday afternoon.

The Bulldogs opened up a 28-point lead by midway through the last quarter to set up the eventual 12.12 (84) to 12.8 (80) victory that ensured they enter the finals in strong form and on a five-game winning streak.

The game was a fourth in-a-row for South Fremantle also at HBF Arena while the Bulldogs have beaten the Falcons in 11 of the past 12 meetings between the two sides with Saturday's win coming despite the loss of Haiden Schloithe to an ankle injury.

Mason Shaw ended up kicking six goals for South Fremantle to give him 49 for the season, but in the end that left him two short in the Bernie Naylor Medal race of former teammate Ben Sokol.

Josh Collard also showed some good signs as a forward for the Bulldogs kicking two goals.

Jacob Dragovich returned with 29 possessions, eight marks and six tackles while Brock Higgins dominated the ruck with 19 disposals and 48 hit outs.

Jake Florenca gathered 23 touches, Dylan Main 19, Steve Verrier 17 and Kade Stewart 16.

West Perth needed to beat South Fremantle at HBF Arena on Saturday to guarantee their place in the finals in 2019, but the Bulldogs came to Joondalup in good form, have always enjoyed venturing north and did enough to record another victory.

Over the past 25 years, South Fremantle had won 18 of its 27 visits to HBF Arena including having won on the past three games at the venue while also having dominated recent clashes with West Perth winning 10 of the past 11 coming into the contest.

The one blemish was last year's preliminary final when West Perth shocked South Fremantle just two weeks after being hammered in the qualifying final, and in the end the Bulldogs enjoyed another trip to Joondalup on Saturday.

West Perth did start well with the first four scoring shots of the game and the first two goals through Corey Chalmers before South Fremantle got on the board through Mason Shaw who was chasing the Bernie Naylor Medal.

After both teams kicked a string of behinds, Shaw and Andrew Strijk traded goals just before quarter-time and the Falcons had a narrow three-point lead at the first break.

Strijk then kicked another for West Perth to start the second quarter but then Shaw also booted his third of the day to keep South Fremantle within a kick.

Josh Collard added another to put the Bulldogs in front but when Strijk kicked his third just before half-time, West Perth maintained a two-point advantage at the major break.

It took only a minute of the second half for South Fremantle to take the lead with a goal to Jacob Dragovich but the trading of goals continuing with Strijk, Collard and then Michael Lourey all kicking truly for their teams.

Shaw was able to boot his fourth soon after to return South Fremantle to the lead before Rudy Riddoch did the same for West Perth. But then just before three quarter-time, the Bulldogs strung goals together between Kade Stewart and Dylan Main to be up by 10 points.

Shaw added his fifth and sixth goals to open the last term with Andrew Haydon adding another as South Fremantle opened a match-winning 28-point advantage.

West Perth's season was potentially on the line so the Falcons didn’t lie down and finished off kicking the last four goals of the game before falling four points short as South Fremantle held on to win 12.12 (84) to 12.8 (80).

The result means that South Fremantle finishes the home and away season on a five-game winning streak with a 13-5 record to be in second position on the ladder for the fourth straight year.

The Bulldogs will now take on Claremont in the qualifying final at Fremantle Community Bank Oval on Saturday.

Earlier in the day in the reserves contest, West Perth defeated South Fremantle 12.9 (81) to 7.3 (45) with the Bulldogs finishing the season in second last spot with a 5-10 record with a draw.

Tom Blechynden racked up 33 possessions for South Fremantle, Jye Depane 26, Kyle Hamersley 24, Daniel Cabassi 23, Andre Coutinho 23, Zane Sumich 22, Tom Vandeleur 21, Toby McQuilkin 20 and Chris Ah Siu 18.

West Perth needed a colts victory on Saturday at Lathlain's Mineral Resources Park to try and rise to third position on the ladder and they got the job done against South Fremantle.

With little separating West Perth, East Perth and Swan Districts, the Falcons just had to take care of their own business on neutral turf at Mineral Resources Park while South Fremantle were anchored to bottom spot.

South Fremantle started impressively, though, in an attempt to finish their season on a high. The Bulldogs kicked three goals to two in the first quarter to lead by six points at quarter-time.

South Fremantle retained its control in the second quarter too with two more goals to one to head into the half-time interval leading by 11 points.

But West Perth responded coming out of half-time and kicked five goals to one in the third quarter to be on top to the tune of 11 points by three quarter-time.

The Falcons then finished the job in the last quarter with four more goals to three to end up winning 12.7 (79) to 9.8 (62).

South Fremantle's colts season sees them finish with a 2-14 record in last position on the ladder.

Liam Bradford was South Fremantle's lone multiple goal scorer kicking two.

Tyson Headland racked up 27 possessions for the Bulldogs, Manfred Kelly 25, Jack Musika 24, Nash Miller 19 (14 hit outs, seven marks), Eric Botha 19 (10 tackles) and Riley Clayton 17 (nine tackles).
 

SOUTH FREMANTLE        2.6    4.9    9.12    12.12    (84)
WEST PERTH            3.3    5.5    8.8    12.8    (80)

SOUTH FREMANTLE – Goals: Shaw 6; Collard 2; Dragovich, Stewart, Main, Haydon.
Best: Dragovich, Shaw, Higgins, Florenca, Main, Verrier, N Strom.
WEST PERTH – Goals: Strijk 4; Chalmers 3; Riddoch 2; Antonio, Lourey, Keitel.
Best: Black, Strijk, Nelson, Keitel, Peirce, Chalmers.