Rogers Cup Round 2 Wrap Up

First home game of the year, and it was a tough encounter playing against last years’ premiers, who were
coming off a first round loss to Claremont, so the Sharks had their teeth sharpened.

East Fremantle had the early clearance, but Kaitlyn Roper, Abbey Brimson and Isabella Hill, who were all
playing midfield roles were dropping back to defend strongly. The first part of the quarter was good contested footy with neither team giving an inch, but the Sharks did manage to break away a couple of times for the first two goals of the game.

While West Perth were able to work the ball forward, with some key players missing from the forwardline
through injury, finding an avenue to score proved difficult early. East Fremantle’s ability to get numbers to the
ball helped clear and then set up a string of attacks. Sophie Fisher moved into Ruck late and started to win stoppages and Jamarah Woods very prominent on the outer wing, but it was East Fremantle with a 3 goal lead at the end of the first quarter.

West Perth started much better in the second winning the first clearance, where Mia Russo drove the ball
inside the 50 to a leading Sophie and when East Fremantle tried to clear it out, Ella Feist forced the turnover,
which resulted in Leuca Krmpotic finally getting West Perth’s first major of the game. Abbey Brimson who played a solid game all day also played a part in the second goal roving from a stoppage to deliver to Mia Russo who scored the Falcons second. Meanwhile in defence Bree Porritt, in debut game showed why she was selected using her strong physical presence and confidence to burst through packs, which she continued throughout the game with great
effect.

It was a much better quarter, West Perth were using their run to break clear and become dangerous once
forward. Mia Russo, Jamarah Woods, Abbey Brimson, Isabella Hill were all good in the first half, Leuca
worked into game, which helped the Falcons bring the margin back to 5 points at the main break.

The third quarter started with 6 minutes of good, contested football, but West Perth were definitely showing
more effort and a higher intensity. The combination of Mia Russo and Kaitlyn Roper is proving a relentless
task for the first two opposition sides to quell, the latter was setting the example and seemed like she was
playing with her own football, picking up possessions all over the ground, and it was Kaitlyn’s work across the
half forward line when she intercepted twice that both led to goals that really had an impact.

Zara Deschamps, Amber Rundle and Samara Sallie were defending gamely forcing East Fremantle to work
overtime and while East Fremantle were able to reply on a couple of occasions it was evident that the match
was now being played on West Perth’s terms. Kiahn Perry was moved to the forward line and was presenting strongly and Tyra Smith playing a good defensive forward role, helping to hold ball in the forward 50. West Perth really stepped up the pressure and were getting numbers to the ball and had East Fremantle chasing and limiting time in their half. West Perth had erased the deficit and led at the last change by 1 point.

The last quarter was a tense affair with both sides matching blows and with minutes to go and East
Fremantle in attack it looked like they may steal back the lead, but Sophie Fisher who had a big second half,
smothered an East Fremantle kick that look likely to go deep into the forward line, this act proved pivotal as
West Perth were then able to work it down the other end and then maintain territory until the final siren
sounded on a very entertaining game.

West Perth taking the four points 7.5 (47) to East Fremantle 7.4 (46) and starting the year 2-0.