The pattern for a wonderful day of football was established at Rushton Park when East Perth produced a sublime team performance against Fremantle’s aligned WAFL club Peel Thunder on Sunday.
The Royals were ferocious early, particularly with their forward pressure and that set up an important 32-point victory – 13.16 (94) to 8.14 (62) and in doing so locked in a finals appearance.
It was a consummate ream effort, but again Kane Lucas was the highest possession-winner among the West Coast-listed players.
More than that though, he also laid 10 tackles and took nine marks.
Corey Adamson (18 possessions and five tackles) was also good inside the contest while Rowen Powell, who returned to senior football, had 19 possessions and kicked a quality goal after a good second effort.
Jackson Nelson again ran through the midfield and had 16 possessions, backing that up with seven marks and seven tackles while also posting an important goal.
Up forward Malcolm Karpany and Murray Newman were dangerous and worked hard at ground level, with Dylan Main also having 16 touches and five marks.
Tom Lamb played deep forward and from nine possessions he kicked two goals to be a handy contributor.
Down back Tom Barrass was resolute and took nine trademark marks while Paddy Brophy provided some strong rebound run.