East Perth’s winning streak is alive and kicking following a big win over East Fremantle this afternoon.
The Royals recorded their third-straight victory of season 2017 by the way of an emphatic 20.22 (142) to 7.13 (55) triumph at East Fremantle Oval.
First-year Eagle Daniel Venables got East Perth on the front foot with the game’s opening goal in the fourth minute and Royals’ co-captain Patrick McGinnity doubled the team’s lead minutes later with a running goal from 35m.
East Fremantle recorded its first major of the match via Jayden Schofield, but Venables’ second goal in the 25th minute and a late major from Matt Allen gifted the visiting side a 16-point win at the completion of the first quarter.
An 11th minute goal to Shark Thomas Bennett was the only abberation in a second quarter dominated by the Royals.
East Perth kicked six goals to extend its lead to 44 points with a half to play at Shark Park.
The home side shot out of the blocks in the second half, kicking two goals within three minutes of the resumption of play to reduce their deficit to 32 points.
But a quick response from Eric Mackenzie – who played the majority of the game as a forward-ruckman – and ensuing goals from Malcolm Karpany and Shayne Hille steadied East Perth’s ship.
Luke Webster’s men booted seven-goals-to-one in the final quarter to run away with an 87-point victory.
Venables finished the game with four goals to his name and Allen had three majors in his stats’ column by the time the final siren sounded at East Fremantle Oval.
Midfielder Mark Hutchings amassed 31 disposals, Mackenzie had 17 possessions, nine marks and 13 hit-outs to go with his third-quarter goal and Malcolm Karpany kicked two six-pointers from his 19 touches.
On-baller Luke Partington racked up 30 disposals, Jonathan Giles won 37 hit-outs and kicked a second-quarter goal, Tom Lamb bagged one goal to complement his 18-possession performance and Lewis Jetta opened the game up with 16 slick disposals.
Defenders Will Schofield, Tom Cole, Tom Gorter and Josh Rothan collected 14, 12, 10 and eight disposals respectively.
