West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Monday 25 May 1925, page 11


EAST FREMANTLE BEAT PERTH.

East Fremantle met and defeated Perth at Fremantle Oval in a finely con-tested game last Saturday. It was an ideal day for football — fine with a snap

in the air and with the turf soft, dry, and springy. It was great football. The pace was fast and the play liberally studded with flashes of beautiful concerted play. The high marking on both sides was brilliant and the fortunes of the teams so even for most at the journey that the crowd was kept in a simmer of excitement. Add the fact that O'Connor umpired the match in masterly style and one can imagine a really fine game. And it was. Both the red legs and the sea-siders displayed brilliant form. Early the East men established a handy lead. They were quicker on the move and had rattled on a couple of goals in quick suc-cession. But Perth came at it like tigers in the second, and had drawn level with their opponents at half-time with 4.7 all. It was a criterion of the merits of the sides to this stage. As in the opening quarter Easts broke away again in the third, their centre man. Woods, doing well. A gaol early put them in the van. Then it was ebb and flow, first Perth and then Easts scoring alternately. Eventu- ally Perth ran to a lead, but Easts finish-ing the quarter the stronger were in the van again at lemons. In the last quarter the veteran Truscott, with a beautiful mark and kick goaled for Easts, and thereafter, despite gritty finishing efforts by Perth, the seasiders looked winners, and ran out with a margin of 21 points. East Fremantle won by stronger football. They went through and broke away from the crushes with more "devil" than did the red legs and across the centre line Woods, Buchanan, and Brown held the call all day. Their forwards, too, fanned and led cleverly. Perth, were little behind. Their marking was excellent, and several streaming passages of football were good to watch. They just lacked the power of the seasiders. There were four perform- ances of distinct merit. Woods at the pivot for East Fremantle displayed match, winning football. Dashing and clever and marking well he finished all his ef-forts with, long driving drop kicks which always put the forwards into play. Dolan was another champion in blue and white, marking superbly and always picking out a team mate to pass on to. Perth had two great players in, Turner and Sharples. Turner was an impassable barrier at half-back, marking surely and playing on the ground with dash and venom. He broke many an East sortie. Sharpies marked magnificently at full back, showed good judgment and his kicking in was long and true. Richards and Rocke were unable to play for Easts, and Clowes and Dono-ghue were away from Perth. The teams were:— East Fremantle: Dolan, Cinoris, Bu-chanan, Brown, Baird, Coffey, Clark, Dunne, Gallagher, Jennings, Jarvis, Jones, Lawrence, Ryan, Gunnyon, Woods, Sheedy, Truscott. Perth: Steele, McLean, Sharpies, Cor-ser, Hicks, Evans, Love, Corney, Mc-Comish, Morris, Reid, Bryant, Preston, Grigg, Roydhouse, Watts, Turner, Erick-son. East Fremantle were early away, Cino-ris snapping a major at an unguarded goal. This success came in the first two minutes. Easts were playing the better football, and scored a second major from a lucky snap by Dunne. The same player hit the post immediately afterwards. It was fast football, with clean high marking a feature. Easts' forwards were playing wide football and their backs marking their men closely. At the quarter they held a commanding lead of 2.4 against 0.2. It had been their quarter, in which Woods, Cinoris, and Dolan had played particularly well. Watts, Roydhouse, and Turner were a great trio for the red legs. Perth assumed the offensive from the bounce in the second, and Bryant scored their first major. Lawrence retaliated at the other end, but Bryant scored again with a clever left-foot snap. Hardly had the applause died before Jennings had goaled for Easts. It was ebb and flow, with the marking brilliant still. Perth forwards were not topping off fine mid-field work, but suddenly they developed cohesion. Evans goaled with a nice shot, Steele hit the post, and a moment later McLean snapped true, putting Perth a point in front. It was a splendid rally by the Perth men. Truscott evened with a minor and Lawrence sent Easts a point in front. But before the bell Perth had evened matters again. The scores were 4.7 each at the half-time interval. Perth had done grandly, developing teams work and showing great dash. The high mark-ing on each side was brilliant. Turner and Sharples for Perth, and Jarvis for Easts had been prominent players for the term. Upon resumption Easts were again first away, and playing with more dash soon had Perth battling hard to stem their dashes. Gallagher topped off the attack with a major. Then Perth took a hand, and Evans with a beautiful long distance punt goaled for them. Trus-cott scored for Easts and Evans goaled again at the other end. It was great football, with the fortunes varying every few minutes. Then Evans scored once more for the red legs and put them ahead. But the advantage was snatched hack by Gunnyon, and before the quarter ended Sheedy had sent on a further major for the seasiders. At the lemon bell the tal-lies, were 8.11 to 7.9 in favour of East Fremantle. It had been a quarter of very fine football, studded with incident and closely contested. Dolan, Brown, and Sheedy for Easts, and Turner and Evans for Perth, had been very notice-able in play. In the last term the pace was a cracker at the start, with Easts attacking hotly. A fine mark and good kick saw Truscott goal for them, and a moment later Cinoris had snapped true. The seasiders were playing with both snap and peace, Erickson steadied the red legs with a goal, and then the battle was even for some time before the best pas-sage of football for the day-a lighting chain of passes. Buchanan, Cinoris, to Sheedy saw the latter bag full points Perth were beaten now. In the last five minutes the pace abated, both teams looking all out and tiring. The final tal-lies were:— East Fremantle, 11.15 (81 points). Perth, 8.12 (60 points). The best players for the winners were Woods, Dolan, Jarvis, Cinoris, Brown, Buchanan, Jennings, Truscott, and Ryan: and for Perth the most noticeable were Turner, Sharples, Corney, Watts, Royd-house, McComish, Bryant, and Evans.