West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Monday 31 August 1925, page 11


EAST FREMANTLE DEFEAT PERTH.

The match between East Fremantle and Perth, on the Fremantle Oval, was a good one, but it was not consistently good throughout the quarters. There

were individual flashes of brilliance in plenty, but, collectively, the two teams appeared to take it in turns to strike full form and demonstrate concerted play. East Fremantle were, perhaps, slightly the better team on the day though the final scores could not be taken as a true indication of the play throughout. During the first quarter the play was fairly fast, but was of a scrambly, uninteresting nature, players of both teams misjudging the bounce of the ball and kicking badly. The home team during the first 10 minutes could not get going, and Perth played well. Then Perth appeared to fall back and, Old Easts picked up. Thus the match continued throughout the afternoon. East Fremantle experimented somewhat with their team. Coffey was tried in centre and as rover. In both positions he played brilliantly and was easily the best of his side. Baird placed on the wing in the absence of Buchanan, seemed out of position and did not do too well. Woods, removed from the pivot position and placed in the half-forward lines, also seemed badly placed, though the goal which he kicked with a beautiful long drop kick was a titbit of the game. The goal shooting on both sides was excel-lent, but at times the kicking, in the field, was very bad. On frequent occa-sions the spectators would be treated to some fine cashes, only to see a bad pass at the finish. East Fremantle departed somewhat from their system of long kicking and played more handball than usual. Several exceptionally good in-stances of this were shown, one very clever chain of passes being capped by a fine goal by Gibson. Perth marked bet-ter than the seasiders, but their ground work was not as good, the home team frequently resorting to soccer tactics in order to save a dangerous position. Summed up, one could say that the play was both satisfactory and unsatisfactory, and had both teams played all along the class of football which their frequent flashes showed them capable of, the match would hare been one of the finest games possible to witness. Apart from Coffey, none of East's players were bril-liant; but many were solid. Mudie proved a tower of strength in the half-back lines, and the work of Gibson and Gallagher up forward was excellent. In the first half Truscott provided many scoring leads, and Cinoris was a power in the packs. Jones's kicking off from goal was a feature of the game. For the visitors, Evans played a wonderful game. Apart from scoring three goals himself as the reward for good play, his marking, kicking, and passing was re-sponsible for many of the other goals scored. He was ably supported by Bry-ant, who played a consistently good game throughout, and Erickson cave a fine dis-

play of marking, particularly in the first half. Matthews, Love, Watts, and Clowes were others who played well. G. Tyson was tried with the whistle. He umpired fairly well and was strictly im-partial, but several of ins decisions puzzled both players and supporters. To the onlooker he seemed to be too quick with his holding-the-ball decisions. The teams were:— East Fremantle: Dolan, Cinoris, Cof-fey, Beard, Sheedy, Richards, Brown, Ryan, Truscott, Wicks, Gibson, Clark, Gallagher, Jarvis, Jones, Mudie, Roche, and Woods. Perth: Donoghue, Clowes, McLean Sharples, Corser, Evans, Love, Corney, McComish, Morris, Bryant, Grigg, Royd-house, Watts, Hopkins, Erickson, Pres-ton and Matthews. After the bounce Love sent to Mc-Comish, whose shot was saved by Jones. Bryant secured and scored Perth's first major. Gibson scored a point, and Sharples kicking off badly, the ball was secured by Gibson, who ran in and re-gistered a goal. Gibson, after Love had scored a point, topped a fine chain of hand passes by taking a running mark, and from a hard angle added another major. Donoghue and Evans scored goals, and Ryan two in succession for his side. The first term scores were:— East Fremantle, 4.2; Perth. 3.3. Bryant sent to Hopkins, who kicked a goal shortly after the bounce. Old Easts then took charge for a while, and Gal-lagher and Richards added goals. Sheedy and Gibson were prominent in some hand passing which, took the ball to Gallagher, who scored his second goal. Bryant kicked a point, and again East's hand passing resulted in a goal, this time from Richard's boot. Bryant capped a Perth attack by putting Evans in possession, and the latter player made no mistake and raised two flags. Truscott replied with a goal, and just before the bell. Bryant again made an individual attack which successfully put Hopkins in a scor-ing position. Again two flags were raised. The half-time scores were:— East Fremantle, 9.5; Perth. 6.4. The third quarter saw Perth improve again, and Evans, Hopkins, and Bryant notched sixers. Out of a scrimmage, Cinoris scored a goal, and Woods, with a fine long kick, scored another. The play dur- ing the quarter was fast and fairly open. At the lemon bell scores were:— East Fremantle, 11.8; Perth, 9.7. Donoghue registered, a goal early in the last quar-ter and brought the scores closer, but East Fremantle then improved and launched attack after attack. Gibson scored a goal, and shortly after Gal-lagher kicked another. Perth battled hard, but the home team was too strong, and the ball was kept drawn their end. Gib-son and Gallagher had again added goals

before Perth improved, again, and the visitors effort was too late. Hopkins kicked a goad just as the final bell was about to ring. The final scores were:— East Fremantle, 15.10 (100 points). Perth, 11.10 (76 points). The goalkickers were:— East Freman- tle: Gallagher (4), Gibson (4), Richards (2), Ryan (2), Cinoris, Truscott, and Woods; Perth: Evans (3), Hopkins (4), Bryant (2), and Donoghue (2).