West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Monday 17 August 1936, page 7


A POOR GAME. West Perth's Narrow Win. West Perth best Perth by three points in a poor exhibition of football at the W.A.C.A: ground on Saturday. The ground, heavy and muddy through rain, was not conducive to good play, the ball was too greasy to be handled properly and the slushy cricket pitches in the centre and both half-forward areas ruined systematic moves. Neither side appeared at its best and the turning point in West Perth's favour was that, while its backs were solid, it was more effective than Perth in forward work. Perth was faster, but the state of the ground offset this advantage to a large extent. Where Perth broke down badly was in attack. In better condition than its opponent, this team finished the stronger and had every chance of win ning but was simply incapable of scoring enough. The low scores were an indi cation of the muddling play. The teams were: WEST PERTH--Backs: Jeavons. Tetley, Flemming. Half-becks: P. Walsh, Buttsworth, O'Keefe. Centres: Wearer, McCurdy, L. Walsh. Half-forwards: Gregg, llcDiarmid, Anderson. For. wards: Pola. Tyson, Lewis. Ruck: Marinko, Beveridge, R Screaight (rover). hineteenth man: Forbes (did not play). PERTH. — Backs: Fitzgerald, Dewar, L. Walsh. Half-backs: O'Brien. A. Brown, Wormald. Centres: H. Davey, H. Grigg. Trainor. Half forwards: Hetherington, G. Headon, Burton. For wards: Robson. Cook, A. Grigg. Ruck : Oli-phant, M. Jarvis. Keightler (rover). Nine teenth man: O'Callaghan (did not play). UMPIRE.-G. Owens' West Perth opened with the breeze, but Perth, through greater dash and use of quick handball, scored two be hinds soon after the bounce. A long kick by Beveridge gave West Perth a be hind and then Oliphant to Gook to A. Grigg (hand-pass) yielded the first goal, to Perth. Perth was faster than West Perth and was disposing of the ball ac curately, defending well and showing nice combination, although overdoing it in front of goals, where West Perth's back strength made quick action im perative. West Perth was playing as near to its typical sound and well-bal anced game as its sluggishness and the bad playing conditions would allow, but it was handicapped by hesitancy among the forwards. When R. Screaigh was in the scoring area there was a notice able improvement there and two goals

from his boot rut West Perth in front An even quarter ended with West Perth leading, 2.4 to 1.3. The standard of play declined in the second quarter. West Perth lacked de cisiveness and was labouring badly. In stead of going ahead as might have been expected, Perth could not get moving either. Its kicking had gone off and its forward work was very muddling, Gook receiving a lot of attention. However, winning in the air and in the ruck, Perth was in attack most of the time and it gained the lead by a point. Recoverina in the air, West Perth sent the ball down by kicking hard and, apparently, trusting to luck, and a series of marks, one or two of them not clean by any means, produced a goal from Tyson. A repetition of long-kicking tactics gave West Perth a three-goal lead, which Peith, showing a bit more life, reduced to five points. At this stage neither side looked like a winning combination and an uninteresting quarter ended with West Perth 5.5 and Perth 4.6. In the third quarter, Perth had slowed to West Perth's pace. West Perth, stronger in midfield and in forward work, went ahead steadily but without bril liance. For a brief period Perth revived and pressed forward, but it was kicking short and inaccurate and, too slow in front of goal, it missed its chances. The West Perth backs were too strong for their marksmen and they sent the ball back to enable West Perth to increase its lead to 3.4. Perth goaled eventually to make the three-quarter time scores: West Perth, 7.11; Perth, 5.7. The last quarter was a story of chances missed by Perth. The hard go ing had found West Perth wanting in condition so that it became ineffectual as a team and relied on individual efforts. After Perth had goaled, an easy shot yielded only a behind. Then it had every chance of scoring again but through slow thinking and indecision threw away op portunities. At last a goal came, mak ing -the difference four points. Perth was showing a bit more pace and praise worthy determination and it was win ing across the Jeentre for the first time, but it fell down in attack and West Perth's backs saved repeatedly. Despite the fact that Perth was not playing win ning football, it had every chance of winning, but it could not manage more than another behind and the scores were stationary for the last 12 minutes. A tame struggle ended in a shower of rain, with Tyson swinging his boot, a split second too late, to kick the ball through the goal. Final scores: WEST -ERTH . . . 7.13 (55pts.) PERTH ........ . 7.10 (52pts.) Scorers.-West Perth: Screaigh, 4.2; Tyson, 1.2; Lewis and Beveridge, 11 each; Marinko, 0.3; Gregg, 0.2; And erson and Pola, 0.1 each. Perth: Gook, 2.1; A. Grigg, Robson and Headon, 1.2 each; Jarvis, 1.1; Hetherington, 1.0; 011 phant, 02. Screaigh, always up with the play and infusing life into the attack, was prob ably West Perth's most useful man. O'Keefe handled the greasy ball remark ably well and Flemming, Jeavons and Buttsworth were solid in defence, the other backs also doing their share. _Weaver did well on a centre wing and, with McCurdy and L. Walsh, made a line which on the whole took the honours from Perth's centre men. Gregg, Pola and Lewis also were prominent. Oliphant shone in the ruck and was the best man on the ground. Fitzgerald was the mainstay of the defence and Dewar, O'Brien and A. BEDwn also were strong. G. Headon did a lot of good work and H. Grigg made an effective centre, al though beaten in the air by McCurdy. Trainor and M. Jarvis were the best of the others.