West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Monday 3 July 1939, page 21


A DESULTORY GAME. East Perth Defeats Swan Districts After a desultory and uninspiring game, which failed utterly to arouse the crowd to any degree of enthusiasm, East Perth leisurely defeated Swan Districts by 31 points at Perth Oval on Saturday. Almost every football sin was committed, particularly by the losing side, but of East Perth's display it must be said that it was workmanlike, with occaisonal flashes of system. East Perth had a matchwinning advantage across the centre and also dominated the ruck, and its forwards did look for leads and kick to them; its backs were solid, and their task was made easier by the persistency with which the Swan Districts men, whose attacks were the result more of determination than scince, punted the ball high. They apparently trusted to luck that one of their smaller forwards might get in, but more often than not they did not. Two things stoodd out-Cronin's accurate foot-passing and the frequency with which men on both sides allowed themselves tg be caught holding the ball. The teams were:EAST PERTH.--Backs: Mussman. Lockyer. Thomas. Half-backs: H. Smith. Starr. R. Graham. Centres: Miller, Cronin. E. Sweet. Half-forwards: Broom. Neeson. J. Sweet. Forwards: B.. Ryan, Gardlner. F. Patterson. Buck: L. Graham. Fogarty. A. Campbell (rover). Nineteenth man: Steele (replaced Broom. recurrence of leg trouble, at threequarter time).SWAN SWAN DISTRICTS.-Backs: Holmea Zilko, Bastow. Half-backs: Moiler. Andrews, Chester. Centres: Krepp. Sinclair. Mosey. Halfforwards: H. White. Rosewarne. Darmody. Forwards: Maynard. J. Clarke, Pearce. Ruck: Murray, Ditchburn, Sweetapple (rover). Nineteenth man: Jones (did not play). UMPIRE: G. Owens. A light breeze assisted Swan Districts, but though it had the better of the early exchanges, it was handicapped by poor forward play. Gardiner goaled for East Perth after about ten minutes, and then followed a drab period, punctuated only by some solid defence work by Moiler and Mussman, before two goals to Swan Districts gave it the lead by 2.3 to 1.4 at quaiter-time. Pour quick goals to East Perth gave it a grip on the game in the second quarter, these being the direct result of E. Sweet's good leads, which Cmnin'did not neiglect. Swan Districts' play was practically devoid of system, and Mussman was able to clear at will. East lek .s th sten .eside, and it had.a 67a off" 26 points t (.7 t 2.5) at halftime. Crowded forward play and aimless klcking retarded Swan Districts in the third quarter, and in the last few minutes it managed to equal its second term score-two behinds. East Perth's defenders were solid and were backing each other up well, and its forwards did try to keep the play open and take advantage of the moves started by its centre line. 'East Perth led by 8.9 to 2.7 at three-quarter time, and in the last term did not appear to bustle itself unduly. Five minutes from the end, Pearce goaled for Swan Districts and then another goal from Sweetapple ended a tame game with the scores as follows: PERTH ...... 9.12 (66 pts.) SWAN DISTRICTS . 4.11 (35 pts.). Scorers.--East Perth: Gardiner, 4.2; Campbell, 2.2; Neeson, 1.5; J. Sweet, L1; L. Graham, 1.0; Patterson and Fogarty, D.1. Swan Districts: Sweetapple, 2.1; Pearse, 1.2; Clarke, 1.1; Andrews and Darmody, 0.2; Murray and White, 0.1; me behind forced through. With a neat display on the left wing, E. Sweet was East Perth's best player. E' led out smartly and passed accurately, and his' beating of Krepp had much to lo with the breakdown of the Swan Dis_ricts team. Miller was also prominent n the wing, and Cronin, although he did iot handle the ball a great deal, must be ranked as one of the best because of the accuracy of his kicking. He and Sweet were directly responsible for more than half of the East Perth score. Mussman was the best of the backs in the first half, and from then on did not have much to do, and Thomas, Smith, Lockyer and Starr also did well in defence. B. Ryano and L. Graham won in the ruck, and Gardiner made the most of his opportunities. Few, if any, of the Swan Districts men played well throughout. Holmes was very solid in the back lines, and Chester was a willing worker in the ruck where he took several good marks. Moiler's clearances saved the side from being further behind at half-time, Sinclair was frequently in the picture in the centre, and Ditchburn tried hard to instil a little

system into the team; his marking was reliable. Rosewarne's task was made almost impossible through the ball being kicked high, but he was a trier, and of the others, those who were noticed at times were Zilko, Krepp, Sweetapple, Darmody and Murray.