Swans finally win at home against Eagles

IT might be one of the most famous grounds in the state but for Swan Districts playing at Steel Blue Oval hasn’t been a source of wins in recent times, but that changed on Saturday with the 14-point win against the West Coast Eagles.

Remarkably Swan Districts had lost its last nine home matches at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval leading into Saturday's contest with the last win at the famous ground for the Black Ducks coming in Round 9 last year against Perth.

Since then Swans lost their last five games at Steel Blue Oval in 2018 and then the first four matches of this year against South Fremantle, Perth, Subiaco and East Fremantle despite 18 points being the biggest margin.

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But the Black Ducks finally gave their home fans something to cheer about with the strong win against the Eagles on Saturday.

Matt Riggio delivered an outstanding performance for Swan Districts finishing the afternoon with 26 possessions, 11 tackles and two goals.

Corey Gault also kicked two goals for Swans to go with 15 disposals and 17 hit outs.

George Hampson compiled another 27 possessions for Swan Districts while Jesse Turner gathered 22 disposals, Josh Cipro 20, Steven Payne 16, Tony Notte 16 and Warrick Wilson 15.

Swan Districts returned to Steel Blue Oval on Saturday looking to make up for its most disappointing performance of the season and the Black Ducks did do impressively with a 14-point win over the West Coast Eagles.

Swans and the Eagles met for the first ever time in the WAFL at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval on Saturday with the Black Ducks looking to bounce back from the previous week's loss to East Fremantle also on home soil.

While Swans had lost four of their five games prior to that this season, even in losses to South Fremantle, Perth, West Perth and Subiaco there had been plenty of positive signs that the black-and-whites weren’t too far away.

In fact, they had chances to win each of those games but it wasn’t the case against East Fremantle so the pressure was on to bounce back against an Eagles team who had struggled in their past two matches too against South Fremantle and East Perth, losing by a combined 93 points.

It was all Swan Districts for the majority of the game on Saturday, though, with the home team kicking the only three goals of the first quarter with West Coast managing just the five behinds.

Both teams kicked two goals apiece in the second term which means Swans were still in control by half-time leading the Eagles by 14 points.

It was again three goals apiece in the third stanza with Swan Districts heading into the three quarter-time break with an 18-point advantage.

Both sides booted two goals each in the last quarter and that meant Swan Districts went on to score the 10.10 (70) to 7.14 (56) victory.

The win improves Swans to a 2-5 record on the season after seven rounds heading into Saturday's clash with Perth at Lathlain's Mineral Resources Park. It will be the first team Swan Districts has played twice this season.

The Eagles now slip to a 2-5 record on the season having lost three matches on the trot.

WAFL ROUND 7

SWAN DISTRICTS        3.2    5.3    8.7    10.10    (70)
WEST COAST EAGLES        0.5    2.7    5.7    7.14    (56)

SWAN DISTRICTS – Goals: Gault, Riggio 2; Hampson, Glass-McCasker, Noble, Kohlmann, Notte, Italiano.
Best: Riggio, Hampson, Gault, Cipro, Turner, Kohlmann, Notte.
WEST COAST EAGLES – Goals: Cameron 4; Reid 2; Ah Chee.
Best: Grey, Smith, Cameron, Fisher, O'Neill, Ah Chee, Rotham, Brooksby.