South Fremantle mounted a late comeback to charge to their third victory in a row, downing Swan Districts by 11 points at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.
Having come up with only three goals to three-quarter-time in a contest which fell well short of any great heights, the Bulldogs broke the the shackles in the final term, coming up with four to ensure a 7.10 (52) to 5.11 (41) win.
A defeat which has all but quashed any flickering hopes of making a late charge into the finals places will have an especially sour taste for Swans, who lost captain and Sandover Medal contender Jesse Turner to a hamstring injury in the first half.
Already without Noah Strom, Trey Ruscoe and Jamaine Jones, the ranks of South Fremantle’s stars thinned further with the late withdrawal of Matthew Parker due to a hamstring injury, continuing a disjointed season for the dynamic on-baller.
But they were able to find enough contributors when it mattered most, with veteran Jake Florenca (29 disposals, one goal) continuing a strong season and Roan O’Hehir holding his nerve to slot a pair of crucial goals in the final term.
Swans were best served by Clint Hinchliffe, who continued a strong return season to the State league by winning a game-high 33 disposals.
Moments of quality were only few and far between in a first half the visitors had the better of before the game well and truly devolved into an arm wrestle in the third term, with neither side able to find the major opening.
A run of 16 behinds on the bounce was at long last snapped at the 12-minute mark of the final quarter by O’Hehir, and Isiah Winder (22 disposals, one goal) quickly followed up to cut his side’s deficit back to the barest of margins.
South Fremantle’s first 11 scoring shots of the game netted only three goals but they were able to find their radar when it mattered most.
Florenca nailed a set shot as the clock ticked into added time to give them their first lead of the day, and O’Hehir followed up in the same fashion minutes later to all but seal the result.
SCOREBOARD
SOUTH FREMANTLE 1.0, 3.1, 3.7, 7.10 (52)
SWAN DISTRICTS 2.4, 5.4, 5.8, 5.11 (41)
Goals – SOUTH FREMANTLE: R O’Hehir 2 J Florenca I Winder E Graham C Clarke-Dehring A Drage.
SWAN DISTRICTS: L Kohlmann 2 C Ernst 2 O Harvey.
Best – SOUTH FREMANTLE: J Florenca T Blechynden H Free C Pearson R O’Hehir.
SWAN DISTRICTS: C Hinchliffe J Cipro C Loftus B Watson J McLachlan.
Injuries – SOUTH FREMANTLE: M Parker (hamstring) and A Ferreira (calf) replaced in the selected side by C Clarke-Dehring and L Cattalini. SWAN DISTRICTS: J Turner (hamstring).
Umpires: M Forsyth R Harrison J Kerr W Turner. Crowd: 1577 at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.