Royals slaughter Falcons

by LES EVERETT

IT looked over when East Perth led West Perth by 32 points at quarter time in the WAFL grand final.

It was over when the lead had been extended to 44 at half time and the Falcons had scored just one goal.

And in the second half some Royals fans began to feel sorry for the hapless Falcons as they slipped and fumbled and bumbled their way against an incredibly disciplined and well drilled opponent. When the final siren sounded the score was East Perth 15.14 (104) to West Perth 5.14 (44).

East Perth ruckman Ryan Turnbull won his second successive Simpson Medal but the Royals had many fine players. Judd Lalich capped his return to the WAFL with three goals in an lively display; Paul Ridley also kicked three goals and the defence led by Aaron Marley and Dean Brennan proved too much for the Falcons. There were also notable contributions from David Swan, Devan Perry, Grant Holman, Brent Cowell, Troy Butcher, Jeremy Humm and Shaun Baxter.

A crowd of 31,382 saw the slaughter on a wet afternoon - almost as many as turned up to see Brisbane play Port Adelaide in the AFL preliminary final.

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