Round Sixteen
Willagee Bears 34 – Fremantle Roosters 36
By PETER ROWE
Fremantle nearly let the win slip from their grasp late on at Webber Reserve, hanging on to confirm home advantage when the two teams meet in the Fuel to Go and Play Premiership elimination final in two weeks.
Leading 36-10 at one point, the game looked lost for the home side, but a spirited fightback, led by captain Kainoa Gudgeon, almost saw them take the chocolates.
“We let them back for sure,” Roosters player-coach Duane Butler said. “We were well in front and got complacent and fatigue set in.
“We didn’t control the ruck and while I’m delighted we got the win with so many players missing, I was equally disappointed with the last 15 to 20 minutes of play.”
Bears coach Nelson Davis had an opposite view.
“We started slowly and were our own worst enemy,” Davis said.
“We didn’t complete sets and they took advantage. Too many errors, but we came back well in the second half.”
Centre Eli Beattie and a hat-trick from winger James Antonio had given the Roosters a commanding lead before a double from John Leota pulled the Bears back into the contest.
Wiremu Paki and Lleyton Cameron extended the lead, a penalty kick from Lewis Goodsell and a score from Butler looked to have settled the tie – before the fightback began.
With several players backing up from reserves the Roosters found themselves in the back foot as centre Jonathan Araya Alivaa and backrower Derek Chizuni closed the gap.
Frontrower Marlo Tago was Davis’ MVP. “He had a cracking game coming up from reserves,” he said.
When Jaydon Solomon, who had earlier played a full 80 minutes in reserves, dropped back to fullback, and then made an error, Gudgeon pounced to score. Game on.
“Jaydon just lost the ball, but it was fatigue as he had played for reserves earlier,” Butler said.
“We let in four quick tries and we then had to battle to stay in front.
When Andrew Bannister closed the gap to two points it really was game on, but to their credit the tired legs of the visiting side managed to find just that little bit more to claim the victory.
“I have a few selection headaches ahead of our next game,” Butler admitted. “Positive ones, as we will have a different team on the field – as I suspect will Willagee. It should be a cracking game.”
Davis will have a full squad to choose from as well in two weeks.
“I had five missing for the game and we’ll have our strongest forward pack available.”
