Seagulls knock Royals from cup
East Perth squandered their chance to book a place in the Foxtel Cup grand final, suffering a 24-point defeat to VFL side Williamstown in the semifinal at Patersons Stadium last night.
The Royals pushed their opponents until the dying stages, but lost touch in the final five minutes as goals to Anton Woods, Shaun Wyatt and Kane Lambert sealed a 10.11 (71) to 7.5 (47) win for Williamstown.
Lambert was best-on-ground with 26 disposals and four clear-ances in a strong Seagulls midfield.
Williamstown, the 2011 Foxtel Cup champions, take on West Perth in the decider at Geelong's Simonds Stadium on July 22.
East Perth will assess injuries to Garry Moss (ankle) and Kyle Anderson (back) this week, with both in doubt for the WAFL game against Peel Thunder at Medibank Stadium on Saturday.
Wary of the need to back up for that fixture, the Royals fielded a team below full-strength last night.
They were boosted by the inclusion of seven West Coast-listed players, most of them inexperienced.
Williamstown opened the scoring through Sean Hetherington and looked the better side early.
East Perth responded with clever snap shots from Eagles pair Adam Carter and Josh Hill to take a slender four-point lead at quarter time.
The Royals extended the advantage early in the second term through Fraser McInnes and a brilliant snap on the boundary line from Hill.
But the Seagulls hit back, with goals to Jake Owen, Anthony Anastasio and Jack Johnstone to lead by two points at half-time.
The intensity lifted a gear in the third quarter and the teams went goal-for-goal before Williamstown strung two together in the dying stages of the term to turn for home eight points up.
The final quarter was a struggle and East Perth wasted chances to close the deficit before Woods put the result beyond doubt with a calm finish from 50m at the 15-minute mark.
East Perth coach Brian Dawson was gracious in defeat, saying Williamstown were too good on the night.
"There's absolutely no excuses on our part, we just weren't good enough," he said.
"They played the way we probably thought they would.
"They were very hard and tough inside and they just kept spreading hard forward and we probably just didn't match their intensity inside.
"They had the edge in intensity and desire. It's disappointing."
