East Perth has slipped to sixth place on the WAFL ladder following a 22-point loss to Subiaco at Medibank Stadium on Saturday.
The Royals now face an uphill battle to scrape into the top five and must win its last two matches of the season against second-placed South Fremantle and fifth-placed East Fremantle if it’s any chance of featuring in the finals series.
The home side took it up to the two-time reigning premiers in the first quarter, matching the Lions’ 1.4.
East Perth hung with Subiaco in the second term and only trailed the visitors by seven points at the main break, but the Lions' midfielder contingent seized control of the match in the penultimate term.
Subiaco made the most of its ascendancy at the centre bounce and stoppages and only errant kicking stopped them from running away with the game.
East Perth did its best to make up its 22-point deficit in the final term, but Subiaco’s stubborn defence only allowed them to register 2.1 as it cruised to a 9.14 (68) to 6.10 (46) victory.
In spite of the loss, Royals senior coach Jaymie Graham said he was happy with the performance of his senior players.
Lewis Jetta topped East Perth’s disposal count with 24 touches, Patrick McGinnity netted a goal from his 23 posessions and ruckman Jonathan Giles snared two majors on top of his 24 hit-outs.
“Lewis got the ball in his hands a lot, which is what we want to see,” Graham said.
“He has shown a really good attitude and brought good work rate. He had 14 handball receives, which is representative of his work rate.
“Ginna bounced back from a quieter game the week before. He brought his usual hunt and competitive instinct in the contest. He also spread hard. He had eight inside 50s and seven tackles.
“Giles was really strong in his ruck work and owned the drop zone against his opponent. He was also powerful in his marking contests around the ground. He could have potentially taken a couple more marks inside 50; he put himself in good positions.”
Corey Adamson and Brant Colledge collected 21 and 17 disposals while attempting to play a run-with role on experienced Subiaco centre Chris Phelan.
The pair held the engine room specialist to just 15 disposals and one goal on Saturday.
“They did a dual role and shared that load and did a good job,” Graham said.
Half-back Tom Cole won his own ball 19 times, Tom Lamb could have had a bag if not for some skewed kicks and Luke Partington continued his good form with 16 gives in the clinches of the contest.
Mitch Brown and Malcolm Karpany collected 15 disposals each, Paddy Brophy ran well out of defence and moved the ball along 12 times while Jack Redden notched one goal to go with his 9 possessions and five tackles.
Fraser McInnes, who played limited minutes, amassed 10 hit-outs, seven touches and three marks.
