The Fremantle Roosters have powered home to a 22-12 win over rivals North Beach Sea Eagles in a rematch of last years Grand Final at Ken Allen Field.
The Sea Eagles would take first blood after a differential penalty in front of the sticks and the followup set would see Charles Pulsford lay the ball off for Kahan Joyce-Vaughan who powered over the line.
Pulsford picked himself up and slotted the conversion to give the visitors an early six-point lead.
The five-eighth would snare another two after the visitors forced consecutive penalties, slotting the ball right in front of the goal.
The last ten minutes of the half would be all Fremantle, with Reggy Manu opening the scoring for the side after some great initiative by Blake Hignett to keep the ball in play.
And just before the break, they’d snare the lead after a gut busting run from Bjorn Crotty eventually found its way for Ezra Taomia to power over for the try which was comfortably converted.
Both sides ended the tense opening proceedings with everything to play for, heading into the sheds with the home side up 10-8.
The Sea Eagles would come out of the break firing, forcing an early penalty but Pulsford drew his kick wide, blowing an early opportunity to tie up the scores.
Just over ten minutes into the second half and North Beach would take the lead after drawing the play wide and Tye Saus crossed comfortably to give the Sea Eagles the lead.
However, this would lead to a consistent period of Fremantle pressure, and within five minutes parity would be returned for the home side.
After turning over the ball to the Sea Eagles, a huge hit from Taka Penaha saw the ball fall loose and some delightful play from Reggie Manu saw him draw out the Sea Eagles defence before laying it off Anton Unai to score his maiden try for the Roosters.
With the pressure ramping up, a missed conversion kept the visitors in the clash and they nearly took advantage with fifteen minutes to go, after a high and wide Delane Edwards pass was almost snatched by Greg Ranga but the Roosters line held strong.
Edwards would atone for his earlier pass though as Fremantle went for the jugular in the last few minutes, his vision unlocking a handful of teammates to his left and Wilson crossed to extend the lead to six with just minutes to go.
Tye Saus and Jeremy Wallace almost tied things up at the death for North Beach after the former went on a mazy 30m run followed up with some electric play by the reigning Ken Allen Medallist but again the Roosters defence held firm.
But for all their effort, a Pulsford kick was charged down by the Roosters and Duane Butler ran the length of the field to lock the two competition points for the home side.
In results from around the grounds, the Rockingham Sharks gave their home fans something to cheer about with a resounding 12-6 win over the South Perth Lions in Port Kennedy.
Sadly, the Willagee Bears pulled out of the 2020 season overnight and it is yet to be seen if Joondalup Giants will be awarded two competition points for the bye.
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