By Gary Stocks

Losing is bad enough at the best of times. When it is predominantly by your own hand, in a clutch game, the pain is magnified. Infinitely.

When the O’Rourke Realty A-Grade tackled Mt Lawley at Percy Doyle Oval on Saturday the Beach needed to win to keep alive finals prospects. And they fell short by 40 points in a disappointing performance.

To put the game into some kind of context, the Beach went inside 50 about 15 more times than the opposition, and were outscored 8.11 (59) to 15.9 (99). Mt Lawley kicked a goal, on average, every second entry inside the scoring zone.

Mostly, those opportunities were presented after the Beach turned the ball over in the midfield as they suffered defeat by their own hand – or foot.

Kyle Cranley was again outstanding up forward, with Jamie Sajich and Marty Walley, while Ben Sweeny continued his break-out year in defence with Scott Ward and co-captain Beau Witheridge worked hard through the midfield.

The Beach can still sneak into the finals, but must rely on other results falling their way and a massive victory against Whitford in the final round of the season on Saturday.

The Credent Financial Services A-Reserves, conversely, produced perhaps their best win of the season with a sublime performance to beat the highly regarded Mt Lawley by 32 points.

Sacha Kernutt and Adam Miotti kicked 10 goals between them while Khalil Campbell played strongly through the midfield with Jackson Harwood, while ruckman Ross Holdman also exerted a big influence on the result.

The Coast to Coast Imports Phil Scott Colts continued their impeccable build-up to finals with another exceptional and dominant performance against Mt Lawley, crushing the Hawks by 106 points.

Led by Ryan Ekert, Tom DeCourtenay and Joel Brown, the Beach controlled the game from the outset and are building confidence every week as the finals loom.

It was committed four-quarter performance to which the opposition had no answer.

The Brett Jones Colts, however, found North Fremantle an obstacle too great to conquer, falling by 21 points at Gil Fraser Reserve.

It was a day when nothing really fell the way of the colts, but they chipped away and will be ready for finals action this week. Jimmy Tonus, Luke Spies and Jordan Mesiti all played strongly for the Beach.

The Cabling Network Solutions D1-Grade earned a week off with a convincing victory against North Fremantle locking down top spot on the ladder.

Youngster Jack Flynn chipped in with three goals while veteran Chris Perkin was outstanding in conjunction with Ben Bubnich, Kent Traeger and Ben Clarke.

The Hybrid Linings D1-Reserves were soundly beaten by North Fremantle while the Express Bins E2-Grade was also defeated by Willetton, but play them again this week so didn’t want to show their hand.

Michael Quartermaine continued his solid season, with Tim Grapiglia, Adam Purcell and Shivdeep Gill also chiming in with useful contributions.

Results
Round 17-18
O’Rourke Realty A-Grade
Mt Lawley           4.0          6.4          12.5        15.9        99
North Beach       2.4          4.8           6.8          8.11       59
Goals – North Beach: Cranley 3; Sajich, Walley 2; Alone 1. Best – North Beach: Cranley, Sweeny, Witheridge, Ward, Walley, Yakas.

Credent Financial Services A-Reserves
North Beach       5.0          6.4          8.7          15.12     102
Mt Lawley           4.1          6.2          9.2           11.4        70
Goals – North Beach: Kernutt 6; Miotti 4; Cownie 2; Melvin, Holdman, Christie 1. Best – North Beach: Kernutt, Campbell, Harwood, Miotti, Holdman.

Coast to Coast Imports Phil Scott Colts
North Beach       5.3          8.6          12.13     17.19     121
Mt Lawley           0.0          1.2            2.2          2.3         15
Goals – North Beach: Ellis 5; Ekert 4; Cameron 2; Csar, DeCourtenay, Lynch, Morgan, Swain, Brown 1. Best – North Beach: DeCourtenay, Ekert, Brown, Dalton, Ellis.

Brett Jones Colts
North Frem        3.1          5.2          9.6          12.8        80
North Beach       1.1          4.1          6.1          9.5         59
Goals – North Beach: Bryce, Green 2; Hart, Mairata, Mesiti, Orr-Young, Premici 1. Best – North Beach: Tonus, Mesiti, Spies, Segal.

Cabling Network Solutions D1-Grade
North Beach       1.2          3.7          4.12        8.12        60
North Frem        2.3          3.6          3.7          5.9           39
Goals – North Beach: Flynn 3; Cosgrove, Spiccia 2; B Clarke 1. Best – North Beach: Perkin, Bubnich, B Clarke, Traeger.

Hybrid Linings D1-Reserves
North Frem        3.4          9.4          14.6        19.7        121
North Beach       1.0          1.2          3.4          3.4           22
Goals – North Beach: Missikos 2; Tincknell 1.

Express Bins E2-Grade
Willetton             3.3          5.4          5.6          10.7        67
North Beach       1.3          3.5          3.7           3.9         27
Goals – North Beach: Brown, Smith, Karpincyck 1. Best – North Beach: Quartermaine, Grapiglia, Purcell, Gill, Padgett.