By Luke Quinlivan

The Mariners secured top spot tonight defeating the Barbarian composite team 9-6 at Bicton Pool. 

In front of a full capacity crowd, the hosts got themselves off to a clean start, courtesy of some Daniel Lawrence magic. After scoring his first from out top, he then gave an assist to Aaron Younger, resulting in a swift two goal lead for Fremantle. The Mariners finished the first quarter 3-0 up.

The Barbarians picked up their bundle in the second quarter, but were unable to catch up to Fremantle’s three goal head start.

The two youngster goal keepers stole the show tonight with Edward Slade of the Barbarians making a solid six saves in the first half. Later in the second, young Fremantle goal keeper, Bill Christensen, saved the Mariners’ bacon making a crucial six saves including an amazing one-on-none save against Croatian World Champion, Paulo Obradovic.

The Barbarians will now play Japan tomorrow morning in a dead rubber. They will have a chance for revenge later in the evening where they will play Fremantle again in the Gold Medal Final. Tomorrow night’s game should see Daniel Varga back in the side for Fremantle, who did not play tonight.   

Fremantle: 9

James Stanton (GK), Mike Bourne, Tim Cleland, Jack Collier, Sam Quinn, Jamie Beadsworth (c) [3], Grant Richardson [1], Aaron Younger [1], Joel Swift, James Fannon [1], Alex Petrov, Daniel Lawrence [3], Perry Short, Bill Christensen (GK).

Barbarians: 6

Edward SLADE (GK), Christian HOAD, Dan YOUNG, Sandro SUKNO [1], Maro JOKOVIC, Clancy NEESHAM, Aidan ROACH, Sam MCGREGOR, Regan BURROWS [1], Niksa DOBUD [1], Ryan MCCARTHY [2], Paulo OBRADOVIC [1], James SANDMAN.

Photography by Harry Miller - Spectrum TV