Sun State edges Perth 179-154 in tense Oceania regional clash

Sun State Swarm beat Perth Evils 179-154 in the 1 p.m. Saturday opener at the 2026 WFTDA Oceania Regional Championships, turning a seeded No. 4 vs. No. 5 matchup into one of the weekend’s most competitive bouts. The 25-point margin never fully reflected how long Perth stayed close enough to threaten a flip.

The tournament ran June 27-28 at Leisuretime Sports Precinct in Norlane, Victoria, Australia, with South Sea Roller Derby as host. WFTDA set the Oceania bracket up to decide the final two teams advancing to WFTDA Championships in Malmö, Sweden, on October 15-18, 2026, which gave this game weight beyond a single placement result.

Flat Track Stats had the teams almost side by side before the first whistle. Sun State entered ranked fourth in Oceania with a 173.90 GPA, while Perth sat fifth at 163.82, a gap small enough to make the result look more like a rankings fight than a mismatch. That narrow separation showed up in the final score, even as Sun State found just enough separation late to keep the margin from collapsing.

The result also fit the recent history between the clubs. Sun State had already beaten Perth 117-106 earlier in 2025 at Tropicarnage Cup, and the 179 points Friday’s matchup produced suggested the same basic pattern, with Sun State landing the cleaner scoring runs when the bout opened up. Perth’s 154 points were enough to keep the pressure on, but not enough to wrest control in a tournament setting where every jam carries extra cost.

The broader numbers underline how little margin there was between the programs. Flat Track Stats lists Perth’s closest ever game as a 161-160 loss to Canberra on Nov. 21, 2015, while Sun State’s closest ever game came in a 172-171 loss to Boston A on Sept. 3, 2016. This meeting belonged in that company, another tight, physical result that left Sun State with the stronger position in the bracket and Perth with work to do in its next outing.