McDonald's WAFL Round 3 PreviewFriday, April 1, 2016 - 10:20 AM - by Chris Pike

ROUND 3 of the 2016 McDonald's WAFL season begins on Friday night with the unbeaten Bulldogs hosting the winless Royals while Saturday's action is highlighted by a grand final rematch doubling as the International Football Festival.

Friday night action comes to Fremantle Community Bank Oval with South Fremantle taking on East Perth.

Then on Saturday, West Perth plays Subiaco in a grand final rematch for the International Football Festival at Joondalup's HBF Arena.

The other two Saturday fixtures see Swan Districts take on Peel Thunder at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval and Perth hosts Claremont at Lathlain Park. The 1-1 East Fremantle has the bye.

SOUTH FREMANTLE (2-0, 1st) v EAST PERTH (0-2, 8th) – FREMANTLE COMMUNITY BANK OVAL, FRIDAY 7.30PM
Selected teams 
Broadcast – 720 ABC Perth

South Fremantle has missed the finals the last four years and East Perth have been part of them on each occasion, but it is the Bulldogs who are unbeaten and the Royals winless heading into Friday night's Round 3 opener.

Friday night WAFL football will return to Fremantle Community Bank Oval with South Fremantle looking to improve to 3-0 to start the season for a second straight year under coach Todd Curley.

Meanwhile, East Perth is desperate to avoid slipping to 0-3 to begin 2016 or else the Royals face the prospect of having to come from a long way back to make the finals once more.

The Bulldogs opened the 2016 season with a 35-point win over last year's grand finalists West Perth also at Fremantle Community Bank Oval before downing Swan Districts by 50 points last week at Steel Blue Oval.

South Fremantle did also start 2015 with three straight wins before losing the next three and ending up missing the finals altogether for a fourth successive season, but the Bulldogs will be more confident of maintaining their momentum if they get over the line Friday night.

East Perth is coming off being part of the finals the last four years which has included two grand finals and last year's preliminary final.

But the arrival of Jaymie Graham as coach hasn’t gone to plan just yet in 2016 with a 76-point loss to Claremont in the opening round and then a 31-point defeat to Medibank Stadium co-tenants Subiaco on Good Friday.

Speaking of Graham, the clash on Friday night back at his old stomping ground of Fremantle Community Bank Oval will be the first time he has coached against his old South Fremantle team.

He played 105 games for the Bulldogs, was club captain and a premiership player in 2005 and 2009.

South Fremantle has played the game group of 22 players through the first two rounds of the season. Given the impressive results with the wins over the Falcons and Swans, there's little reason to change.

But Josh Branchi did come off with a corked calf before half-time last week and didn’t take any further part in the game.

With fellow ruckman Brock Higgins still sidelined with injury as well that does leave the Bulldogs a little short if Branchi doesn’t get up to play in the ruck department.

However, Zac Strom did well filling in last week against Swan Districts finishing with 17 possessions and 18 hit outs.

And with the potentially dewy conditions at night at the port, he might be capable of handling that again despite the fact it will be a big task up against East Perth big men Jonathan Giles, Paul Johnson and Fraser McInnes.

Shaun Bewick, Tom Vandeleur and Bailey Matera continue to press their case for selection as well. Bewick had another 21 possessions and seven marks in the reserves last week while Vandeleur had 20 disposals and Matera 31 touches.

East Perth had an improved performance against Subiaco last week following the opening round loss to Claremont, and the Royals look set to have a strengthened line-up for Friday night.

Despite losing Garry Moss to a knee injury, the Royals are still likely to have Fraser McInnes and Mark Hutchings despite both being added to the West Coast squad for the grand final rematch against Hawthorn at the MCG on Sunday.

East Perth is likely to lose half-back Tom Cole who appears the most obvious replacement in the Eagles line-up to replace the injured Xavier Ellis.

The Royals will be further strengthened with the return from injury of West Coast midfielder Chris Masten. A good performance and he will expect to be straight back into the Eagles line-up so he will be keen to impress on Friday night.

Another West Coast midfielder Brant Colledge will also be back for the Royals after being held over as an emergency last week and missing the Good Friday clash with the Eagles playing on Sunday.

Callum Hart, Tom Gorter, Julian Ameduri, Tom Omodei and Agid Gardoud are other East Perth players added to the extended squad after solid form in the reserves on Good Friday in the Royals' win over the Lions.

WEST PERTH (1-1, 5th) v SUBIACO (2-0, 2nd) – HBF ARENA, SATURDAY 2.40PM
Selected teams 
Broadcast – 7mate

A grand final rematch and the annual International Football Festival all add up to a huge day on Saturday at HBF Arena with West Perth hosting Subiaco.

The Falcons and Lions met in last year's grand final with Subiaco going on to win a second straight WAFL premiership with a 66-point victory.

This will be the first time they have met since that day when they do battle at HBF Arena.

West Perth opened its 2016 campaign with a disappointing 35-point loss to South Fremantle at Fremantle Community Bank Oval before bouncing back last Saturday with a 41-point victory over Perth at HBF Arena.

Subiaco, meanwhile, has started 2016 strongly once again with a hard fought eight-point victory over Peel Thunder at Bendigo Bank Stadium and then an impressive 31-point win over Medibank Stadium co-tenants East Perth on Good Friday.

And as if the grand final rematch wasn’t enough of a reason to make it a contest to look forward to, it's also the annual International Football Festival that West Perth hosts at HBF Arena.

This year both West Perth and Subiaco will wear specially designed jumpers for the occasion with plenty of activities planned throughout the day at HBF Arena including a citizenship ceremony, international food stalls and a heap of fun things for the kids to take part in.

The first International Football Festival contest took place back in 2012 at HBF Arena with Subiaco winning a thriller over West Perth by two points in front of a crowd of 6044.

Then in 2013, East Fremantle was West Perth's opponent with the Sharks upsetting the premiership bound Falcons. Another good crowd of 6195 turned out for the occasion.

Subiaco has been consolidated as the regular opponent since with 5362 watching as the Lions won by 25 points in 2014 and then last year, 7849 people watched as the Falcons prevailed by 10 points.

To coincide with the International Football Festival, Russian-born Seva Mozhaev will make his return for the first time since Round 23, 2014.

He suffered a knee injury that ruined his 2015 but he is back for 2016 and following 61 hit outs in tough conditions in the reserves last week against Perth, he is into the Falcons team to face the Lions with Chris Keunen ruled out with a knee injury.

Another big man Mark Hamilton could also come back into the West Perth team with that decision likely to depend on the conditions on Saturday at HBF Arena.

Kody Manning is another important member of West Perth's team who hasn’t been able to get up after suffering an injury last week against Perth while at this stage Max Duffy and Rohan Kerr appear to be right to take their places in the line-up.

Blake Wilhelm is likely to return straight back into the league side following 24 possessions and six inside-50 entries in the reserves last week.

Nathan Alexandre is in the mix for his league debut as well with James Batterham also a chance to play following 14 disposals and 10 tackles last week in the reserves.

Subiaco has begun the season impressively with the wins over the Thunder and Royals so there is little reason for coach Jarrad Schofield to look to make changes with the returning Greg Broughton still unavailable for selection.

There are no outs to the Lions team at this stage from the line-up that beat East Perth on Good Friday but James Garcia, Shaquille McKenzie and Justin Joyce have been added to the squad.

Joyce collected 29 possessions last week in the reserves for Subiaco against East Perth while McKenzie had 17 touches and Garcia 14 to go with five marks and five inside 50s.

SWAN DISTRICTS (0-2, 9th) v PEEL THUNDER (1-1, 6th) – STEEL BLUE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Selected teams 
Broadcast – KIX Digital

Swan Districts faces a big task to get its first win of 2016 on the board this Saturday with Peel Thunder coming to Steel Blue Oval with plenty of tall forwards and the black-and-whites likely to be without their two best and most experienced defenders.

Swans have made a horror beginning to the 2016 season with a 49-point loss to East Fremantle and 50-point defeat to South Fremantle.

That saw Swan Districts record its lowest ever score of 2.6 (18) last Saturday in the loss to the Bulldogs at Steel Blue Oval.

Now the black-and-whites have a big job to try to take it up to a Peel Thunder team who will feature Tanner Smith and Matt Taberner in a dangerous forward-line.

Making matters worse for Swans is that star centre half-back Justin Simpson remains sidelined with a hamstring injury while captain Tallan Ames is also likely to miss with a hamstring complaint of his own.

However, there's no doubt that a win against the odds for Swans against the Thunder will steady their season early in 2016 and get it right back on track.

Peel opened its campaign coming off a maiden finals appearance with a tight eight-point defeat to Subiaco before bouncing back with a three-point win over East Fremantle having kicked the last two games. Both took place at the Thunder's home ground of Bendigo Bank Stadium.

Rudy Riddoch and Warrick Wilson are two players who go out of the Swan Districts team from the disappointing showing last week against South Fremantle.

Justin Simpson, Murray Newman and Nathan Blakely remain out of the black-and-whites team making their job tougher of trying to get their opening win of 2016.

Captain Tallan Ames is also battling a hamstring injury that he suffered early in last week's clash with the Bulldogs but he will be desperately required to provide his leadership for Swans but to also match up on either Tanner Smith or Matt Taberner in Peel's dangerous forward-line.

Jacob Burnham, Jacob Coniglio, Steven Wityk, Tyson Hodge and Jack Watson are the players in line to come into the black-and-whites side.

Burnham had 20 possessions and six tackles in the reserves last Saturday, Coniglio 15 disposals, Wityk 17 touches, seven marks and a goal, Hodge 10 possessions, six marks and a goal, and Watson 17 disposals and six marks as he chases a league debut.

Fremantle's opening round AFL defeat at the hands of the Western Bulldogs has had ramifications, some good and bad, down at Peel with the Thunder chasing successive WAFL wins.

Tendai Mzungu and Matt Taberner were two players dropped from the Dockers team that lost at Etihad Stadium and will line-up for the Thunder with the former providing grunt and quality in the middle, and the latter another strong marking option in attack alongside Tanner Smith.

Jonathon Griffin was another to be dropped by Fremantle and he could also come in as a late inclusion to help out Jack Hannath in the ruck for the Thunder.

Another Docker Hayden Crozier is also back for Peel with Ben Hancock, Andrew Haydon, Nathan Fahey, Mitch Gill, Josh McMahon and Karl Collard all in the mix to play.

Haydon was particularly effective in the reserves last Saturday with 27 possessions and 12 tackles while Collard kicked two goals. Both will make their league debut if they play.

PERTH (0-1, 7th) v CLAREMONT (1-0, 3rd) – LATHLAIN PARK, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Selected teams 
Broadcast – 91.3 SportFM 

Perth had plenty to be positive about in its opening game of the season last week and now the Demons have a significant milestone to celebrate this Saturday as they host the unbeaten Claremont at Lathlain Park.

Last Saturday might have still ended up being a 41-point defeat for Perth at HBF Arena against last year's grand finalists West Perth, but there was plenty for coach Earl Spalding to like.

Clint Jones was outstanding with 45 possessions, 17-year-old debutant Zac Fisher was exciting with 23 touches and two goals while Angus Graham, Julian Jacobs, Liam McKenna and Jared Bell were others to impress.

Now the Demons play their first game of the season at home this Saturday but the challenge doesn’t get any easier up against a Claremont team fresh off the bye after a dominant 76-point Round 1 victory over East Perth.

Claremont has won 10 of its last 13 meetings against Perth as well but the positive for the Demons is that they have managed to score a win over the Tigers in each of the last two seasons.

Another positive for Perth in Saturday's season-opening loss to West Perth was the return to WAFL football of key defender Aaron Zucconi.

Following the retirement of Chris Billings, Perth was desperate for a big, strong key back and Zucconi fits that perfectly and he started the season well helping keep Michael Lourey goalless.

Despite having now only played one WAFL game since 2012, the 29-year-old will play his 100th appearance with the Demons this Saturday. His reward will be a likely battle with 2011 premiership player and Simpson Medallist Beau Maister.

Zucconi made his debut for Perth back in 2005 and despite a year off in 2010, was a strong rock at full-back for the Demons up until the end of 2012.

Now he returns as a veteran influence who can have a physical impact in a young team looking to improve in 2016.

Three players have been named out of the Perth team at this stage from the side that lost to West Perth last Saturday.

Ruckman Christian Eyres has been omitted with coach Earl Spalding to back in Angus Graham to do the majority of the work against Claremont pair Darcy Cameron and Mitch Andrews.

Tough defender Toby Gianatti is another to be out after being suspended for two weeks while captain Dene White has succumbed to a troublesome ankle injury.

Sandover Medallist Aidan Tropiano was also out of last Saturday's game from early in the second quarter but he is expected to overcome the corked thigh he suffered to take his place in the home opener for the Demons this week.

Laine Wilkins looms as a likely inclusion for the Demons to play his first game for the club since crossing from Peel Thunder in the off-season.

Brett Wolfenden had an interrupted pre-season but had 18 touches, six tackles and a goal in the reserves last week to push his case for a return as well.

Kodie Fleay, Matthew Taylor, Corey Byrne and Marshall Jones are other players looking to push up from the reserves for a league opportunity with Perth.

Claremont had a dominant performance in Round 1 beating East Perth and have now had the week to freshen up any sore bodies to get ready to face Perth on Saturday.

As a result, nobody has been named out of the Tigers' line-up at this stage with Zac Langdon, Harrison McCracken and Adam Speed added to the squad.

A fortnight ago in the reserves against the Royals, Langdon finished with 19 possessions and six tackles, McCracken 21 touches and six marks, and Speed eight disposals.