McDonald's WAFL Round 4 PreviewFriday, April 8, 2016 - 10:36 AM - by Chris Pike

ROUND 4 of the 2016 McDonald's WAFL Premiership Season is split between two days this weekend with the Tigers, Demons, Sharks and Falcons shooting for their second wins of the year, the Lions to stay unbeaten and the Royals and Swans to get off the mark.

The round gets underway on Saturday afternoon at 1.45pm with East Fremantle playing West Perth at ATOM Stadium.

Then at 2.15pm on Saturday it will be a Western Derby preview at Bendigo Bank Stadium with Peel Thunder taking on East Perth.

There are then two matches on Sunday afternoon with Claremont taking a home game to Steel Blue Oval to face Swan Districts while Subiaco will then host Perth at Medibank Stadium.

The league-leading South Fremantle has the bye with all three grades of the Bulldogs having gone through the opening three rounds unbeaten.

EAST FREMANTLE (1-1, 5th) v WEST PERTH (1-2, 6th) – ATOM STADIUM, SATURDAY 1.45PM
Selected teams 
Broadcast – 91.3 SportFM 

East Fremantle returns from a bye after a loss that was tough to swallow against Peel Thunder with the Sharks hosting West Perth also coming off a defeat with both teams aiming for their second wins of the 2016 season.

The Sharks started the season impressively with a 49-point win over Swan Districts at ATOM Stadium to begin coach Rob Wiley's rein in style. They then appeared on track to make it two straight wins until Peel kicked the last two goals in Round 2 to snatch the three-point victory.

West Perth, meanwhile, had a win in Round 2 over Perth by 41 points but either side of that have lost to the two remaining unbeaten teams – South Fremantle by 35 points and Subiaco by 44.

That means both East Fremantle and West Perth enter Saturday's clash at Shark Park determined to win to remain in touch of South Fremantle and Subiaco at the top of the ladder.

It was the old story of inaccuracy that proved costly for the Sharks against the Thunder so they will be looking to fix that up on their home ground on Saturday. Meanwhile the Falcons just haven’t won enough of the ball over the opening three rounds.

Without ball magnet Shane Nelson and now with ruckman Chris Keunen sidelined too, West Perth has lost the possession count in losses to the Bulldogs and Lions by a combined 197 disposals so they will need to get more of the ball against East Fremantle's midfield to win on Saturday.

East Fremantle will lose captain Jamie McNamara from the side that lost narrowly to Peel prior to the bye last week with several players pushing for selection following good performances in the reserves.

Two weeks ago with the Sharks' reserves scoring an emphatic win over the Thunder, Miles Franklin finished with 27 possessions, eight marks and five tackles, Dylan Winton 19 disposals and five marks, Jesse Adamini 26 possessions and six marks, and Matthew Bannister 24 touches and three goals.

If Winton plays, it will be his first game with the Sharks since crossing from Peel while Adamini could make his league debut having graduated from the colts into senior football in 2016.

Showing the depth at East Fremantle early in the season, 43 possessions and 14 marks from Julian Locantro, 31 disposals by Jake Schleicher and 25 touches, seven marks and two goals to Jacob Green wasn’t enough to put any of that trio in the squad for Saturday's clash with West Perth.

Perhaps West Perth's best and most consistent defender so far this season Joe Morrow goes out of the team through injury following last Saturday's defeat to Subiaco after he was one of the Falcons' best players.

That opens up a position in the Falcons defence for somebody and Ben King looms as a likely replacement for Morrow after some solid form down back in the reserves in his return to West Perth in 2016 after a year off.

He had a strong season in 2014 as a key part of the reserves side while also breaking through for the first four league appearances of his career.

There are two potential debutants pushing for selection with the Falcons as well, Nathan Alexandre and Mitch Peirce. Alexandre had 19 possessions in the reserves last week against Subiaco while Peirce continued to rack up the disposals in the midfield with 34 touches.

Mark Hamilton is also in the mix to play his second game of the season in the league side to provide some support to Seva Mozhaev in the ruck, and to likely provide another marking option in attack for West Perth.

PEEL THUNDER (2-1, 3rd) v EAST PERTH (0-3, 8th) – BENDIGO BANK STADIUM, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Selected teams 
Broadcast – Heritage FM 107.3, KIX Digital

Peel's clash with East Perth on Saturday at Bendigo Bank Stadium might be viewed as a bit of a preview of the AFL Carlton Draught Derby, but the four points are far more important for the two teams that did battle in last year's first semi-final.

With the Thunder partnered with Fremantle and the Royals with West Coast, there's extra interest in Saturday's clash in Mandurah ahead of Sunday's Western Derby and there still could be some selection surprises that have an impact on both matches this weekend.

But even more important for Peel Thunder and East Perth is the four points that are up for grabs.

Peel made the finals for the first ever time last year before being eliminated by East Perth in the first semi-final also at Bendigo Bank Stadium.

The Thunder are looking to back that up, and improve on it, in 2016 and have started well in that quest after a first up loss to reigning premiers Subiaco.

Peel has gone on to beat East Fremantle on the back of the last two goals of the game and then to dominate Swan Districts last Saturday winning by 52 points but it should have been much more with some straight kicking.

East Perth, meanwhile, has had a horror start losing to Claremont by 76 points, Subiaco by 31 and South Fremantle by 40.

The Royals have been vastly more impressive the past two weeks and been a real chance to win on both occasions in the fourth quarter against the unbeaten teams, but conceded the last four goals both against Subiaco and South Fremantle.

That leaves new coach Jaymie Graham still chasing a first win in charge of the Royals and they can't afford to slip to 0-4 to start the season with a derby to come next week against West Perth.

Peel has suffered a late blow to coincide with Fremantle captain David Mundy pulling out of the Western Derby. He has been replaced in the Dockers team by Tendai Mzungu who was a strong contributed for the Thunder last week.

Jonathon Griffin and Matt Taberner played for the Thunder last week in the win over Swans and despite being emergencies for Fremantle, at least two of them should play for Peel on Saturday.

The Thunder will have another significant inclusion with Anthony Morabito making his return. After the horror run of injuries he's had to derail a once exciting career, he will be hoping to get through his first league match since the final round of 2014.

Peel will lose Ethan Hughes to injury, though, after some tremendous form in the back-line that must have had him knocking on the door of AFL selection.

Alex Silvagni has also been named out of the Thunder line-up which could be significant in limiting Peel's ability to shut down East Perth's marking options in attack Fraser McInnes, Tom Lamb, Matthew Allen and the ruck pair of Paul Johnson and Jonathan Giles.

Nathan Fahey, Mitch Gill, Josh McMahon, Jake Dowding, Andrew Haydon, Alexander Bray and Karl Collard are the other players added to Peel's squad for Saturday.

West Coast too has made just the one change for the Western Derby with Chris Masten returning after 28 possessions for East Perth last Friday night against South Fremantle.

Jamie Bennell has been dropped by the Eagles and he remains a chance to line-up for the Royals on Saturday against Peel, but he most likely will be held over as an emergency.

That should allow Tom Lamb to remain playing with East Perth to continue his strong form where he has split his time so far this season between playing in attack, and spending time using his athletic prowess on the wing.

Tom Cole should also return to play with East Perth after being the travelling emergency to Melbourne last week for West Coast's grand final rematch with Hawthorn at the MCG.

Corey Adamson should have earned himself a recall at the Royals after 23 possessions and a goal in the reserves against South Fremantle last Saturday.

Mitch Lague, Shayne Hille, Julian Ameduri, Agid Gardoud and Tom Omodei are other players at the Royals trying to break into the league side to help them to a first win of 2016.

CLAREMONT (1-1, 4th) v SWAN DISTRICTS (0-3, 9th) – STEEL BLUE OVAL, SUNDAY 2.15PM
Selected teams 

Claremont takes its home game in Round 4 to Steel Blue Oval and will be hoping it doesn’t prove costly with Swan Districts desperate to get on the board in 2016.

Swans have made a disastrous start to the 2016 and haven’t found a way to cover the losses of Ryan Davis, Nathan Broad, Tim Geappen and then recruit Ryan Crowley from over summer while Nathan Blakely, Justin Simpson and Murray Newman have been big outs in recent weeks as well.

That has seen the black-and-whites record its lowest ever score and post the second lowest ever total against Peel Thunder inside the opening three weeks.

The black-and-whites have lost to East Fremantle by 49 points, South Fremantle by 50 and Peel by 52 to open the season and to now sit on the bottom of the ladder.

But having a home game gifted to them by Claremont with the Showground still unavailable early in the season could well be just the boost Swans needed to steady their season.

But the Tigers too will be hungry to bounce back. They started the season so impressively thumping East Perth by 76 points and then after a bye appeared headed for victory most of last Saturday afternoon before being overrun by Perth and losing by 17 points.

Claremont has made some terribly slow starts to the last two seasons under coach Michael Broadbridge.

They have responded to narrowly miss the top four in 2014 and then with the top five in 2015, they managed to sneak into the finals at the expense of Swan Districts despite Swans scoring a big win over the Tigers in Round 22.

That meant Swan Districts would have played finals if Claremont lost to West Perth in the final round while Swans had the bye. But the Tigers won meaning the black-and-whites were knocked out and now they haven’t won a game since due to the horror start to 2016.

Claremont has been a fast starting team so far this season dominating its two first quarters but in both fourth quarters they have dropped away in what also became a trend in 2015. However, Swan Districts' worst quarters over the first three rounds has also been their last.

Swan Districts loses Steven Wityk after he came in to play last week against Peel Thunder but there is good news for the black-and-whites with the expected return of 150-game premiership player Justin Simpson from a hamstring injury.

As long as he plays, it will mean Swan Districts has its strong experienced core back-line group of Simpson, Tallan Ames, Alex Howard, Graham Jetta and Kirk Ugle all together for the first this season.

Albert Dean, Laurence Grescos, Brayden Hackett and Jack Watson are all in the mix as well for Swans after strong form in last Saturday's thumping reserves win over Peel.

Last week, Dean racked up 25 possessions to go with two goals while Grescos was solid down back, Watson had 14 disposals and Hackett 18 touches, five marks and five tackles as he chases his league debut.

Claremont appeared in control for much of the afternoon last Saturday against Perth before fading late to lose by 17 points and as a result coach Michael Broadbridge might look to make some changes to try and get a group of 22 players who can deliver for the full four quarters.

At this stage no players are named out of the Tigers team that lost to the Demons, but Zac Langdon, Jack Richardson, Harrison McCracken and John Williams have all been added to the squad.

Williams continued to gather some form and fitness in the reserves last week with 26 possessions, nine marks and five inside 50s in the Tigers' reserves win.

Richardson provided a good option in attack kicking three goals and that could sway in favour of him in selection with Jack Bradshaw and Ian Richardson having so far only kicked a combined two goals in the opening two matches.

Langdon is also banging down the door for a league debut with the 20-year-old from Dampier having 30 possessions, eight marks and two goals in the reserves last week.

McCracken also had a solid game with 16 disposals, six marks and four inside-50 entries to put his name in the hunt for what would also be a league debut for the 20-year-old.

SUBIACO (3-0, 2nd) v PERTH (1-1, 7th) – MEDIBANK STADIUM, SUNDAY 3.10PM
Selected teams 

It might be a clash of top against bottom from the last two years when Subiaco hosts Perth on Sunday, but the Demons will be confident of taking it right up to the Lions.

Subiaco has won the last two WAFL premierships and Perth claimed the last two wooden spoons, but all signs are pointing to a vastly more competitive contest on Sunday than that would suggest.

Coming off the last two flags, the Lions have gone through the opening three rounds of 2016 unbeaten with strong wins over Peel Thunder, East Perth and West Perth – all fellow top four teams along with them in 2015.

That leaves Subiaco as one of two unbeaten teams remaining and a win on Sunday will see the Lions shoot to the top of the ladder with South Fremantle having the Round 4 bye.

Perth might have finished last in each of the last two seasons and the record of winning just three of the last 35 games isn’t pretty, but it's been an impressive Demons outfit through their first two games of 2016.

While their first game resulted in a loss to West Perth, it was a game the Demons were right within a chance of winning most of the afternoon. And then despite falling behind early last week against Claremont, Perth came home strongly to win by 17 points.

With a midfield capable of matching it with Subiaco led by Clint Jones, Aidan Tropiano, Liam McKenna and Michael Sinclair, and ruckman Angus Graham capable of getting on top against makeshift Lions pair Clancy Wheeler and Lachlan Delahunty, and the Demons will be looking to make a statement of how far they have improved this year on Sunday.

Subiaco recorded its third successive win to open 2016 and eighth on the trot dating back to last year finishing over the top of West Perth last week, and as a result there's little reason for coach Jarrad Schofield to be looking to make changes.

However, he has plenty of quality players pushing for selection and now it appears triple premiership star Greg Broughton is set to make his long-awaited return.

Broughton's last game for Subiaco was Round 14, 2010 while he was listed with the Fremantle Dockers and after he had taken part in the Lions' premierships of 2006, 2007 and 2008.

He went on to play 118 games with both Fremantle and the Gold Coast Suns in the AFL before retiring at the end of 2015 and deciding to return to Subiaco where he had previously played 76 WAFL matches.

The 29-year-old 2008 fairest and best winner has missed Subiaco's wins over Peel, East Perth and West Perth to open 2016 but looks set to line-up for the Lions against the Demons on Sunday at Medibank Stadium.

Good form in the reserves also has Justin Joyce, Max Walters and James Garcia in the mix to play for Subiaco with Kyle Halligan still unavailable.

Joyce racked up 34 possessions, 12 tackles, eight marks and two goals in the reserves last week against West Perth while Walters had 28 disposals and Garcia 12.

Perth is also coming into the clash with Subiaco in winning form having beaten Claremont last Saturday and will welcome back Toby Gianatti following a one-week suspension. He will be an important inclusion for the Demons to pick up a role on one of Subiaco's dangerous forwards.

South Fremantle recruit Stephen Mills appears the most obvious replacement in the Perth team for David Johnston who is the only out at this stage for the Demons.

Mills is capable of playing a key position role at either end of the ground while also providing some support in the ruck to Angus Graham.

Kodie Fleay, Corey Byrne and Marshall Jones are all in the mix to earn a spot in the Perth team as well after strong form in the reserves.

Fleay had 20 possessions and eight marks last week against Claremont, Byrne had 22 disposals, six tackles and a goal, and Jones 20 touches and six marks.