McDonald's WAFL Round 10 PreviewFriday, May 20, 2016 - 1:51 PM - by Chris Pike

ROUND 10 of the 2016 McDonald's WAFL Premiership Season features all four matches on Saturday including a top against bottom clash, a grand final rematch, a battle of the two AFL partnered clubs and another with one team on a winning run against one on a losing streak.

It shapes as a fascinating day of WAFL action beginning at 11.40am at Bendigo Bank Stadium when the fourth placed Peel Thunder hosts the fifth placed East Perth.

Then in the traditional 2.15pm time slot, the league leading South Fremantle plays the bottom placed Swan Districts at Steel Blue Oval with Claremont desperate for a win against East Fremantle at the Claremont Showground and Subiaco hosting West Perth at Medibank Stadium in the second grand final rematch already of 2016.

Perth has the bye with the Demons sitting in eighth position with a 2-6 record.

PEEL THUNDER (4-4, 4th) v EAST PERTH (4-4, 5th) – BENDIGO BANK STADIUM, SATURDAY 11.40AM
Selected teams 
Broadcast – 7mate

Peel Thunder and East Perth are the WAFL's two aligned clubs, they did battle in the finals last year, they both hold 4-4 records and it all leads to what should be a tremendous contest at Bendigo Bank Stadium on Saturday.

The two teams met earlier this season in Round 4 also at the Mandurah venue with the Royals winning by 30 points on that occasion in what was their first victory of 2016 after three straight losses to begin with under new coach Jaymie Graham.

The Royals have been able to win four of their last five games to now be building some good form as well despite a hiccup back in Round 7 against East Fremantle.

Peel bounced back from that loss to East Perth with good wins over Claremont and Perth, but has since lost to West Perth and South Fremantle to join the Royals on a 4-4 record heading into Saturday's clash.

Only three percentage points separates the two teams on the ladder coming into the clash as well with the two teams both among the top three in terms of possessions across the competition.

Interestingly, Peel has outscored its opponents by 70 points in first halves this season and been outscored in second halves by 13. But East Perth has won its second halves by 98 points and lost their first halves by 57.

Peel might have lost last week to South Fremantle but got tremendous service in the midfield by Michael Barlow and Matt De Boer who combined for 78 possessions. Brady Grey also worked hard trying to keep Ashton Hams quiet while having 21 touches himself.

Of the trio, two of them appear likely to again play for the Thunder against East Perth on Saturday at Bendigo Bank Stadium while the other will be held over as an emergency for Fremantle's clash with Richmond at Domain Stadium on Saturday night.

The Thunder will regain two Dockers players, though, in the form of Tendai Mzungu and Cameron Sutcliffe both of whom could give Peel plenty of run and drive off half-back.

Karl Collard, Richard Wight, Alexander Bray and Nathan Fahey are the players from Peel's reserves added to the extended squad but all would be unlikely starters against the Royals.

East Perth has suffered a significant blow losing inspirational captain Craig Wulff to an ankle injury with the club's games record holder likely to miss around two months of football as a result.

Xavier Ellis and Tom Cole were both strong performers for East Perth in the win over Swan Districts last week as well but the pair have travelled to Adelaide with West Coast ahead of the clash with Port Adelaide, so neither will play for the Royals against the Thunder.

Lewis Jetta will remain with East Perth for at least one more week, though, after 29 possessions last week for the Royals after being dropped by West Coast.

West Coast pair Jamie Bennell and Matthew Allen will both return on Saturday for East Perth after missing the clash with Swan Districts while Jordan Snadden could make his league debut following 28 possessions and two goals in the reserves last week.

Callum Hart, Tom Omodei, Mitch Lague and Tom Gorter are in contention at selection as well following solid reserves form for the Royals.

Last week against Swans, Omodei finished with 23 possessions and a goal, Hart 17 touches and six marks, Gorter 13 disposals and Lague 24 possessions and seven marks.

SUBIACO (7-1, 2nd) v WEST PERTH (4-4, 6th) – MEDIBANK STADIUM, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Selected teams
Broadcast – 107.3 HFM

Subiaco and West Perth meet for a second grand final rematch already of 2016 when they do battle on Saturday at Medibank Stadium with the Lions looking for back-to-back wins, and the Falcons hunting a fourth in succession.

After the Lions scored big wins in the second semi-final and grand final over the Falcons to end 2015, they backed it up at HBF Arena back in Round 3 this year to win by 44 points when they ran right over the top of the home team.

However, at that time Subiaco was in the middle of a six-game winning streak to open the season while West Perth was in the middle of three-game losing run.

Both teams have suffered some differing fortunes since then with the Lions losing their only game of the season two weeks ago to East Fremantle to the tune of 80 points.

They did bounce back last Saturday to beat Claremont by 44 points at the Showground to improve to a 7-1 record on the season and remain just percentage behind the league-leading South Fremantle.

West Perth, meanwhile, looked like it had its season in trouble at 1-4 following a loss to East Perth in Round 5, but the Falcons have rebounded well since then with better form and the return of some key players.

Prior to the bye last weekend, West Perth scored wins over Swan Districts, Claremont and Peel Thunder to steady at 4-4 and be only percentage outside of the top five.

That should give West Perth confidence of being more ready to challenge Subiaco than earlier in the season at HBF Arena.

Since the Falcons beat the Lions at HBF Arena by 10 points in Round 14 last year, Subiaco has won the last three meetings by an average of 55 points.

West Perth hasn’t been a good starting team over the course of the season and are ranked third worst in that department but they have also been outscored by their opponents by 69 points over the course of the season.

Subiaco's best quarter has been its third and overall in second halves they are averaging 14 points more than their opponents, which would be significantly more taking out the 80-point loss to East Fremantle.

Subiaco bounced back from its loss to East Fremantle by beating Claremont last Saturday, but it perhaps wasn’t as convincing as coach Jarrad Schofield would have hoped.

And the Lions are still some way off fielding what he would consider their best 22 with Kyle Halligan, Rhys Waters and Jordan Lockyer still missing, and Michael Wood, David Madut and Brad Stevenson among the players working their way back from long-term injuries.

The Lions do regain triple premiership player Wayde Twomey, though, after the 140-game veteran missed the win over Claremont.

Braden Fimmano and Nick Hay are also in contention to come into the side after Fimmano had 20 possessions and eight marks last week in the reserves, and Hay contributed 14 disposals.

West Perth continues to welcome back important players from injury following the bye with Joe Morrow and Laine Rasmussen set to further strengthen the Falcons' defence against Subiaco on Saturday.

Morrow hasn’t played since the loss to Subiaco in Round 3 while Rasmussen is set to play his first game of the season.

The return of the pair is on the back of premiership stars Shane Nelson and Kody Manning coming back prior to the bye during West Perth's three-game winning run. Chris Keunen, Matt Fowler, Matt Guadagnin and Brayden Antonio are among those still sidelined through injury.

Keegan Knott and Kris Shannon also put themselves back in contention to return to the West Perth team with strong reserves performances against Peel prior to the bye.

Knott played in the midfield the majority of the afternoon with the usual small forward enjoying the freedom racking up 30 possessions. Shannon also found some good form with 21 disposals.

Joel Leeson does go out of the Falcons side, though, and he will be missed with the former Perth player kicking seven goals in the two games prior to going scoreless and having just 11 disposals against the Thunder at HBF Arena.

CLAREMONT (2-6, 7th) v EAST FREMANTLE (5-3, 3rd) – CLAREMONT SHOWGROUND, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Selected teams 
Broadcast – 91.3 SportFM 

Last time Claremont and East Fremantle met the Tigers blew the Sharks away with some tremendously efficient football to win by 39 points and both teams appeared heading in diverging paths this season.

How quickly things can change though.

Following Claremont's win back in Round 5 at ATOM Stadium, the Tigers have not won another game losing to Peel, West Perth, South Fremantle and Subiaco to leave them struggling at seventh position on the ladder with a 2-6 record.

East Fremantle, meanwhile, has lost just once since then and that was in a thrilling Anzac Derby defeat to South Fremantle. Since then, the Sharks have been supremely impressive beating East Perth by 37 points, Subiaco by 80 and Perth by 39 to leave them in third position at 5-3.

While Claremont has played some strong football so far in 2016, if the Tigers want to stay in the finals hunt they can't keep losing and they need to stop the slide on Saturday in their third successive home game at the Showground.

Claremont has been in winning positions in games this season against Peel Thunder, Perth, South Fremantle, Swan Districts and West Perth only to lose thanks to poor fourth quarters.

That leaves them precariously placed heading into the clash with the Sharks and slipping to 2-7 could be too big of a hole to climb out of with 11 games of the season remaining.

The task is certainly ahead of Claremont, though, with the form East Fremantle currently is in.

With George Hampson and Brock O'Brien dominating games either across half-forward, through the middle or off half-back, and the Sharks overall midfield outstanding, back-line rock solid and forward-line getting it done, it is an impressive looking East Fremantle outfit right now.

Claremont can take confidence out of having won its last three games over East Fremantle by an average of 47 points.

The Tigers are also the most accurate team in the competition and that all started in the Round 5 win over East Fremantle after inaccuracy cost them six days earlier against Swan Districts. Claremont kicked a remarkable 19.2 that day and over the season has kicked 103.67 at 61 per cent. Taking out rushed behinds and it's 65 per cent with 103.56.

Both teams are the highest scoring first quarter teams in the league as well with Claremont averaging 29 first quarter points and East Fremantle 26. But while East Fremantle is more even across the board, Claremont is the second worst performing fourth quarter team and it has cost them.

Claremont coach Michael Broadbridge made a statement last week dropping some senior players back to the reserves to try and regather some of their best form.

While it didn’t quite work in delivering a win against Subiaco, he will be hoping he gets some players back this week against East Fremantle hungry to make the most of their opportunities.

Keifer Yu had played every game of the season up until last week for the Tigers and he responded to his demotion with 38 possessions, eight marks and a goal in the reserves to put himself in the mix for a call up this week against the Sharks.

Jack Beeck had also played the opening seven games of the year for Claremont but found himself in the reserves last Saturday. After playing his league football mostly down back, he went forward in the reserves and delivered four goals from 17 touches.

Francis Watson is yet to play a league game this year after an interrupted pre-season but his form has been building and he is in contention to play on Saturday following 17 touches last week.

Justin Speed is putting together a consistent run of strong football and had another 20 touches and 11 tackles last week in the reserves to be added to Claremont's squad for Saturday along with Cameron Palmer.

Experienced defender Dylan Ross and youngster Harrison McCracken are the two players out at this stage from the Claremont team that lost to Subiaco last Saturday.

East Fremantle has been in outstanding form the past three weeks and the back-line has been the cornerstone of that led by Dylan Winton, Sam Read, Andrew Stephen, Ryan Lester-Smith and Brock O'Brien.

Josh Cuneo has also stood tall in the absence of Matthew Jupp but Jupp looks set to make his return to take on Claremont this Saturday and his reward will be the job on either Beau Maister or Darcy Cameron, both of whom are looking to hit back after going goalless against Subiaco.

Jacob Green, James Harrold and Fraser Perry have all been added to the squad for the Sharks on Saturday as well with Green coming off 19 possessions and three goals in the reserves last week, and Perry three goals from 15 disposals.

The Sharks do lose some potency from their midfield with Cameron Eardley out with an ankle injury but captain Jamie McNamara is more than capable of taking over from him having spent the majority of his six games so far this season either forward or back.

SWAN DISTRICTS (1-7, 9th) v SOUTH FREMANTLE (7-1, 1st) – STEEL BLUE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Selected teams 
Broadcast – KIX Digital

It's bottom against top when Swan Districts hosts South Fremantle for the second time this season at Steel Blue Oval but with some nasty weather predicted and a youthful Swans not afraid of the challenge, the Bulldogs will need to watch out for the upset.

South Fremantle has been tremendously impressive so far this season winning seven of its eight games to currently sit on top of the WAFL ladder with a percentage of 147.3 on the back of being the highest scoring team (97 points) and conceding the least amount (66).

It is the opposite story at Swan Districts with the black-and-whites having won just one of eight games while being the worst attacking team (51 points) and second worst defensively (93) to make up for a horror percentage of just 54.6.

But the game isn’t played on paper and once the teams run out on to the Bassendean ground on Saturday the scores are both on zero and nothing is guaranteed. The stormy weather predicted is also capable of producing some surprising results.

However, heading to Steel Blue Oval holds no fears for South Fremantle having already beaten Swan Districts there in Round 2 this year by 50 points in similarly tough conditions. The Bulldogs held Swans to just 2.6 (18) that day in their lowest ever score in the club's history.

A big factor in where the two teams currently sit is the health of the respective playing squads.

From what Swans coach Greg Harding would have hoped to have at his disposal in 2016, none of Kirk Ugle, Murray Newman, Tallan Ames, Aaron Elari, Nathan Blakely, Jake Nuich and Jarrad Blight are available to play this week.

In contrast, South Fremantle is just about at full strength and has a host of players banging down the door playing outstanding football in the reserves.

Further illuminating the plight of Swans, they have amassed the least amount of possessions in 2016 and concede the most against. They are the worst performing team in last quarters and third quarters, and second worst in opening terms where they average a score of just nine points.

South Fremantle, meanwhile, is by far the highest scoring last quarter team in the competition and the third best performing first quarter team, best in second quarters and fourth best in third terms. 

There are plenty of changes at Swan Districts as coach Greg Harding looks for the right formula to get the team's second win of the season.

Teenagers Aidan Clarke and Brayden Hackett have been two of the shining lights in their first taste of league football in recent weeks, but both are out of the side for the black-and-whites.

Captain Tallan Ames is also out for Swan Districts taking 238 games of experience with him and meaning someone else will have to step up as Swans try to match up on South Fremantle's forward-line of Ben Saunders, Mason Shaw and Zac Strom. The wet and windy weather conditions could help in that though.

Ruckman Troy Yukich is also out for the black-and-whites after carrying the ruck in his first seven league games following the season-ending injuries to Nathan Blakely and Jake Nuich.

Matthew Jukes has earned his place back in the Swans side after 29 possessions in the reserves last week while Rudy Riddoch has banged down the door as well following 22 touches and four goals last Saturday.

Jacob Coniglio had 20 possessions in the reserves as well to put himself back in the mix while Jack Watson had 11 disposals, Ben Whitsed 23 and Brandon Erceg 14.

Tyson Hodge is also a chance to make his debut to provide some height and versatility to the Swans' line-up.

Depth is something South Fremantle has in spades of right now with only Jarrod Parry sidelined with a season-ending knee injury.

Brendan Verrier could return from injury this week in the reserves while former Western Bulldogs AFL player Zephaniah Skinner will play his first game in the reserves on Saturday for South Fremantle as well against Swan Districts at Steel Blue Oval.

With a clean bill of health coming out of last Saturday's win over Peel at Fremantle Community Bank Oval, there are no outs at this stage for South Fremantle but Shaun Bewick, Dylan Main and Jason Maskos have been added to the squad.

Bewick responded to being dropped last week in style with 40 possessions and two goals against the Thunder while Main had 33 disposals and Maskos 18.

Highlighting the depth of the Bulldogs at present, Josh Branchi, Jacob Martinez, Tom Vandeleur, Brad McPhail, Chris Luff, Bailey Matera and Matthew Ah Siu have all played some good league football and are capable performers but can't currently crack into the squad of 25.