McDonald's WAFL Round 20 PreviewFriday, August 5, 2016 - 1:56 PM - by Chris Pike

SOUTH Fremantle and Perth head to Carnarvon, Subiaco and West Perth do battle at Kingsway and East Perth and Peel Thunder meet with plenty at stake in what is shaping as a fascinating Round 20 of the 2016 McDonald's WAFL Premiership Season.

Kingsway Reserve will host the third grand final rematch of 2016 when Subiaco takes on West Perth with the Lions looking to lock in the minor premiership and the Falcons to move closer to a top two finish.

South Fremantle plays in its Gascoyne zone to host Perth at Carnarvon on Saturday with the Bulldogs needing to beat the Demons to remain in second position.

East Perth and Peel Thunder are locked in a battle for fourth and fifth positions on the ladder heading towards the finals ahead of their clash at Medibank Stadium. The winner will be almost guaranteed of playing finals while the loser will be locked in fight with East Fremantle over the last three rounds.

The only game of the weekend without any finals implications features the bottom two sides as Swan Districts takes on Claremont at Steel Blue Oval.

SUBIACO (13-4, 1st) v WEST PERTH (11-6, 3rd) – KINGSWAY RESERVE, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Selected teams 
Broadcast – KIX Digital

Subiaco and West Perth head to Kingsway Reserve for a community showcase match and it should be a tremendous battle in the third grand final rematch for 2016.

The Lions and Falcons have already beaten one another once each this season and now Saturday's clash will be crucial to both of them for different reasons heading towards the finals.

Kingsway Reserve has pulled out all the stops to host its first WAFL fixture as well thanks to the City of Wanneroo for the battle of the northern suburbs clubs who share bordering zones.

Subiaco comes into the contest two games and percentage clear on top of the WAFL ladder and a win over West Perth would secure a second straight minor premiership as the Lions chase a third successive flag.

Subiaco finishes the season after that with two tough games against East Perth and Peel Thunder before the final round bye.

Meanwhile, a loss for Subiaco and top spot is just up for grabs still for both South Fremantle and West Perth.

If West Perth wins and South Fremantle loses to Perth in Carnarvon, the Falcons would break into the top two for the first time in 2016.

But a Falcons and Bulldogs win on Saturday would see West Perth remain third but still just percentage behind South Fremantle with games to finish against Claremont and Swan Districts. But the Bulldogs have a game in hand.

The first grand final rematch this season saw Subiaco beat West Perth by 44 points at HBF Arena back in Round 3 before the Falcons hit back in Round 10 at Medibank Stadium overrunning the Lions to win by 26 points.

Both teams are in some good form as well with Subiaco having won four of its last five games to sit in top spot while West Perth has now won 10 of its last 12 matches following a 1-4 start to 2016.

Subiaco will be again without key premiership players Lachlan Delahunty, Kyle Halligan and Hayden Kennedy, but 2014 premiership forward Rhys Waters is a chance to come in for his second league game of 2016.

He looked solid in the reserves last week against Swan Districts with 13 possessions and 11 tackles to give himself a chance of his first league game since Round 7 against South Fremantle.

Waters has now managed two games back in the reserves to be a chance of another league opportunity in time to try and secure a place in the line-up ahead of another finals campaign.

Hard-at-it midfielder Adam Cockie will also return after a week off with a suspension. Prior to his week off he found some strong form again for the Lions in the Thursday night victory over South Fremantle at Medibank Stadium.

Young defender Greg Clark is another in contention to play for Subiaco's league side again.

He had a solid game two weeks ago in the win over the Bulldogs but was in the reserves last week against Swan Districts where he had 21 possessions and seven marks to put himself back in contention for what would be his 13th game of the season.

West Perth put together a solid win over Perth last Saturday to remain in the race for a top two finish and the Falcons did that without key defender Nick Rodda and small forward Steve Potente – both of whom again won't play this Saturday against Subiaco at Kingsway.

Despite the likes of Brayden Antonio, Matt Guadagnin, Matt Johnson, Kris Shannon, Mitch Peirce, James Batterham, Keegan Knott and Seva Mozhaev among the players in West Perth's reserves at present wanting another league opportunity, the Falcons do look to have a settled line-up.

There are no outs at this stage from the West Perth team that beat Perth last Saturday but Corey Chalmers, Jordan Mills and Luke Tedesco have all been added to the squad.

Chalmers gathered 17 possessions and kicked four goals in the reserves last Saturday against Perth while Mills finished with seven disposals and a goal, and Tedesco 12 touches.

EAST PERTH (9-7, 4th) v PEEL THUNDER (9-8, 5th) – MEDIBANK STADIUM, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Selected teams 
Broadcast – 720 ABC Perth, 107.3 HFM

East Perth and Peel Thunder both made finals last year, met in the finals in 2015 and now are fighting to remain in the top five in 2016 when the two AFL-partnered clubs meet at Medibank Stadium on Saturday.

The Royals and Thunder did battle in the finals last year with East Perth knocking Peel out with a win to advance to the preliminary final, and now both want to be back part of the September action again in 2016.

Both teams have so far won nine games for the season and by getting 10 it will guarantee a finals appearance for the winner and leave the loser locked in a fight with the struggling Sharks over fifth position.

East Perth had the bye last week and prior to that the Royals won their last five games to go from a point where finals looked a long way off, to now appearing likely for a fifth straight season.

The Royals currently sit in fourth position with a 9-7 record and with a game extra still to play over Peel and East Fremantle, they look in a good position to make finals with games to go after Peel against Subiaco, South Fremantle and East Fremantle.

Peel, meanwhile, has had a rollercoaster season at one point winning five of seven games to be secure near the top of the ladder before a three-game losing streak had their place in doubt and then wins over East Fremantle Perth steadied them again.

But a disappointing 45-point loss to Claremont last Saturday again left Peel vulnerable in fifth position at 9-8 and needing to beat East Perth ahead of games to finish the season against Subiaco and Claremont.

The two teams have already met twice so far this season with East Perth beating Peel by 30 points at Bendigo Bank Stadium in Round 4 but the Thunder then won in horrible conditions by 14 points in Round 10 also in Mandurah.

From East Perth's team that beat Claremont in a solid performance two weeks ago prior to the bye, the Royals look set to regain West Coast's Jonathan Giles and Eric Mackenzie.

Giles returns for the Royals to provide a target in attack and support in the ruck to Paul Johnson while Mackenzie is straight back to East Perth after being dropped by the Eagles again following last Saturday's loss to Collingwood at the MCG.

Malcolm Karpany, Xavier Ellis, Lewis Jetta, Simon Tunbridge, Dom Sheed and Mark Hutchings all played for East Perth in that win over Claremont a fortnight ago. As a result Karpany, Tunbridge, Sheed and Hutchings all received call ups for the Eagles to take on the Magpies.

But Karpany will be straight back to the Royals this Saturday to take on Peel while Tunbridge could be as well while Ellis and Jetta look set to remain unless they receive surprise call ups into West Coast's team for Sunday's Western Derby.

Sam Powell-Pepper is one of WA's brightest young products and a likely draftee later this year and he could get the chance to make his league debut on Saturday after some good form in the reserves including 20 possessions and a goal two weeks ago against Claremont.

Will Maginness, Callum Hart, Steven Payne, Tom Omodei and Jamie Bennell are all in the mix to break into the East Perth league side on Saturday as well.

Two weeks ago in the reserves against Claremont, Maginness finished with 15 possessions and a goal, Hart 24 disposals and 15 marks, Payne 17 touches and four tackles, Omodei 25 possessions and 11 marks, and Bennell nine touches.

Peel is getting closer to what could be a line-up capable of doing some damage in the finals with Ryan Nyhuis, Nick Suban, Josh Deluca, Jonathon Griffin and Connor Blakely among those returning last week despite the disappointing loss to Claremont.

Now the Thunder regains Tendai Mzungu again who has averaged 24 possessions in his seven games this season in the WAFL.

While Michael Apeness and Ethan Hughes are a chance of getting a call up for Fremantle in Sunday's Western Derby, there's every chance they still play for Peel on Saturday.

It's likely that the Thunder will have one Apeness or Matt Taberner for its forward-line while at least one of Darcy Tucker, Ed Langdon or Matt de Boer could be dropped back as well.

Luke Shepherd, Keegan Power, Corey Morris, Noah Hura and Kieran May are other Peel players in contention for a league call up following some solid performances in the Thunder's struggling reserves side.

Last week against Claremont, Morris gathered 23 possessions, May had 11 touches and five tackles, Hura finished with 17 disposals, Power racked up 34 possessions, and Shepherd kicked two goals.

Brad McGowan is the only confirmed out for Peel at this stage.

SOUTH FREMANTLE (11-5, 2nd) v PERTH (6-10, 7th) – CARNARVON FESTIVAL GROUNDS, SATURDAY 1.30PM
Selected teams 

South Fremantle heads to its country zone to host Perth on Saturday in Carnarvon in a game the Bulldogs need to win but the Demons can play the role of spoilers having shown their improvement throughout the second half of 2016.

Carnarvon and the Gascoyne region has been a fertile breeding ground of South Fremantle players and one of those will be playing in Saturday's game as 124-game veteran Adam Guglielmana returns home for the first time in a WAFL fixture.

It will be the second time South Fremantle has hosted a WAFL game in Carnarvon as well with the first time coming in 2007 when West Perth spoiled the party winning a thriller by two points.

South Fremantle needs to win the game as well to remain in second position on the ladder so there is plenty at stake.

Following three straight losses, the Bulldogs got back on the winner's list last Saturday beating East Fremantle by 30 points at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

That improved South Fremantle to an 11-5 record on the season to remain in second position but they need to keep winning to remain there ahead of the in-form West Perth.

A loss could see the Bulldogs slip to third position by Saturday night with games to finish the home and away season against Swan Districts, East Perth and Perth.

Perth will be no pushovers, though, and the Demons are finishing 2016 with some form to give coach Earl Spalding plenty to build upon heading towards 2017.

Perth might have fallen out of finals contention with losses to Peel and West Perth the past two weeks, but it has been an encouraging second half of the season with the Demons recording wins over Subiaco, Claremont and East Fremantle since a Round 13 loss to East Perth.

If Perth's midfield of Clint Jones, Aidan Tropiano, Julian Jacobs and Liam McKenna can get on top with the help of ruckman Angus Graham, and Spencer White and Sam Garstone can stand up in attack, the Demons could cause the upset.

They will need to do well down back, though, to avoid letting South Fremantle forwards Ben Saunders, Mason Shaw and Blaine Johnson get going.

The two teams have so far met just the once in 2016 and that was way back in Round 5 at Lathlain Park with South Fremantle running out 98-point winners.

South Fremantle returned to the winner's list over East Fremantle last Saturday following three straight losses and a big reason for that was the successful returns of Haiden Schloithe, Ashton Hams and Blaine Johnson.

That has the Bulldogs closer to what they would consider their strongest 22 heading towards the finals with only the long-term injured Adam McIntosh and Jarrod Parry currently sidelined.

As a result, spots are now tough again to find in the South Fremantle line-up but Steven Edwards, Dylan Main and Bailey Matera are doing all they can to break back into the side.

Edwards had a good game in the midfield in the reserves last week against East Fremantle for the Bulldogs finishing with 25 possessions, six inside-50 entries, five tackles and five marks.

Main continues to rack up plenty of the ball with another 35 disposals, 10 marks and a goal as well while Matera had one of his strongest performances of the season last Saturday with 25 touches.

All three are in the mix to take on Perth on Saturday in Carnarvon but at this stage nobody is out of the South Fremantle team that beat East Fremantle last week.

Corey Byrne, Brennan Stack, Kristian Cary, Cody Ninyette, Marshall Jones, Stephen Mills and Brett Wolfenden are all in the mix to come back into the Perth team for the trip to Carnarvon to take on South Fremantle.

Wolfenden returned through the reserves last week after a one-week suspension and finished with 24 possessions and a goal.

Jones impressed in the reserves up forward last week against West Perth with five goals from 17 possessions and 10 marks to put himself in the mix while Mills had 13 touches and seven marks as he looks to get a chance against the club he played for the last two years.

Stack only kicked the one goal last week against West Perth but could return to provide the Demons with another goal kicking option with Cary impressing last Saturday with three goals from 19 possessions.

Ninyette could have done enough to earn his league debut after two goals from 14 possessions while Byrne is also another potential debutant following 18 disposals and a goal.

Callum Walley and Laine Wilkins are both out of the Perth side after quiet games against West Perth on Saturday while Rowan Brookes is also out following a hard-working performance from half-forward. Teenage star Zac Fisher also won't be making the trip to Carnarvon with the Demons.

SWAN DISTRICTS (2-14, 9th) v CLAREMONT (5-11, 8th) – STEEL BLUE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Selected teams 
Broadcast – 91.3 SportFM

Finals might be well out of reach for Swan Districts and Claremont this season, and there might be no hope of Swans avoiding the wooden spoon, but that doesn't mean both teams won't be desperate to win on Saturday at Steel Blue Oval.

Swan Districts has had a season in 2016 where everything that could go wrong has and the result has been just two wins from 16 games and an averaging losing margin of almost 50 points.

That sees the black-and-whites all but guaranteed of finishing last with four rounds of the season remaining but that doesn’t mean there aren’t still things to be taken out of it including at least one more debutant against Claremont at Steel Blue Oval on Saturday.

Claremont might have won just five games this season but the Tigers have been vastly more competitive than that but have found ways to lose games they appeared to have won. That included in Round 4 against Swans at Steel Blue Oval when the black-and-whites snatched a six-point win.

Claremont got a measure of revenge with an 80-point thumping of Claremont at the Showground in Round 11 but it wasn’t enough to spark the Tigers to a string of wins to remain in finals contention.

Swan Districts will blood another debutant on the back of youngsters Griffin Logue, Brandon Erceg, Ben Holman and Logan Hughes all receiving opportunities in recent weeks.

This week's debutant will be young forward Dylan Smith who had 15 possessions and kicked a goal in the reserves last week. Overall this season he has kicked 21 goals in his 16 reserves matches after playing colts at Swan Districts the previous three seasons.

Ethan Maguire is another player a chance to make his debut with the 20-year-old midfielder coming off 27 possessions in the reserves last week against Subiaco.

Captain Tallan Ames should return to strengthen Swans' defence and just in time as well as they come up against Claremont marking forwards Darcy Cameron, Beau Maister and Jake Waterman.

Lindsay Murray, Rudy Riddoch and Tom Smirk are other players in contention to return to the line-up for the black-and-whites as they search for their third win of 2016.

Swan Districts does lose some quality and experience, though, with Graham Jetta out suspended and Kirk Ugle again out of the side after a tough 2016 season. Emerging big man Tyson Hodge is also out after going down early in last week's loss to Subiaco.

Claremont put in one of its most complete performances of the season last week beating Peel by 45 points and that was despite 94-game state wingman Ryan Neates being hurt again early in the contest. He is now out of the side to take on Swan Districts along with defender Dylan Ross.

The Tigers had great success last week with the debut of two players still eligible to play colts with Jake Waterman and Matt Guelfi coming into the league side, and now another one is in contention this week to take on Swans.

Bailey Banfield impressed in the reserves last week against the Thunder with 19 possessions and a goal, and now he is a chance to strut his stuff at league level this Saturday.

Jack Beeck, Anton Hamp, Justin Speed and Keifer Yu are also in the mix to return to the Claremont line-up following strong performances in the reserves last Saturday.

Beeck had 32 possessions and two goals while Yu racked up 30 disposals and laid six tackles, Hamp had 13 touches and a goal, and Speed 29 possessions and two goals