Round 2 Preview - Swan Districts v South FremantleFriday, March 24, 2017 - 12:55 PM - by Chris Pike

SWAN Districts and South Fremantle both made winning starts to their 2017 WAFL seasons last Saturday and will be looking to continue that momentum on Saturday at Steel Blue Oval.

Swans had a disastrous season in 2016 but is already halfway to reaching that win tally following last week's 12-point win over Perth at Steel Blue Oval.

South Fremantle had a much better 2016 and played finals for the first time since 2011, and won its first final since the 2009 grand final, and backed that up with a supremely impressive Round 1 win over Subiaco by 39 points last Saturday at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

Round 1 – Swan Districts v Perth Match Report 
Round 1 - South Fremantle v Subiaco Match Report 

That all points to what should be a terrific contest between Swans and the Bulldogs this Saturday at Steel Blue Oval in a match also being used to further the 'Stop the Coward Punch' campaign with Danny Green to be in attendance.

The contest should also be vastly different than the meetings between the two teams in 2016.

Following a thrilling two-point win by the Bulldogs over Swans in Round 14, 2015, South Fremantle dominated the black-and-whites in the three meetings last year.

The first clash was also in Round 2 at Steel Blue Oval with South Fremantle holding Swans to their equal lowest score in history of 2.6 (18) on the way to a 50-point win.

The Bulldogs went on to win by 47 points in Round 10 at Steel Blue Oval and then by 35 points in Round 21 at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

But this is a significantly different black-and-whites outfit in 2017 than the one that won just two games in all of last season.

That was on display last Saturday with Swan Districts ending up beating Perth by 12 points despite conceding eight goals in the opening quarter. From there Swans kicked eight goals to three to secure the win.

The inclusions coming into the season of Ryan Crowley, Corey Gault, Xavier Ellis, David Ellard and Jamie Bennell looked good on paper and came to fruition last Saturday. All five among the best for Swans in the win over the Demons.

As a result, there's no reason to make changes this week for Swans against the Bulldogs. Jesse Turner, Jacob Coniglio and Levi Ridley named the three emergencies.

South Fremantle came into the season with high expectations of building on last year's 15 wins in the home and away season, and a preliminary final appearance.

That still has to be backed up on the field and the Bulldogs did a tremendous job against a Subiaco team who has played in the previous three WAFL grand finals. South Fremantle kicked four goals in the opening 11 minutes and went on to win in the finish by 39 points.

That was despite Steven Verrier breaking a hand during the first half. He continued to play through it to give coach Todd Curley a full 22 to work with, but he is now out of the team this week to play Swan Districts as a result.

But depth isn’t a problem at the Bulldogs with Jarrod Garlett, Brock Higgins, Chris Luff and Jake Florenca all in contention to come into the team for Round 2 against the black-and-whites.

If it was a like for like replacement that Curley was looking for then it would be Garlett and Florenca that most closely resemble what Verrier provides. Last Saturday in the reserves against Subiaco, Garlett had 15 possessions and eight tackles while Florenca had 11 disposals.

However, Higgins was impressive in the ruck in the reserves with 17 touches and 42 hit outs as he works his way back to full fitness. Jake Solomon did well in the ruck, though, in the league side in his first appearance for South Fremantle.

Luff is another who could be considered given Swan Districts' weapons up forward this year.

With both teams having good looking line-ups and coming off Round 1 victories, it should be another contest well worth checking out at Steel Blue Oval on Saturday.

SWAN DISTRICTS v SOUTH FREMANTLE – STEEL BLUE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Selected teams, live stats 
Broadcast – Footy Radio (WAFL App)