Round 4 Preview - Perth v East FremantleFriday, April 7, 2017 - 2:32 PM - by Chris Pike

PERTH and East Fremantle both entered the 2017 WAFL season with hopes of rising up the ladder but remain winless to date and another loss on Saturday at Lathlain Park will make it a long road back.

The Demons and Sharks both missed out on the finals in 2016 but did show enough encouraging signs, especially in the first half of the season for each of them, that they weren’t too far away from the mark.

So with some tinkering and improvement over the summer, it wasn’t far-fetched to imagine them improving in 2017. But so far there has been little sign of that and that needs to change on Saturday or there is the risk of it becoming too late for the loser.

Perth did show strong improvement in 2016 winning seven games but with a debilitating injury list early in 2017, things have been tough for the Demons.

They started on fire with eight first quarter goals in Round 1 against Swan Districts before losing by 12 points at Steel Blue Oval. The Demons then lost to Subiaco by 23 points and to Claremont by 59 last Saturday at Lathlain Park.

East Fremantle, meanwhile, could barely have had a worse opening two games prior to the bye last week.

The Sharks lost to Claremont by 62 points in Round 1 at East Fremantle Oval and then in Round 2 at Bendigo Bank Stadium lost to Peel Thunder by 86 points.

But they had the week off to regroup and try to gear up for a big performance against an equally determined Demons outfit on Saturday at Lathlain Park.

Perth will be desperate to get back reigning fairest and best winner Michael Sinclair to add some quality to its line-up on Saturday from the team that lost to Claremont last Saturday.

Several other players are in contention for selection following good form in the reserves with Mitch Browne coming off 17 possessions last week, Mitchell Henderson 12 disposals, Taran Etto 21 touches and John Levien 12 possessions to go with 10 tackles.

East Fremantle, meanwhile, welcomes back Brock O'Brien for his first game of 2017. It will be fascinating to see which end of the ground coach Rob Wiley plays him at.

Wingman Sean Henson will also be back for the Sharks with Joel Kalajzic a chance to make his East Fremantle league debut up against his former club.

Josef Hebiton, Dion Anthony, Andrew Stokes and Corey Holmes are the other players in contention at the selection table to take the field for East Fremantle on Saturday.

From the team that lost to Claremont a fortnight ago, Alex Moreno, James Harrold, Conor Regan and Jake Schleicher have been named out of the team.

With both teams desperate for their first wins of 2017 they will be putting everything on the line at Lathlain Park on Saturday.

PERTH (0-3, 8th) v EAST FREMANTLE (0-2, 9th) – LATHLAIN PARK, SATURDAY 2.40PM
Selected teams, live stats 
Broadcast – KIX Digital