Round 6 Preview - Claremont v SubiacoFriday, April 21, 2017 - 4:01 PM - by Chris Pike

CLAREMONT and Subiaco do battle on neutral turf at East Fremantle Oval on Saturday looking to avoid their second defeats of 2017.

The Tigers and Lions have both made strong starts to the 2017 WAFL season heading into Saturday's clash that will be held at East Fremantle Oval with Claremont Oval still yet to have its redevelopment fully completed.

It's not even the first time the two have done battle at Shark Park. With Claremont Oval still being redeveloped and the Showground unavailable back in Round 3, 2014, they also met at the venue with Subiaco winning by 80 points.

But the Lions were on the way to the premiership that year and the Tigers on the slide somewhat on the back of a four-year run that included four minor premierships, three grand final appearances and two premierships.

Claremont and Subiaco both enter Saturday's clash with just the one loss apiece for the season so there's plenty at stake between two in-form teams.

The Tigers suffered their first loss of the season on Good Friday going down to South Fremantle by 65 points at Fremantle Community Bank Oval. But the final margin isn’t quite indicative of the fact that the Tigers were still in the contest midway through the final term.

But with Jye Bolton, Bailey Rogers, Tom Shanahan and Zac Langdon all off injured, Claremont gave up the last seven goals of the game in what happened to be the last 20 minutes for the unflattering final margin.

However, prior to that the Tigers had looked good defeating Perth, East Fremantle and East Perth and they will be hungry to bounce back quickly and avoid coming back to the pack at 3-2.

Subiaco, meanwhile, suffered a 39-point loss in Round 1 at the hands of South Fremantle at Fremantle Community Bank Oval but has not suffered a defeat since.

The Lions have beaten Perth by 23 points, West Perth by 21, Peel by 15 and East Perth by 91 since to now be looking in good shape with a 4-1 record heading into the clash with the Tigers on Saturday.

Subiaco and Claremont met just twice in 2016 with the Lions winning on both occasions by 44 points at the Showground in Round 9 and again by 26 points at Leederville Oval in Round 14. 

Subiaco also won both meetings in 2015 so has won its last four against Claremont.

Claremont was the walking wounded last week against South Fremantle and Rogers will miss Saturday's game with Subiaco due to his knee injury with Shanahan and Langdon both missing through concussion.

But Sandover Medallist Bolton is looking on track to have overcome his knee injury to play for the Tigers in what would be a massive boost.

Haydn Busher, Morgan Davies, Oliver Eastland, Harrison McCracken, Matthew Palfrey and Bailey Bennett are the players all in contention to come into the Claremont team from the one that lost to South Fremantle on Good Friday.

Subiaco has also suffered a blow losing versatile big man Lachlan Delahunty to an ankle injury following the big win over East Perth on Good Friday.

That looks set to open the door for David Madut to come in and carry the ruck in what would be his first league appearance since Round 15, 2015. He has managed four games in the reserves this season to date averaging 33.5 hit outs.

Running defender Chris Bryan is also out injured for the Lions.

Greg Clark would be his most likely replacement to reclaim a spot in the Subiaco defence.

Former West Perth midfielder Liam Baker is also in contention for his WAFL league debut while Justin Joyce and Matt Bogensperger are the other players added to Subiaco's squad.

CLAREMONT (3-1, 4th) v SUBIACO (4-1, 3rd) – EAST FREMANTLE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Selected teams, live stats 
Broadcast – 91.3 SportFM