Round 19 Preview - East Fremantle v SubiacoSaturday, July 29, 2017 - 6:54 AM - by Chris Pike

EAST Fremantle is in its best patch of form of the season and is off the bottom of the WAFL ladder but the task ahead on Saturday is a sizeable one hosting the league-leading Subiaco on a 15-game winning run at East Fremantle Oval.

Even though East Fremantle had the bye last weekend, the Sharks saw themselves move off the bottom of the ladder with Perth's percentage falling below theirs in the Demons' loss to West Perth.

And having lost its opening 10 matches of the season, East Fremantle had won two of its past five matches prior to the bye last weekend so things are definitely on the improve since the horror start.

But taking on Subiaco is the ultimate challenge on the WAFL and the Lions are in some dominant form having won 15 games in-a-row since losing to South Fremantle in Round 1.

Subiaco sits three games clear on top of the ladder with the 15-1 record and the Lions are on track for a third successive minor premiership as they look to play in a fourth straight grand final and attempt to win a third premiership in the past four years.

In those 15 straight victories, Subiaco's average winning margin is 41.3 points while scoring 102.7 points a game and conceding just 61.5 points. They are also averaging 352.3 possessions as a team in those 15 wins and the opposition collecting just 328.3.

That has included a Round 10 win by 31 points over East Fremantle at Leederville Oval but that was a strong performance by the Sharks that day making the Lions work hard to beat them.

But beating Subiaco is something that East Fremantle has struggled with for much of this century.

Between Round 12, 2002 and Round 21, 2010 the Lions won 20 consecutive matches over the Sharks.

After Subiaco went on to win the next five games again, East Fremantle did go on a three-game winning run over the Lions and won four out of five for a stretch.

But a surprise 80-point win last year was East Fremantle's only win since with Subiaco again winning seven of the past eight games over the Sharks including by 78 points late last year.

Overall since East Fremantle win in the middle of 2002, Subiaco has won 33 of the 39 games against East Fremantle.

East Fremantle is coming off a bye and its second win of the season against Perth by 16 points at East Fremantle Oval. The Sharks are back on home turf now after the week off and will welcome back captain Jamie McNamara for just his second game since Round 5.

It remains baffling why Josh Cuneo struggles to cement his place in the East Fremantle league side but the attacking defender is in the mix to return for the Sharks on Saturday with Ben Harding and Joel Kalajzic also in the mix to get a call up.

Matthew Burton is the only player out of the Sharks side at this stage from the line-up that beat the Demons.

Subiaco won its 15th consecutive match last Saturday beating Peel Thunder in a grand final rematch by 46 points at Bendigo Bank Stadium in Mandurah.

From that team, Joel Latham and Ryan Vermeersch lose their places in the Subiaco line-up to take on East Fremantle on Saturday.

Versatile big man Adam Creeper comes straight back in for the Lions after his two-week suspension while forward Rowen Powell is in the mix to return as well.

Brayden Ainsworth and Ryan Borchet are a chance to make their debuts for Subiaco as well with James Garcia added to the squad also.

EAST FREMANTLE (2-13, 8th) v SUBIACO (15-1, 1st) – EAST FREMANTLE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Selected teams, live stats 
Broadcast – 91.3 SportFM