Round 22 Preview - Swan Districts v ClaremontFriday, August 18, 2017 - 4:08 PM - by Chris Pike

WITH Swan Districts needing to win to book in its finals place and Claremont requiring the victory to remain any hope still a fascinating contest awaits at Steel Blue Oval on Saturday.

Plenty will go on the line at the Bassendean venue on Saturday with two teams desperate to win in the second last round of the 2017 WAFL season.

Having lost away from home the past two weeks to Subiaco and East Perth, both at Leederville Oval, Swans have conceded their hold on a position in the top five and now need one win its past two games guarantee a finals appearance.

That will be quite the achievement for the black-and-whites following last year's wooden spoon finish with just the two wins. Meanwhile, two wins in the last two rounds and Swans would still remain a hope of finishing third and earning a finals double chance.

However a loss on Saturday to Claremont and Swan Districts would be in a must-win situation next Saturday also at Steel Blue Oval East Fremantle to make finals.

Claremont, meanwhile, might only have an outside chance of playing finals still in 2017 having lost five of its past six matches, but that all goes on the line against Swan Districts on Saturday.

A loss for the Tigers and their season will be over with them potentially sitting three games outside of fifth position. Even a win for Claremont on Saturday would need likely the upset of the season with Perth beating East Perth at the same time for the Tigers to remain any hope of playing finals.

For Claremont to play finals, it needs East Perth and West Perth to lose its past two matches and for the Tigers to win their last two against Swan Districts and West Perth. It is all relying on them beating Swans on Saturday and Perth upsetting East Perth to set up the final round.

Swans are coming into the game having lost the past two weeks at Leederville to Subiaco and East Perth, and will still be without Matt Riggio, Xavier Ellis and Matthew Rogers but the black-and-whites will like their chances back on home turf.

When the two teams met at Steel Blue Oval back in Round 7, it was Swans who prevailed by 17 points before Claremont won at Claremont Oval in Round 13 by 67 points.

There will be some fascinating match ups throughout the game as well and one of those could very well be the last time that premiership-winning veterans Tallan Ames and Beau Maister lock horns against one another at full-forward for Claremont.

The ruck battle could also be pivotal between Corey Gault from Swan Districts and Mitch Andrews from Claremont. The pair have been the two standout big man in the WAFL this season along with South Fremantle's Brock Higgins.

With Riggio, Ellis and Rogers already among those unavailable for Swan Districts, they also lose Freddie Clutterbuck to a groin injury after he made his return to the league side from a thumb injury last week against East Perth at Leederville Oval.

Jack Watson, Brayden Noble, Brayden Hackett and Ethan Maguire are also out of the Swan Districts team.

Full-forward Ricky Cary should be straight back in after missing the game against the Royals with co-captain David Ellard also set to return from a hamstring injury.

Former West Perth player Ben McGillivray could make his debut for Swans on Saturday with Levi Ridley, Chad Daniels, Tobe Watson, Steven Wityk and Laurence Grescos the other players to come into the selection mix.

There are plenty of changes at Claremont as well following last Saturday's 32-point defeat to South Fremantle at Claremont Oval.

The Tigers have the chance to unveil a couple more debutants on Saturday against Swan Districts with Josh Bennett and Fraser Gilbert in the mix to play.

Jeremy Goddard, Lachlan Martinis, Matthew Palfrey and Jack Richardson are all chances to come into the Tigers line-up with their season on the line as well.

Ryan Neates, Matthew Davies and Charles Le Fanu are out of the Claremont side.

SWAN DISTRICTS (10-8, 4th) v CLAREMONT (7-11, 7th) – STEEL BLUE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Selected teams, live stats 
Broadcast – 91.3 SportFM, KIX Digital