Round 7 Preview – West Perth v East FremantleFriday, May 18, 2018 - 6:45 PM - by Chris Pike

WEST Perth is back home to Joondalup Arena for the first time in more than a month when it hosts the struggling East Fremantle in Round 7 on Saturday.

The WAFL resumes this weekend following the break for the State game and West Perth and East Fremantle couldn’t have been in more differing form prior to the general bye.

West Perth might have lost its last game to Subiaco, but the 22-point defeat marked by far the best performance any side has been able to produce against the Lions this season and the Falcons even managed to lead for the majority of the opening half.

And prior to that, West Perth was in good form coming off a 31-point victory against Swan Districts and then a comfortable 62-point win against Perth.

West Perth went into the break with a 3-3 record to be in fourth position on the WAFL ladder with the Falcons now to return home for their first game at Joondalup Arena since an eight-point loss at the hands of South Fremantle back in Round 3.

East Fremantle, meanwhile, would have been the happiest of all teams for the break for the State game last week. The Sharks didn’t start the season too badly coming off only winning three games in 2017 with them losing narrowly to Peel Thunder and Claremont, and beating Perth by seven points.

But the last three weeks leading into the break were disastrous for East Fremantle with losses to South Fremantle, Swan Districts and East Perth by an average of 72.3 points.

Those largely non-competitive performances saw the Sharks slip to a 1-5 record on the season and the pressure mount on the club meaning they need to find a way to respond and deliver a strong performance against West Perth at Joondalup Arena on Saturday.

There were six players across the two teams who took part in last Saturday's State game at Adelaide Oval that saw Western Australia beat South Australia by 26 points to become the first WA team to win in the City of Churches for 24 years.

West Perth had four representatives in the win for the WAFL State Team and Shane Nelson (30 possessions, 11 tackles), Aaron Black (20 disposals, four tackles), Luke Meadows (16 touches, six marks) and Andrew Strijk (15 possessions, three goals) were all among the best players on the field.

Jonathon Marsh (20 possessions, seven marks) and George Hampson (12 disposals, five marks) were both strong contributors from East Fremantle as well with each playing their second games for the Black Swans.

West Perth has been the best starting team across the season so far outscoring its opponents by 77 points over the six games. The Falcons have also outscored their opposition by 39 points in third quarters, but been outscored by 43 points in third quarters and 50 in last terms.

East Fremantle has won its second quarters across the season by 10 points but been outscored by 60 points in first terms, 112 points in third quarters and 67 points in final stanzas.

But over the last three weeks, has conceded 50 goals while kicking just 20 themselves. They've also had just 45 scoring shots from 85 inside-50 entries compared with conceding 112 and 200.

As well as 67 few scoring shots and 115 less inside 50s, the Sharks have also had 198 less possessions than South Fremantle, Swan Districts and East Perth over its last three matches.

West Perth has won the last three matches against East Fremantle by an average of 39.3 points and going back further, the Falcons have won five of the past seven against the Sharks. 

The Falcons have also won three straight at Joondalup Arena against the Sharks even though prior to that East Fremantle won six straight visits to the venue.

West Perth played well against Subiaco two weeks ago despite ending up losing by 22 points and as a result there's no reason for many changes to that side for the Falcons.

Reigning colts fairest and best winner Dylan Yem is a chance to make his debut against East Fremantle on Saturday with Mitch Peirce, Tyson Moulton and Zac Guadagnin also added to the squad.

Burly forward Rudy Riddoch is the only player out at this stage for West Perth to take on the Sharks at Joondalup Arena.

Not surprisingly, there are plenty of changes again at East Fremantle highlighted by the returns of captain Jonathon Griffin and vice-captain Matthew Jupp with Ryan Lester-Smith in line to play his first league game back from a knee reconstruction too.

Harry Creasey, Cameron Eardley, Sean Fletcher and Joel Kalajzic are the other players in the mix to come back into the Sharks side to take on the Falcons too.

From the team that lost to East Perth in Round 6, Dion Anthony, Frazer Daly, Corey Holmes, Tom Marshall and the suspended Jayden Schofield go out.

WEST PERTH (3-3, 4th) v EAST FREMANTLE (1-5, 9th) – JOONDALUP ARENA, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Selected teams, live stats 
Broadcast – 91.3 SportFM, Footy Radio