Round 3 Optus WAFL PreviewFriday, April 19, 2019 - 1:05 AM - by Chris Pike

IT is Easter time and that means a monster Round 3 of WAFL action spread across three days beginning with two matches on Good Friday, another two on Saturday and then concluding with the broadcast clash featuring South Fremantle and West Perth on Sunday.

Good Friday WAFL football has now been a regular occurrence for some time and it has settled on both Subiaco and Peel Thunder playing host to matches on the holy day.

That will continue in 2019 with Subiaco playing the West Coast Eagles at Leederville Oval from 1.15pm and later in the afternoon from 3.45pm, Peel will host East Fremantle at Mandurah's David Grays Arena.

The Easter Round in the WAFL then continues on Saturday afternoon with two more fixtures that sees East Perth host Claremont at Leederville Oval and Swan Districts take on Perth at Steel Blue Oval.

The round concludes on Sunday afternoon at Fremantle Community Bank Oval with South Fremantle hosting West Perth. The game will be broadcast live on Channel 7 from 2pm.

TABTOUCH TEAM OF ROUND 2
OPTUS WAFL ROUND 2 WRAP

Easter Round in the WAFL begins on Good Friday at Leederville Oval with the undefeated reigning premier Subiaco hosting West Coast.

Having gone through last season undefeated and winning the premiership, Subiaco has again started 2019 strongly with wins against East Perth and East Fremantle to have now won 21 games straight.

West Coast opened its life as a standalone WAFL club losing to Perth before winning last Saturday against Peel Thunder at Optus Stadium.

This game marks the seventh straight year that Subiaco has hosted a Good Friday fixture and after it had become a tradition for it to be against co-tenants East Perth, it's the Eagles that step up to the plate in 2019.

From the Subiaco team that beat East Fremantle by 45 points last Saturday, the Lions have recalled Braden Fimmano, Ben Newton and Kaidyn Fullgrabe.

Harry Marsh and Drew Rohde go out of the Subiaco side through injury with Travis Leggett joining them out of the side for Good Friday.

Brayden Ainsworth, Brodie Riach, Patrick Bines and Francis Watson come into the Eagles side for Good Friday at the expense of Jak Cary, Will Schofield, Brendon Ah Chee and Josh Smith.

The other Good Friday fixture has also become an annual event now with Peel hosting East Fremantle in Mandurah.

One of East Fremantle's two wins in 2018 did come at the expense of Peel at East Fremantle Oval in Round 8 in what is the last meeting between the two teams. Prior to that, the Thunder had beaten the Sharks nine straight times.

Peel started the season with a win against West Perth before losing last week to the Eagles while East Fremantle has lost to Claremont and Subiaco to open 2019 to have now lost 12 straight going back to 2018.

From the Thunder team that lost to the Eagles, Peel will be strengthened with the inclusions of Stefan Giro, Hayden Ballantyne, Hugh Dixon, Ryan Nyhuis, Blair Bell and Traye Bennell.

Out of the Peel team goes Mitch Crowden, James Sturrock, Keegan Power, Ben Harding, Brennan Cox and Sean Darcy. 

As for East Fremantle, Blaine Boekhorst makes his return from a knee reconstruction he underwent after Round 1 last year. Milan Murdock, Cameron Eardley, Sean Fletcher and Tom Monaghan also come in for the Sharks.

Going out are Jeremy Sharp, Tom Marshall, Sean Henson, Kyle Baskerville and Jesse Adamini.

Saturday's Round 3 WAFL action sees East Perth take on Claremont with both teams coming off victories.

The Royals got their first win of the season last week with a narrow victory against Swan Districts while the Tigers had a second straight thumping win to start the campaign, beating West Perth by 56 points.

East Perth will make at least three changes to its team that beat Swan Districts with Christian Ameduri, Mitch Dobson, Mahli King, Taylor North, Aaron Redhead and Jamie Rudrum added to the squad.

Ben Miller, Julian Ameduri and Matthew Johnson go out for the Royals.

At this stage Claremont has named an unchanged team from the one that won well over the Falcons at HBF Arena. Eddie Simpson, Jalen McGee and Tom Ledger have been added to the extended squad.

Saturday's other WAFL fixture in Round 3 pits Swan Districts up against Perth at Steel Blue Oval.

Swans have lost their opening two games of the season albeit only by four and eight points respectively while the Demons are undefeated after impressive victories against West Coast and South Fremantle.

Albert Dean is the only out at this stage from the Swan Districts team that lost narrowly to East Perth. Dylan Smith, Patrick Italiano, Mitchell Bain and Chad Daniels have all been added to the squad for the Black Ducks.

Perth looks likely to take on Swans with the same 22 that beat South Fremantle last Saturday despite the additions of Jacob Payne, Cody Ninyette and Kasey Nicholas to the extended squad.

The round then concludes on Easter Sunday with South Fremantle hosting West Perth at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

It will be the first meeting between the two teams since last year's preliminary final which saw the Falcons shock the Bulldogs also at the port to win their way into the Grand Final.

It was a stunning way for West Perth to snap South Fremantle's nine-game winning run against them which included a 98-point hammering just two weeks earlier in the qualifying final also at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

Those South Fremantle players that played in that preliminary final have waited a long time for another crack at the Falcons with the Bulldogs looking for their second win of the season after losing narrowly last week to Perth.

Captain Dylan Main, Kyle Hamersley, Blair Della Franca, Josh Collard and Chris Ah Siu have all been added to the South Fremantle squad. Zac De San Miguel is the only confirmed out at this stage.

West Perth has lost its opening two games of the season but regains key forward Tyler Keitel from suspension to take on the Bulldogs.

Brayden Antonio, Ben Delaporte, Zac Guadagnin, Baylee James and Dean Munns have all been added to the Falcons squad as well while Dylan Yem, Troy Yukich and Kael Coleman are confirmed out.
 

ROUND 3

SUBIACO v WEST COAST EAGLES – LEEDERVILLE OVAL, GOOD FRIDAY 1.15PM
Live scores, stats 

PEEL THUNDER v EAST FREMANTLE – DAVID GRAYS ARENA, GOOD FRIDAY 3.45PM
Live scores, stats

EAST PERTH v CLAREMONT – LEEDERVILLE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Live scores, stats
Broadcast – 91.3 SportFM

SWAN DISTRICTS v PERTH – STEEL BLUE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Live scores, stats
Broadcast – KIX Digital

SOUTH FREMANTLE v WEST PERTH – FREMANTLE COMMUNITY BANK OVAL, EASTER SUNDAY 2.10PM
Live scores, stats
Broadcast – Channel 7