Round 11 Optus WAFL PreviewThursday, June 20, 2019 - 11:48 AM - by Chris Pike

THE WAFL is back to a full round of five matches this Saturday and with it including East Fremantle hosting the West Coast Eagles return of Nic Naitanui and then a hotly-anticipated top-of-the-table clash between South Fremantle and Subiaco, there's plenty to be excited about.

After the WAFL has had two rounds with the five matches split over the two weekends, normal action resumes this Saturday in Round 11 with all five matches and it could very well be one of the most anticipated days of WAFL action in a long time.

The main event undoubtedly takes place at Fremantle Community Bank Oval with South Fremantle and Subiaco battling over top position in the WAFL.

The Bulldogs and Lions both come into the game on 8-1 records coming into Round 11 and they will put it all on the line at the port on Saturday afternoon.

The day's action begins at East Fremantle's New Choice Homes Park and will also have plenty of eyeballs on it as East Fremantle hosts the West Coast Eagles.

The game will be broadcast live on Channel 7 from 11.30am and it will be noteworthy for the return for the Eagles of Naitanui from his second knee reconstruction.

There will be then two more matches bouncing down at 2.15pm with Perth hosting Peel Thunder at Lathlain's New Choice Homes Park, and Claremont doing battle with East Perth at Claremont Oval.

The round concludes at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval with Swan Districts hosting West Perth.

Round 11 in the WAFL gets underway from 11.40am at New Choice Homes Park with East Fremantle hosting West Coast.

Obviously a lot of focus on the game is courtesy of Eagles' ruckman Nic Naitanui making his return after the second knee reconstruction of his career. That has led to the game being broadcast live on Channel 7 and for a bigger than usual crowd expected despite the inclement weather at Shark Park.

But outside of that, it's a big game for both clubs to try to stay in touch for a top five position.

Both teams had the bye last weekend and now return to action with East Fremantle in its best patch of form in a long time having won three of its past four matches, with the only loss in that period coming at the expense of South Fremantle.

Depending on other results, despite losing the opening five games of the season the Sharks could even find themselves inside the top five by the end of the round with a win.

Then there's the Eagles who did get two wins early in the season but have struggled to be overly competitive since having lost five straight matches by an average of 34.8 points to be anchored to the bottom of the WAFL ladder.

East Fremantle hammered East Perth two weeks ago at Leederville Oval prior to the bye and from that team, the Sharks have elected to come into the clash with the Eagles with an unchanged line-up.

The Eagles lost to Claremont by 36 points a fortnight ago and along with the return of Nic Naitanui this week to play the Sharks, there are plenty of changes including the coming out of retirement for former North Melbourne and West Coast AFL great Drew Petrie.

Jake Waterman, Josh Smith, Fraser McInnes, Brendon Ah Chee, Tom Cole, Tom Barrass and Josh Rotham are all set to play for West Coast as well.

Jackson Nelson, Andrew Fisher, Mitch Curnow, Kieran Hug, Jarrod Cameron, Chris Masten, Liam Robilliard, Sam Lamont and Joel Ashman are all out of the team.

All eyes then head to Fremantle Community Bank Oval as South Fremantle hosts Subiaco in a top-of-the-table WAFL clash that could very well be a season-defining encounter for both clubs.

Subiaco has been the dominant team of the last five years having played in five consecutive Grand Finals for premierships in 2014, 2015 and 2018, and Grand Final losses to Peel Thunder in 2016 and 2017.

South Fremantle has been banging on the door for the past three years as well reaching a preliminary final in three consecutive seasons, losing to Subiaco along the way in each of those finals campaigns.

But already earlier this season in Round 6 at Leederville Oval, South Fremantle put in a terrific performance to beat Subiaco by 22 points, ending their 25-game winning run which stretched all the way back to the 2017 Grand Final.

Since then, Subiaco has responded impressively beating Claremont by 24 points, Peel Thunder by 41 points and then Perth by 69 points where they held the Demons to just one goal in terrible conditions two weeks ago.

That has kept the Lions on top of the WAFL ladder with an 8-1 record heading into the clash with South Fremantle.

The Bulldogs, meanwhile, have kept their winning form going too since that win over Subiaco beating East Perth by a point, East Fremantle by 32 points and Peel by three points to now come into Saturday's contest on a seven-game winning streak and also an 8-1 record.

South Fremantle and Subiaco are the two standout teams after 10 rounds of the 2019 WAFL season with the two among the top three in terms of possessions, with Subiaco racking up 46.3 per game more than their opponents and South Fremantle 32.6 more.

The Bulldogs are the highest-scoring team in the competition putting up 91.6 points per game while Subiaco is ranked second at 87.6. But the Lions are considerably more miserly in defence conceding just 50.8 points a game while the Bulldogs are giving up 66.6.

The two teams are the best starting sides in the competition with Subiaco outscoring its opponents in first quarters by 136 points for the season and South Fremantle by 48. Then in second quarters, Subiaco is ranked second with 81 more points and South Fremantle is third with 75.

Neither side has enjoyed third quarters too much throughout 2019 with the Bulldogs ranked fourth and the Lions only seventh. But then in final terms they are again ranked first and second with Subiaco outscoring its opposition by 114 points and South Fremantle by 90.

Despite the absence of Haiden Schloithe, Brandon Donaldson and Shaun Bewick last week, South Fremantle dug deep to beat Peel in Mandurah as they now prepare to return to Fremantle Community Bank Oval to host the Lions.

South Fremantle is a chance to regain Sandover Medallist and dual fairest and best winner Schloithe from his knee injury while Donaldson looks set to return as well.

There is a forced change in the ruck too with Blair Della Franca coming in for his first game of the season after solid form in the reserves while Brock Higgins goes out having copped a one-week suspension for striking Peel's Hayden Ballantyne last week.

Adam McIntosh and Seaton Thompson are also in the mix to return for the Bulldogs while Daniel Cabassi is another to go out.

Subiaco will bring back No. 1 ruckman Tim Sutherland after he sat out the terrible conditions a fortnight ago against Perth at Leederville Oval.

Ben Reid looks set to make his debut as well while Tom Edwards-Baldwin and Jacob Miller are the others added to the squad. Daniel Leach is the only player named out at this stage.

There's plenty on the line also at Mineral Resources Park when Perth hosts Peel on Saturday afternoon.

The Demons made such an exciting start to the season winning their opening five matches but they have struggled since winning just one of the last four matches including kicking just one goal to record their lowest ever score against Subiaco two weeks ago.

But Perth does still sit inside the top five in fourth position with a two-game gap on fifth so they are well placed to still play finals for the first time since 1997 especially with a win over Peel on Saturday.

But the Thunder won't be any pushovers and will be frustrated to have conceded the last two goals against South Fremantle last week to lose at home by three points.

Peel comes into the clash with Perth in sixth position at 3-6 but a win could see them return to the top five depending on other results on Saturday.

From the Perth team that lost to Subiaco a fortnight ago, there are three changes and two of them forced with injuries to Corey Byrne and Jared Bell. Daniel Horan is the other player to lose his place for the Demons.

Gordon Narrier will play his first game of the season for Perth while Chris Bryan and Lachlan Dennis will return.

And from the Peel line-up that narrowly went down to South Fremantle a week ago, there are six changes to face the Demons with Ryan Bennell, Sam Sturt, Scott Jones, Mitch Crowden, Matt Bogensperger and Keegan Power all coming into the line-up.

Gerald Ugle, Travis Colyer, Lloyd Meek, Jordan Boullineau, Cam McCarthy and Matthew Piggott are the players named out. 

Claremont and East Perth meet in another fascinating clash at Claremont Oval on Saturday with the Tigers looking to keep their good form going and the Royals trying to bounce back from a disappointing loss two weeks ago.

Claremont is in some good form at the moment having put together wins over the Eagles and Swans to sit in third position on the ladder with a 6-3 record on the season.

A win on Saturday and the Tigers will only sit a game behind whoever loses out of South Fremantle and Subiaco, but a loss and they start to fall back to the chasing pack.

East Perth had appeared to be building some good form too until a disappointing 62-point loss to East Fremantle at Leederville Oval two weeks ago prior to the bye. That left the Royals with a 3-6 record.

Claremont had to work hard but ended up overrunning Swan Districts last Sunday. From that team, Matthew Palfrey looks set to have earned a call up after five goals in the reserves while former skipper Jake Murphy could make an inspired comeback.

Alec Waterman and Dylan Smallwood have also been added to the squad with Oliver Eastland going out.

And for East Perth following the loss to East Fremantle, Eddie Simpson looks like he'll make his Royals debut against his former team with Christian Ameduri, Julian Ameduri, Ben McGuire and Nelson Waite added to the squad as well.

Patrick McGinnity and Tony Olango have been named out of the Royals' side.

The last game of the round is then another one between two sides who always create a fascinating contest, Swan Districts and West Perth.

It's a pivotal game for Swans and a win will keep them in touch with the top five especially considering they have the best percentage of all teams outside the top five.

The record of 2-7 might not look fantastic, but the fact that Swans have been so competitive week after week even when not winning means that if they can start to string some wins together, the season can very quickly get back on track.

It will be the second clash with West Perth of the season for Swan Districts too. The first clash came back in the ANZAC Round at Joondalup's HBF Arena and that was a performance to give the black-and-whites plenty of confidence.

Swans beat the Falcons by 44 points in what was clearly their best performance of the season with Corey Gault kicking five goals, George Hampson three and Leigh Kohlmann two. Hampson also amassed 31 possessions, Jesse Turner 26, Matt Riggio 25 and Nathan Blakely 24.

That will give Swan Districts the confidence of knowing they can play well against West Perth, now they just need to replicate that on home soil. Bizarrely, Swans have struggled of late at Steel Blue Oval winning just one of their last 11 games at home.

From the Swan Districts team that lost to Claremont last Sunday, there are no outs to the side at this stage while Josh Simpson, Chad Daniels and potential debutant Callum Garcia have been added to the squad.

Meanwhile, West Perth hasn’t played since beating the West Coast Eagles at HBF Arena by 36 points to improve to a 4-5 record on the season and having won four of their previous five matches since starting the season with four losses is succession.

From the team that beat the Eagles, West Perth also hasn’t named any outs at this stage. Only Nathan Alexandre, Conal Lynch and Tyson Moulton have been added to the squad.
 

OPTUS WAFL ROUND 11

EAST FREMANTLE (3-6, 7th) v WEST COAST EAGLES (2-7, 10th) – NEW CHOICE HOMES PARK, SATURDAY 11.40AM
Live scores, stats
Broadcast – Channel 7

SOUTH FREMANTLE (8-1, 2nd) v SUBIACO (8-1, 1st) – FREMANTLE COMMUNITY BANK OVAL, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Live scores, stats
Broadcast – 91.3 SportFM

PERTH (6-3, 4th) v PEEL THUNDER (3-6, 6th) – MINERAL RESOURCES PARK, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Live scores, stats

CLAREMONT (6-3, 3rd) v EAST PERTH (3-6, 8th) – CLAREMONT OVAL, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Live scores, stats
Broadcast – KIX Digital 

SWAN DISTRICTS (2-7, 9th) v WEST PERTH (4-5, 5th) – STEEL BLUE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.25PM
Live scores, stats
Broadcast – 720 ABC Perth