Round 8 Optus WAFLW PreviewFriday, June 28, 2019 - 12:17 PM - by Chris Pike

IT is Round 8 of the inaugural Optus WAFL Women's Premiership Season and with Subiaco having the bye, East Fremantle, Swan Districts, Peel Thunder and Claremont are all left jostling for the positions beneath them.

Subiaco has been the standout team to date in the WAFLW competition winning five of their six matches and with those victories coming at an average winning margin of 32 points points to given them a standout percentage of 225.2.

But precious little has separated the other four teams in the competition over the opening seven rounds and that sets the stage for two fascinating contests in Round 8 action on Sunday afternoon.

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Both Round 8 matches in the WAFLW take place at 2pm on Sunday afternoon with East Fremantle playing Swan Districts at East Fremantle's New Choice Homes Park. The game will be shown via live stream and available through the WAFL website and Facebook page.

The other match takes place at Mandurah's David Grays Arena with Peel Thunder playing Claremont.

East Fremantle hosts Swan Districts in what should be a terrific WAFLW match up on Sunday afternoon at East Fremantle's New Choice Homes Park.

The game will live streamed as well so anyone unable to get to Shark Park on Sunday to watch the game is encouraged to tune in to watch either at the WAFL website or the league's Facebook page.

Swan Districts comes into the game on a high following a 14-point victory last week against Claremont at Claremont Oval. That win improved the black-and-whites to second position on the WAFLW ladder coming into Round 8 with a 3-3 record.

Swans jumped ahead of Claremont on the ladder thanks to a better percentage and now they will be looking to consolidate that place with a win on Sunday afternoon.

But it won't be an easy task against the Sharks who were the premiers last year at league level in the final season of the old WA Women's Football League.

East Fremantle went down to the league-leading Subiaco last week also at East Fremantle Oval with the Sharks now sitting in fourth position with a 2-3 record.

However, East Fremantle does have the second best percentage in the competition on the back of beating Swan Districts by 61 points and Peel Thunder by 37 points while their three defeats have only been by 11 points to Subiaco, one point to Claremont and 20 points to the Lions.

East Fremantle and Swan Districts have already met at East Fremantle once this season and that saw a 10.8 (68) to 1.1 (7) victory for the Sharks back in Round 3.

On that day, East Fremantle kicked nine goals to no score in the second half for the emphatic win with Roxanne Roux kicking three goals and Katherine Dann, Katelyn Catalano and Gabby O'Sullivan all booting two apiece.

O'Sullivan will have a choice to make on Sunday whether to play the WAFLW game for the Sharks against Swans or to play for the Perry Lakes Hawks in the State Basketball League contest against the East Perth Eagles at Bendat Basketball Centre.

In that loss for Swan Districts, Bronwyn Hansen was the lone goal scorer with Fiona Boucher, Mikayla Hyde, Shanae Davison, Naomi Baker and Brianna Hyde battling hard against the tide.

Swan Districts will be desperate to put in a much better showing this time around and with second spot on the line for the winner, it should be a terrific contest between the two teams.

Peel and Claremont also do battle on Sunday afternoon with a 2pm bouncedown time at Mandurah's David Grays Arena.

Peel comes into the contest with just the one win from the season from five matches while Claremont holds a 3-3 record, but all signs are pointing to a more than competitive contest.

Claremont is coming off a 14-point loss at Claremont Oval last week at the hands of Swan Districts while Peel had the Round 7 bye and prior to that, the Thunder had delivered their best performance of the season.

Not only was it Peel's only win of 2019 so far, but it was an emphatic performance beating Swan Districts by 42 points at Steel Blue Oval.

The two teams have already met once this season and that was a thrilling battle at Claremont Oval back in Round 3. On that occasion, the Tigers managed to win by just the three points over the Thunder.

On that day, Claremont won despite a goalless final quarter with Brooke Whyte kicking two goals.

Tayla Bresland was outstanding for Peel that day kicking four goals and she will be looking to lead the Thunder to their second victory of the season come Sunday afternoon.
 

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EAST FREMANTLE (2-3, 4th) v SWAN DISTRICTS (3-3, 2nd) – NEW CHOICE HOMES PARK, SUNDAY 2.00PM
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PEEL THUNDER (1-4, 5th) v CLAREMONT (3-3, 3rd) – DAVID GRAYS ARENA, SUNDAY 2.00PM
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