Round 9 Optus WAFLW PreviewFriday, July 5, 2019 - 1:40 PM - by Chris Pike

THE WAFL Women's competition will also be celebrating NAIDOC Round this weekend and there's plenty at stake with Peel Thunder hosting East Fremantle, and Swan Districts taking on Subiaco on Saturday.

The two games of Round 9 of the 2019 Optus WAFLW Premiership Season will take place on Saturday and it will be held in celebration of NAIDOC Week.

All four teams will be celebrating Aboriginal culture and Indigenous heritage and contributions to football on the occasion too with the competing clubs wearing specially designed jumpers.

They will be adorned with Aboriginal artwork while the umpires will also be decked out in specially designed uniforms as well while the Burley footballs used will feature special artwork as well in commemoration of the occasion.

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On top of the celebrations taking place in honour of NAIDOC Week, the two matches will have plenty at stake as well with the second placed Claremont having the bye with a 4-3 record.

Round 9 action in the WAFLW competition begins on Saturday morning at Mandurah's David Grays Arena with the game serving as the curtain-raiser to the WAFL league contest between Peel Thunder and the West Coast Eagles.

The WAFLW match up pits Peel Thunder up against East Fremantle.

The second game of the round takes place at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval and will also serve as the lead into the men's WAFL contest with Swan Districts to take on East Perth later in the afternoon.

But in terms of the WAFLW contest, that will see the fourth placed Swan Districts play the league-leading Subiaco who return to action following the bye.

It's an early start for Peel and East Fremantle in Mandurah on Saturday but it should be a tremendous contest nonetheless.

The Thunder might be in last position on the table with a 1-5 record, but with how tight the competition is so far in WAFLW a win on Saturday against the Sharks and they are right back in the mix.

Peel has already shown they are capable of playing some tremendous football as well with a thumping 42-point win against Swan Districts a couple of weeks ago before losing to Claremont in Round 8.

East Fremantle, meanwhile, is coming off an eight-point win at home against Swan Districts last week which improved the Sharks to a 3-3 record on the season to sit in third position on the WAFLW ladder.

The two teams made history to start the WAFLW season playing the competition's first ever game at East Fremantle's New Choice Homes Park back in Round 1. On that occasion East Fremantle won by 37 points but Saturday's contest should be a significantly closer affair.

Swan Districts take on Subiaco with Swans trying to win their fourth game of the season and potentially return to second spot on the WAFLW ladder while the Lions are looking to continue their dominant season so far.

Subiaco had the bye last weekend but prior to that had won five of their six matches to be clear on top of the ladder. Those five wins for the Lions came at an average winning margin of 38 points.

That means the job is ahead of Swans on Saturday but it's not an impossible task. Swan Districts come into the round in fourth position with a 3-4 record and looking to bounce back from a narrow eight-point loss last Saturday at the hands of East Fremantle.

The two teams have already met once this WAFLW season and that was back in Round 1 also at Steel Blue Oval.

On that occasion, Subiaco won by 29 points with Tarnee Tester kicking three goals for the Lions and Beatrice Devlyn two. Imahra Cameron and Shannon Matthews were the goal kickers for Swan Districts. 
 

OPTUS WAFLW ROUND 9

PEEL THUNDER (1-5, 5th) v EAST FREMANTLE (3-3, 3rd) – DAVID GRAYS ARENA, SATURDAY 10.00AM
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SWAN DISTRICTS (3-4, 4th) v SUBIACO (5-1, 1st) – STEEL BLUE OVAL, SATURDAY 12.05PM
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