Round 16 Optus WAFL PreviewFriday, July 26, 2019 - 11:47 AM - by Chris Pike

THERE might be just the three games in Round 16 of the WAFL season but all of them have plenty at stake including a fascinating Subiaco battle with the West Coast Eagles and then top four teams Claremont and Perth locking horns.

Coming off a fascinating Round 15 of the 2019 Optus WAFL Premiership Season which might have only featured two games but it saw West Perth and Peel Thunder score important wins to leapfrog the West Coast Eagles on the ladder.

Now in Round 16, the four teams that played last week, West Perth, Peel Thunder, East Perth and East Fremantle, all take the bye while the other six teams lock horns which includes the competition's top four teams, another trying to return to fifth spot and then the cellar dwellers.

The Round 16 action begins with the early starting clash on Saturday with Subiaco hosting the West Coast Eagles at Leederville Oval. The game gets underway from 11.40am and will be shown live on Channel 7.

It should be a fascinating contest with the Lions still sitting clear on top of the ladder but the Eagles on a four-game winning streak too with their depth improved as the quality of their AFL-listed players has improved throughout 2019.

Then later on Saturday afternoon, two teams on losing slides do battle at Fremantle Community Bank Oval with South Fremantle hosting Swan Districts. The Bulldogs remain third but have lost their past four matches while Swans are lost having lost six in succession.

It should be another tremendous contest when Claremont hosts Perth at Claremont Oval with the Tigers still second despite a last up loss to Subiaco while the Demons consolidated fourth spot with a stunning come from behind win against South Fremantle prior to the bye.

The round gets underway with the fascinating clash between Subiaco and West Coast at Leederville Oval.

Subiaco comes into the game still three games and a significant percentage clear on top spot following a win over Claremont prior to the bye which gave them a seventh consecutive victory.

But West Coast was also in tremendous form leading into the bye having won four consecutive matches to improve to a 6-7 record. That had seen the Eagles improve to fifth spot on the ladder but with last week's bye and wins for West Perth and Peel, they dropped back to seventh position.

However, the game does open up a chance for West Coast to move back into fifth position and to try to stop Subiaco from securing a fifth consecutive minor premiership.

From Subiaco's team that beat Claremont a fortnight ago, the Lions have made six changes and there are some fresh faces included with Drew Rohde, Angus Litherland, Justin Joyce, Max Walters, Jakob Atkinson and Kyle Stainsby all come into the side to face the Eagles.

There's plenty of experience going out with the six not taking the place in the team from the side that beat the Tigers being Hayden Kennedy, Rowen Powell, Ben Newton, Clancy Wheeler, Jacob Miller and Ben Reid.

The Eagles have even more changes with 10 players swapping over from the team that beat West Perth by 69 points a fortnight ago.

Nathan Vardy, Xavier O'Neill, Brendon Ah Chee, Luke Foley, Luke Salomone, Jak Cary, Patrick Bines, Sam Hobbs, Kieran Hug and Joel Kalajzic have all been added into the Eagles line-up to face Subiaco.

Brayden Ainsworth, Josh Smith, Brady Grey, Josh Rotham, Brody Riach, Francis Watson, Jake Waterman, Bailey Williams, Will Schofield and Jack Petruccelle go out of the line-up.

Then at Fremantle Community Bank Oval, South Fremantle and Swan Districts come into the clash having lost four and six matches in-a-row respectively, they will be running out desperate to taste that winning feeling once more.

Prior to the bye, Swan Districts was overrun by East Fremantle in the last quarter to lose by 29 points at East Fremantle Oval which made it six consecutive losses since a victory over the West Coast Eagles back in Round 7.

South Fremantle, meanwhile, has had two weeks to stew over a second heartbreaking loss to Perth in 2019. After losing to the Demons by three points back in Round 2, South Fremantle looked to have the game won two weeks ago up 13 points at the 24-minute mark of the last term.

But the Bulldogs would concede the final three goals, including one after the siren and that saw Perth snatch the six-point win to hand South Fremantle a four consecutive defeat.

South Fremantle does remain in third position on the ladder at 8-5 thanks to a seven-game winning streak before the losses at the hands of Subiaco, West Coast, Claremont and Perth. 

But for the Bulldogs to stay third and maintain hopes of still finishing in the top two they will need a win on Saturday on home turf against Swan Districts.

The two teams started the season playing one another in Round 1 at Steel Blue Oval and that game went down to the wire with Swan Districts having a shot after the siren to win, but Josh Simpson's shot was off target.

Over the course of the season, South Fremantle does look the superior team sitting second with points scored at 83.5 points a game while Swan Districts are averaging 59.5. The Bulldogs concede 72.1 points a game and Swans 75.5.

South Fremantle averages 335 possessions a game and 17 more than its opposition while Swan Districts is averaging just 283 a game and 51 fewer.

Swan Districts' best hopes of a competitive showing will be to start well. While Swans have been outscored by 128 points over last quarters this season, they have only been outscored by 89 points across first halves and in fact are winning their third quarters over the season.

South Fremantle, meanwhile, is winning its first quarters by 23 points and second terms by 61 but then they are outscored by 20 points in third quarters. The Bulldogs have dominated last quarters, though, outscoring their opponents by 85 points.

From Swan Districts' team that lost to East Fremantle a fortnight ago, Kade Wallrodt, Brayden Hackett, Jesse Turner, Nathan Blakely, Warrick Wilson, Josh Cipro and Brad Fullgrabe have all been added to the squad to take on South Fremantle.

Denzel More, Jack O'Sullivan, Jiah Reidy and Denver Grainger-Barras have been named out of the squad at this stage.

South Fremantle is coming off the after-the-siren loss to Perth two weeks ago and from that team, Shaun Bewick returns from an ankle injury that has kept him sidelined since WA Day. Glenn Byron also returns for his first game at league level since Round 1.

Zac De San Miguel and Seaton Thompson are the two players to make way in the South Fremantle line-up.

Then there is Claremont and Perth doing battle at Claremont Oval in a clash featuring the teams sitting second and fourth on the ladder.

A win for Claremont and they further strengthen their top two position while Perth can all but secure their first finals appearance in 22 years with a victory.

Claremont narrowly went down to Subiaco a fortnight ago and while it ended their winning run, it hardly saw their strong from come to an end as they headed into the bye and now prepare to host Perth on Saturday.

From that team that played Subiaco, Kaiden Gilbert, Jake Waterman and Rylie Morgan come into the team at the expense of Anton Hamp, Callan England and Ben Rushforth.

Perth has made just the one change from the team that snatched the win from South Fremantle after the siren. Michael Bennell hasn’t been able to hold his place in the line-up while Josh Burke comes in for his first appearance of 2019 at league level.
 

OPTUS WAFL ROUND 16

SUBIACO (12-1, 1st) v WEST COAST EAGLES (6-7, 7th) – LEEDERVILLE OVAL, SATURDAY 11.40AM
Live scores, stats
Broadcast – Channel 7

SOUTH FREMANTLE (8-5, 3rd) v SWAN DISTRICTS (2-11, 10th) – FREMANTLE COMMUNITY BANK OVAL, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Live scores, stats
Broadcast – KIX Digital

CLAREMONT (9-4, 2nd) v PERTH (8-5, 4th) – CLAREMONT OVAL, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Live scores, stats
Broadcast – 91.3 SportFM