Round 3 Optus WAFLW PreviewFriday, July 31, 2020 - 3:16 PM - by Chris Pike

ROUND 3 in the 2020 Optus WAFL Women's Premiership Season sees two matches on Saturday and another on Sunday and with four teams coming into the round having split their opening two games, things are starting to heat up.

With only seven rounds in the home and away season for 2020 in the WAFL Women's competition, it's going to be a hot race for spots in the top four and already there are four teams locked in a battle on 1-1 records coming into Round 3's action.

It all gets underway on Saturday afternoon at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval in a rematch of last year's preliminary final with Swan Districts hosting Subiaco. The game gets underway from 3.10pm directly following the WAFL men's contest between the same two teams.

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The only game for the weekend pitting teams on 1-1 records against one another then takes place at Mandurah's David Grays Arena with Peel Thunder playing host to East Fremantle. 

The game gets underway on Saturday evening from 5.10pm also following the WAFL game at the venue between Peel and West Perth.

The final game of the weekend then sees South Fremantle hosting its third straight match to start life in WAFLW at Fremantle Community Bank Oval against Claremont. The game is the standalone Sunday fixture and begins at 2pm.

The first game of the round shapes as a beauty at Steel Blue Oval with Swan Districts hosting Subiaco.

Swans have started their WAFLW season fresh off making last year's Grand Final with a win against Peel Thunder before then losing last Sunday to Claremont.

Subiaco isn’t short on motivation having missed last year's Grand Final having finished the home and away season as minor premiers, and as a result the Lions have opened 2020 strongly beating both Claremont and East Fremantle to be the only undefeated side.

Swan Districts has made three changes to the team that lost to Claremont with Olivia Cripps, Renee Holwill and Courtney Lindgren coming in at the expense of Nicole Bombardieri, Shannon Matthews and Isabel Strover.

Subiaco has also made plenty of changes including the returns of captain Hayley Miller and vice-captain Tiah Haynes. Janelle Cuthbertson, Maggie MacLachlan and Jessica Ritchie have also been included while Taylisha Brown, Kia Buckley, Rianna Matulin and Claire Ortlepp go out.

Peel Thunder might have finished last in 2019 and East Fremantle won the WAFLW premiership, but precious little separates them so far in 2020 heading into Saturday night's clash in Mandurah.

Peel has started the season with a loss to Swan Districts and then 64-point win against South Fremantle while East Fremantle also hammered the Bulldogs by 88 points before kicking just one goal in a 21-point loss to Subiaco last Sunday.

That sets the stage for a fascinating contest on Saturday night and Peel has made just the one change with Greta McKinley into the side while Jaide Britton goes out.

There are four changes at East Fremantle with Chloe Reilly, Philippa Seth, Kahra Sprylan and Alex Williams coming in while Zoe Gillard, Hayley O'Donnell, Ruby Schleicher and Dynella Tripi are out.

Then the round concludes on Sunday afternoon at Fremantle Community Bank Oval with South Fremantle desperate to find a way to compete against Claremont.

South Fremantle's life in the WAFLW competition has seen them start with two scoreless outings to lose to East Fremantle by 88 points and Peel Thunder by 64.

It won't get any easier this week against a Claremont team who only narrowly lost to Subiaco by two points before recording a strong 21-point win over Swan Districts last Sunday.

South Fremantle has made another five changes from the team that lost to Peel last Sunday in the search for a more competitive group to take on Claremont with.

Hunter Cronin, Tahlia Dawson-Gibbs, Cali Hunt, Kara Turley and Maya Tyrrell are the players to come into the team for the Bulldogs to take on the Tigers on Sunday down at the port.

The players to lose their place in the South Fremantle side for the Round 3 contest are Ebony Clarkson, Sarah du Plessis, Tara Garlett, Tasha McAlpine and Ella Sanders.

There are plenty of changes for Claremont as well despite the Tigers fresh off a strong win against Swan Districts last Sunday.

Adele Arnup, Samantha Barnett, Mhicca Carter and Krstel Petrevski are the players to come into the Claremont line-up with Dianna Evans, Karisma Nash, Andie Payne and Amanda Robertson out of the side to face the Bulldogs.
 

OPTUS WAFLW PREMIERSHIP SEASON - ROUND 3

SWAN DISTRICTS (1-1, 5th) v SUBIACO (2-0, 1st) – STEEL BLUE OVAL, SATURDAY 3.10PM
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Livestream available at WAFL website, Facebook and YouTube

PEEL THUNDER (1-1, 3rd) v EAST FREMANTLE (1-1, 2nd) – DAVID GRAYS ARENA, SATURDAY 5.10PM
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SOUTH FREMANTLE (0-2, 6th) v CLAREMONT (1-1, 4th) – FREMANTLE COMMUNITY BANK OVAL, SUNDAY 2.00PM
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