Round 6 Optus WAFL PreviewFriday, August 21, 2020 - 1:15 PM - by Chris Pike

WE could receive plenty of answers to how the 2020 Optus WAFL Premiership Season will pan out in Round 6 on Saturday with Subiaco attempting to apply pressure to the loser of Claremont's clash with Perth while one of Swan Districts and Peel Thunder will get their first wins.

Round 6 of the 2020 WAFL season sees the league-leading undefeated South Fremantle sit out with the bye meaning there are chances for other teams inside the top four to cement their spots, but with two of them playing one another, the pressure will go on one of them.

Plenty of the attention on Saturday afternoon during Round 6 will be on Claremont's contest with Perth at Claremont's Revo Fitness Stadium with the Tigers coming into the game at 4-1 while the Demons are 3-1.

The winner will go a long way to locking in a finals berth for 2020 while the loser will leave themselves vulnerable. That will be even more the case should Subiaco prevail in its contest with Leederville Oval co-tenants East Perth.

The other matches in Round 6 on Saturday afternoon sees winless teams Swan Districts and Peel Thunder lock horns at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval while the one-loss West Perth hosts the one-win East Fremantle at Joondalup's Provident Financial Oval.

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The Round 6 action will see Leederville Oval co-tenants Subiaco and East Perth meet for the only time in 2020 with the Lions looking to keep building some momentum and the Royals to return to the winner's list.

On the hunt for a third successive premiership, Subiaco has suffered two losses already uncharacteristically in 2020 but the Lions did find some form last week in a 37-point road win over Peel Thunder.

That improved Subiaco to a 2-2 record on the season and should Perth lose to Claremont on Saturday, the Lions could very well be in the top four by the end of Round 6.

East Perth has just the one win on the board so far in 2020 so for the Royals to remain any hope of taking part in finals they will need to start a winning run beginning against Subiaco on Saturday.

Subiaco has been the dominant team in the WAFL since beating East Perth in the 2014 Grand Final with the Lions now on a 12-match winning run against the Royals.

East Perth's last win against Subiaco was by 64 points back in Round 3, 2015 on the back of that Grand Final defeat the previous year.

Then at Steel Blue Oval, one of Swan Districts or Peel Thunder will taste that winning feeling for the first time in 2020.

Swans have been largely competitive in their losses so far to West Perth, Claremont, Subiaco and South Fremantle, but ultimately they just can't kick enough of a score to win.

Leigh Kohlmann is the only Swans player to kick more than two goals for the season with 10 but over four matches, the black-and-whites have scored only 26 goals, and their highest score to date was the 48 scored in Round 2 against Claremont.

So if Swans want to get a win on the board they'll need to find more avenues to goal up against a Thunder team who always were going to be the season's great underdogs after losing access to Fremantle's AFL-listed players.

But Thunder have shown some encouraging signs along the way too so they will fancy their chances heading to Bassendean on Saturday.

From the Swans team that still led South Fremantle up until midway through the fourth quarter last week, Tarir Bayok, Jackson Beck, Thomas Edwards and Jak Watson have been added to the squad to take on Peel.

As for the Thunder, they have made two changes to the side that lost to Subiaco last Saturday with Ryan Bennell and Corey Morris coming in for Raymond Giudici and Kudzi Motsi.

The match of the round undoubtedly will be at Claremont's Revo Fitness Stadium with the third placed Claremont hosting the fourth placed Perth.

The Tigers dominated the second half last week to beat East Perth and improve to a 4-1 record on the season as they look to book in another finals appearance after reaching the preliminary final in 2019.

The Demons, meanwhile, suffered a narrow loss to West Perth last Saturday in what was their first defeat of the season but what it does do is mean that they need to bounce back this week to stay in the top four as they chase that elusive first finals appearance since 1997.

There is just the one change for Claremont from the team that beat East Perth last Saturday with Isaac Barton returning to the line-up at the expense of Anthony Davis.

Perth has made three changes highlighted by the return of stand-in captain and dual fairest and best winner Michael Sinclair.

The Demons have also made a change in their No. 1 ruckman with Dakota Baldwin-Wright replacing Christian Eyres while Nathan O'Driscoll also comes in for Mitch Henderson.

The last game of the round will then be televised on Channel 7 from 3pm on Saturday afternoon with West Perth playing host to East Fremantle at Joondalup.

It will be the only meeting of West Perth's most successful ever coach Bill Monaghan coming up against his former team in charge of East Fremantle now for the second season since departing the Falcons after the 2018 Grand Final.

West Perth comes into the game sitting pretty in second position on the ladder and another win on Saturday on home turf would further lock themselves in for another finals appearance in 2020.

East Fremantle, meanwhile, is struggling with one win from four matches and is needing a confidence boosting performance up against the Falcons.

West Perth is coming off an impressive win against Perth last Saturday and has made two changes from that side with Tristan Hobley coming in to make his debut along with Sam Rotham while Matthew Lloyd and Tyson Moulton go out.

East Fremantle had the Round 5 bye on the back of a one goal loss to Perth so the Sharks can take heart from that performance and will hope the week off has helped them further improve on some things.

OPTUS WAFL PREMIERSHIP SEASON - ROUND 6

SUBIACO (2-2, 5th) v EAST PERTH (1-3, 6th) – LEEDERVILLE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.30PM
Live scores, stats
Broadcast – Livestream

SWAN DISTRICTS (0-4, 8th) v PEEL THUNDER (0-5, 9th) – STEEL BLUE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.30PM
Live scores, stats

CLAREMONT (4-1, 3rd) v PERTH (3-1, 4th) – REVO FITNESS STADIUM, SATURDAY 2.30PM
Live scores, stats
Broadcast – 91.3 SportFM

WEST PERTH (4-1, 2nd) v EAST FREMANTLE (1-3, 7th) – PROVIDENT FINANCIAL OVAL, SATURDAY 3.05PM
Live scores, stats
Broadcast – Channel 7