Round 7 Optus WAFL PreviewSaturday, May 22, 2021 - 1:05 AM - by Chris Pike

THE 2021 Optus WAFL Premiership Season resumes with all five matches taking place on Saturday afternoon and each one of them is fascinating in its own right including East Perth and West Coast Eagles having the chance to notch their first wins of the campaign.

The competition had a general bye last weekend for the State Game which saw the WAFL State Team take on the SANFL at Adelaide Oval, but now the 2021 season resumes with five tantalising match ups this Saturday afternoon.

East Fremantle and Claremont do battle at New Choice Homes Park while Peel Thunder hosts West Perth at David Grays Arena, Perth plays South Fremantle at Mineral Resources Park, East Perth battles the West Coast Eagles at Leederville Oval, and Swan Districts faces Subiaco at Steel Blue Oval.

East Fremantle and Claremont meet at New Choice Homes Park with both teams looking to consolidate their positions in the top five.

The Sharks had a massive 125-point thumping of the West Coast Eagles two weeks ago but the going is going to be significantly more tough up against Claremont on Saturday.

The Tigers won their opening four games of the season after reaching last year's Grand Final, but two weeks ago they had an afternoon to forget against Subiaco at Leederville Oval.

So the Sharks come into Saturday's game buoyed by that offensive outburst they delivered against the Eagles that is sure to give them confidence of what they are capable of but the Tigers will be determined to hit back hard and not begin a losing streak.

East Fremantle has made the two changes with Finn Gorringe and Dillon O'Reilly coming into the team at the expense of Jakob Ah Chee and Max Murphy.

There are three changes at Claremont with Thomas Baldwin, Jared Hardisty and debutant Steven Miller all into the team. Anthony Davis, Max Minear and Anthony Treacy go out for the Tigers.

The clash between Peel Thunder and West Perth is another fascinating one taking place in Mandurah.

Peel has put together three impressive wins already this season including two weeks ago holding on against Perth while West Perth fought back valiantly two weeks ago for a stirring comeback victory against Swan Districts.

That sees the Falcons impressive to 2-3 on the season so they could potentially break into the top five with a win on Saturday while the Thunder can maintain their place if they are able to continue their impressive form.

There are four changes for Peel Thunder with Traye Bennell coming in for his first game of the season along with Stefan Giro, Joel Western and Fremantle defender Alex Pearce.

Brett Bewley, Ben Howlett, Jackson Knight and Josh Treacy are the players to go out for the Thunder from the side that beat the Demons.

Tyler Keitel, Trent Manzone and Scott Nelson are the inclusions for West Perth with the first two among their two best and most consistent performers. Kellen Johnson, Jason Salecic and Blake Wilhelm go out.

Last time Perth and South Fremantle played was in the last round of the 2020 season in an evening fixture at Mineral Resources Park. It will be a night that goes down in folklore as the night the Demons ended their finals drought.

With the game looking over at three quarter-time and their finals dream buried too, the Demons dominated the last quarter and ended up overrunning South Fremantle to win as the wild celebrations took over the field with Perth reaching finals for the first time since 1997.

It didn't turn out to be much of a finals campaign, though, but it did for the Bulldogs who went all the way to win the premiership.

Since then, South Fremantle has started the 2021 season well with a 4-1 record with just the one slip up against Claremont while Perth is struggling at 2-3 and two weeks ago they went down to Peel despite a spirited fightback.

Perth has made four changes from the side that lost to Peel a fortnight ago with Jye Clark, Corey Hitchcock, Christian Martin and Jacob Peletier into the line-up.

Dakota Baldwin-Wright, Brant Colledge, Chris Masten and Jayden Quill are significant losses for the Demons though.

There are two huge inclusions for South Fremantle with premiership starts Dylan Main and Nick Suban making their returns at the expense of Hamish Free and George Wessels.

Then at Leederville Oval, East Perth and the West Coast Eagles are both hunting their first wins of the 2021 season after they have each suffered five tough defeats to open the new campaign.

East Perth put in an improved showing two weeks ago against South Fremantle and from that team, the Royals have made just one change with Angus Schumacher coming in at the expense of Nick Merritt.

There are a whole host of changes from the Eagles with Jordan Busher, Luke Edwards, Luke Foley, Kieran Hug, Mark Hutchings, Nathan Vardy and Elliot Yeo coming in.

Chaz Flint, Ethan Hansen, Michael Humble, Xavier O'Neill, Chris Paunich, Harry Sinclair and Jack Wilson are the players to go out.

Swan Districts and Subiaco then meet at Steel Blue Oval with Swans hungry to bounce back from giving up a big lead against West Perth while the Lions are fresh from handing Claremont its first loss of 2021.

As a result of that loss to West Perth, Swan Districts has slipped all the way down to sixth position on the WAFL ladder, but with a 3-2 record, a win on Saturday and they'll shoot right back up once again.

However, Subiaco will be looking to maintain their hold on top spot at the same time on the back of their dominant win over the previously undefeated Claremont two weeks ago at Leederville Oval.

Subiaco has certainly enjoyed life against Swan Districts in recent times though. The Lions are currently on an 11-game winning streak against Swans with the last win for the black-and-whites a stunning one-point upset in Round 20, 2015 at Steel Blue Oval.

Swan Districts will welcome back plenty of quality and experience for the game too in the form of Lewis Jetta, Matt Riggio, Jesse Turner and Warrick Wilson.

William Collins, Lachlan Riley, Jacob Sideris and Jak Watson are the players to go out from the team that lost to West Perth.

Meanwhile at Subiaco, Liam Hickmott, Hayden Kennedy and Jordan Lockyer return from the side that beat Claremont while Koby Fullgrabe, Jacob Miller and Lewis Upton go out.

OPTUS WAFL PREMIERSHIP SEASON – ROUND 7

EAST FREMANTLE (3-2, 4th) v CLAREMONT (4-1, 2nd) – NEW CHOICE HOMES PARK, SATURDAY 2.10PM
Live scores, stats
Radio: 91.3 SportFM

PEEL THUNDER (3-2, 5th) v WEST PERTH (2-3, 7th) – DAVID GRAYS ARENA, SATURDAY 2.10PM
Live scores, stats ???????
Livestream: The West Australian

PERTH (2-3, 8th) v SOUTH FREMANTLE (4-1, 3rd) – MINERAL RESOURCES PARK, SATURDAY 2.10PM
Live scores, stats
Livestream: Front Row Screens
Radio: SEN 

EAST PERTH (0-5, 9th) v WEST COAST EAGLES (0-5, 10th) – LEEDERVILLE OVAL
Live scores, stats

Livestream: West Coast Eagles

SWAN DISTRICTS (3-2, 6th) v SUBIACO (4-1, 1st) – STEEL BLUE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.40PM
Live scores, stats ???????
TV: Channel 7