Round 11 Optus WAFL PreviewFriday, June 18, 2021 - 12:49 PM - by Chris Pike

THE six teams who had the bye last weekend are all in action this Saturday afternoon for Round 11 of the WAFL season with Subiaco looking to reclaim top spot while the other two matches are equally fascinating with top five spots at stake.

Round 10 of the 2021 Optus WAFL Premiership Season saw just the two matches take place with East Perth upsetting South Fremantle and Claremont finishing strongly to beat Peel Thunder.

Those four teams now have the Round 11 bye and the teams that didn’t play last weekend are all in action this Saturday afternoon in three tantalising contests.

Subiaco will look to regain top spot up against the winless West Coast Eagles at Leederville Oval while Swan Districts will attempt to move into third against West Perth at Steel Blue Oval, and then Perth and East Fremantle try to strengthen their top five hopes when they meet at Lathlain's Mineral Resources Park.

Subiaco has the chance to reclaim top position in the WAFL when it hosts the West Coast Eagles on Saturday at Leederville Oval, but their opponents can't be taken lightly.

Subiaco went into their bye last week on a four-game winning streak and on the back of their 98-point Thursday night hammering of Perth, but West Coast put in an improved showing too two weeks ago against Claremont.

The Lions slipped to second spot on the ladder last week with Claremont beating Peel, but Subiaco will move back into first place with a win on Saturday due to their superior percentage while West Coast are just hunting their first win of 2021.

Subiaco is the second highest-scoring team this season with 86.3 points a game but they are clearly the best defensively conceding only the 56.8 points. West Coast, meanwhile, is last in both areas scoring just 55.8 points and giving up 116.3 points a game.

Winning enough of the ball has been a big problem for the Eagles so far this season. Their opponents have been averaging 108.9 more disposals a game against them while Subiaco is averaging 19.9 more possessions than their opposition.

Across the eight matches so far this season both teams have played, Subiaco has had 200 scores while West Coast has managed just 121. That is despite the Lions being the most inaccurate team in the WAFL.

Over the season, Subiaco's best quarter has been their second where they have outscored their opponents by 88 points while it's also the worst for the Eagles with them losing them by 188 points over the eight matches.

The Eagles team will be boosted by the presence of Jarrod Brander, Luke Shuey and Alex Witherden as they attempt to upset the strong Lions outfit.

The game of the round undoubtedly appears to be at Steel Blue Oval with Swan Districts hosting West Perth.

Swans come into the game in fourth position on the ladder with a 5-3 record having won their past two matches while the Falcons won also prior to the bye on WA Day to improve to a 4-4 record to sit fifth.

That sets the stage for a terrific contest on Saturday with a win to take Swan Districts into third position on the ladder after 11 rounds with them to leapfrog reigning premiers South Fremantle on percentage.

Meanwhile, West Perth could end up moving into fourth spot if they prevail and potentially ahead of Swan Districts depending on the margin of their victory.

The first meeting between the two teams this season should whet the appetite for what is to come on Saturday as well.

Back in Round 6 at Joondalup's Provident Financial Oval leading into the WAFL's State Game break, Swan Districts appeared to have West Perth on toast putting together an impressive first half.

However, with the Falcons already having lost three of their first four games of the season, they stepped up to deliver a tremendous second half performance to win by nine points on their home ground.

Since that game, West Perth has gone on to score strong wins over Peel Thunder and East Perth either side of a 10-point loss to Perth while Swan Districts also lost to Subiaco following the State Game, but since have beaten Peel Thunder and East Fremantle in impressive fashion.

Over the course of the season so far, West Perth win a lot more of the football than Swan Districts with the Falcons ranked second in disposals and Swans just seventh.

West Perth's accuracy has also been impressive so far in 2021. When you take out rushed behinds, the Falcons have a 70 per cent accuracy rate so far this season or 64 per cent overall, while Swans are at 62 per cent without rushed points and 58 per cent overall.

Meanwhile, the two teams are ranked first and second for their first quarters so far in 2021, with Swans outscoring their opponents by 110 points and the Falcons theirs by 75. 

Things drop off from there for both teams with Swans losing their last quarters by 25 points, while the Falcons especially struggle in second terms losing those by 26 points.

There will be plenty of fascinating match ups all over the field including Swans' defence being challenged by the West Perth forward-line of Tyler Keitel, Keegan Knott, Mitch Antonio and Rudy Riddoch.

However, the West Perth back-line will also need to be watchful of Jesse Palmer and Brayden Noble especially from Swan Districts.

Swans look to have a significant advantage in the ruck thanks to Corey Gault opposed to Ben Delaporte, but the midfield battle looks even with Frank Anderson, Sam Fisher, Josh Cipro and Jesse Turner from Swan Districts, and Shane Nelson, Aaron Black, Mitch Peirce and Tristan Hobley from West Perth.

The last game of the weekend then has the slightly later start with Perth hosting East Fremantle at Mineral Resources Park with both teams a chance to break into the top five with a victory.

Perth had a horror showing last up against Subiaco on the Thursday night kicking just the one goal which came late in the final quarter, but the Demons were short on manpower and will be looking to dramatically improve following the bye.

East Fremantle also lost some key players in their last appearance back in the WA Day Foundation Derby where they did lose to South Fremantle by 16 points but it was a fighting performance from the Sharks that they still could have taken heart from.

Perth comes into Round 11 with a 4-4 record on the season in sixth position with a win to take them into fifth spot should West Perth lose to Swan Districts.

East Fremantle, meanwhile, holds a 3-5 record but with a strong percentage they could also replace West Perth in fifth position with a victory to snap their three-game losing streak on Saturday.

The two teams have already played one another in 2021 back in Round 5 at New Choice Homes Park. On that occasion, Perth got off to a flying start kicking six goals in the opening quarter to set up the eventual 30-point victory.

Perth was down on experienced, quality manpower two weeks ago but the bye came at the right time for the Demons and they regain Michael Sinclair, Fraser McInnes, Chris Masten, Brady Grey and Matthew Rogers for Saturday's clash with the Sharks.

From the East Fremantle that lost back on WA Day, Jordan Snadden, Cody Leggett, Matthew Burton, Hugh Dixon and Dillon O'Reilly go out of the side while Tom Monaghan, Alex Montauban, Brynn Teakle and Luke English are among the inclusions.
 

OPTUS WAFL PREMIERSHIP SEASON – ROUND 11

SUBIACO (7-1, 2nd) v WEST COAST EAGLES (0-8, 10th) – LEEDERVILLE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.10PM
Live scores, stats
Livestream: West Coast Eagles

SWAN DISTRICTS (5-3, 4th) v WEST PERTH (4-4, 5th) – STEEL BLUE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.10PM
Live scores, stats ???????
Livestream: Front Row Screens
Radio: SEN

PERTH (4-4, 6th) v EAST FREMANTLE (3-5, 8th) – MINERAL RESOURCES PARK, SATURDAY 3.10PM
Live scores, stats ???????
TV: Channel 7
Radio: 91.3 SportFM