Round 12 Optus WAFL PreviewFriday, June 25, 2021 - 6:08 AM - by Chris Pike

WE are back to a full round of WAFL action this Saturday with all games in the traditional time slot and with plenty on the line along with some significant milestones to be celebrated, Round 12 shapes as a fascinating one.

The last two weeks has seen each of the 10 WAFL teams play a game and also have a bye but now we are back to having five matches all in the 2.10pm Saturday afternoon time slot in Round 12 of the Optus WAFL Premiership Season.

All five matches are fascinating in their own right too highlighted by West Perth hosting Claremont and Perth attempting to upset South Fremantle once more, but that's taking nothing away from the other three battles.

Not only is there plenty at stake for all 10 teams involved, but there are significant milestones to celebrate. Claremont's superstar midfielder Jye Bolton is in remarkable form right now and he plays his 100th game for the Tigers on Saturday.

Two Subiaco stars who started their careers elsewhere but have now tasted premiership success with the Lions also notch their 100th WAFL appearances too, gun forward Ben Sokol and unheralded defender Drew Rohde.

The Round 12 action sees Subiaco take on Swan Districts at Leederville Oval with Peel Thunder hosting East Perth at Mandurah's David Grays Arena and South Fremantle at home to Perth at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

West Perth also plays host to Claremont at Joondalup's Provident Financial Oval while East Fremantle plays the West Coast Eagles at New Choice Homes Park.

All games bounce down at 2.10pm.

Both Subiaco and Swan Districts enter their clash at Leederville Oval looking to bounce back from defeats last weekend.

Subiaco fought back hard but fell short against the West Coast Eagles to miss the chance of reclaiming top spot on the ladder from Claremont with the Lions now entering Round 12 in second position with a 7-2 record.

Swan Districts also lost to Subiaco for a second time this season last Saturday to now only just be clinging to their position in the top five with a 5-4 record.

The two teams already met earlier this season in Round 7 at Steel Blue Oval with Subiaco winning a tight one 8.10 (58) to 7.8 (50) against Swan Districts.

That continued quite the dominant run for the Lions against Swans, with them having now won the last 12 meetings between the two teams by an average of 49.8 points.

And at Leederville Oval where Saturday's game will be played, Subiaco has also won seven straight against Swan Districts.

Swans haven’t beaten the Lions since Round 20, 2015 and not at Leederville Oval since a 43-point victory in Round 7, 2014.

From the Subiaco team that lost to West Coast last Saturday, Oskar Matthews, Jacob Miller, Connor Patterson, Josh Robbins and Max Walters coming into the squad while Nick Menegola is the only out at this stage.

Subiaco will also be celebrating the 100th WAFL appearances of premiership stars Ben Sokol and Drew Rohde.

Sokol arrived at Subiaco from South Fremantle in 2016 and has never looked back. He has kicked 207 goals in his 88 games with the Lions of which a remarkable 76 have been wins. He's a Bernie Naylor Medallist and a two-time premiership star.

Rohde joined Subiaco from West Perth in 2018 after a year out of the WAFL and has become a consistently reliable member of the Lions' back-line in his 52 games since, including playing in the premierships of 2018 and 2019. He has only played in six losses at the Lions.

Mitchell Bain, Matthew Germs, Nathan Ireland, Lewis Jetta and Jak Watson have all been included into the extended squad for Swan Districts from the team that lost to West Perth a week ago. Tarir Bayok is the only out so far.

Peel Thunder and East Perth are two teams who now are playing their first game in a fortnight and looking for a win on Saturday at David Grays Arena.

Peel played well two weeks ago away to Claremont before conceding the last three goals to lose by seven points. That means the Thunder have now lost four in-a-row to be beginning to lose touch with the top five with a 3-6 record.

East Perth, meanwhile, delivered its best performance of the season two weeks ago to upset reigning premiers South Fremantle and notch its second win of 2021 to now hold a 2-7 record.

That sets up a tantalising match up on Saturday and one that's certainly hard to predict.

The two teams already met earlier this season in Round 2 with Peel kicking its largest ever score at the time and recording its biggest ever win. This Saturday's game has all the hallmarks of being significantly closer than that 105 points.

From the Thunder team that lost two weeks ago to Claremont, Fremantle pair Joel Western and Connor Blakely come into the team.

Blair Bell and James Ewing are two to make way for the Thunder.

East Perth has some significant returns too with Nick Robertson and Jackson Ramsay back for the Royals with Corey Watts, Daniel Rowe and Shaquille McKenzie all added to the squad. Aidan Lynch is the only out at this stage.

West Perth and Claremont then do battle at Joondalup's Provident Financial Oval pitting two in-form and exciting teams up against one another.

West Perth has now won its last two matches and four of the last five including an impressive win over Swan Districts last Saturday that saw the Falcons improve to a 5-4 record into fourth position on the ladder.

Claremont, meanwhile, had the bye in Round 11 on the back of a come from behind win against Peel Thunder that saw the Tigers consolidate top spot with an 8-1 record on the back of last year's Grand Final appearance.

With West Perth having won four of its last five games and Claremont its last four, it shapes as a tantalising match up between two teams who regularly deliver eventful contests.

Claremont has won the last couple of meetings with West Perth including back in Round 5 of this year by 52 points at Revo Fitness Stadium, but generally clashes between the Tigers and Falcons are exciting, eventful and difficult to predict.

Prior to this run of Claremont winning of the last four, West Perth had won eight of nine against the Tigers.

West Perth is looking to further consolidate their place in the top five with a win at home on Saturday. From the team that beat Swan Districts last week, the Falcons have added Jack Burke, Tom Medhat, Steve Potente and Troy Yukich to their squad.

Claremont kicked the last three goals to beat Peel two weeks ago and from that team, Jacob Van Rooyen, Anthony Davis, Anthony Treacy, Max Spyvee and Tyron Smallwood come into the Tigers squad.

Max Minear and Sam Alvarez are the two players so far out for Claremont.

It's a big day for Claremont superstar midfielder Jye Bolton too. He has put together a remarkably decorated 99-game career with the Tigers so far with two Sandover Medals, four Simpson Medals and two fairest and best awards.

He will now cement his name on the No. 11 locker and it's remarkable to think with everything he's already done, he might very well be in career-best form now as he strives to help the Tigers to that elusive premiership.

South Fremantle and Perth are two finalists from 2020 needing to get back to winning when they meet at Fremantle Community Bank Oval on Saturday in Round 12.

Both the Bulldogs and Demons are looking to return to the winner's list on Saturday as well and have a fascinating recent history against one another on top of that.

Before the bye last week, South Fremantle suffered a shock loss to East Perth at Leederville Oval but the reigning premiers do remain in third position on the WAFL ladder with a 6-3 record coming into Round 12.

Meanwhile, Perth suffered a disappointing loss at home last week to East Fremantle despite the return of a host of key players and that was on the back of kicking just one goal in a 98-point defeat also at home at the hands of Subiaco.

However, it remains quite a quirk that Perth has had the wood over South Fremantle in recent times despite the Bulldogs winning the 2020 premiership, reaching the 2019 Grand Final and playing in preliminary finals in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

Perth has actually now won its last four matches against South Fremantle including earlier this year at Mineral Resources Park when the Demons held the Bulldogs to one goal after quarter-time to win by 20 points.

There was also of course the last round of last year when Perth needed to beat South Fremantle to play finals for the first time since 1997, and despite trailing at three quarter-time, the Demons overran the Bulldogs to break that finals drought.

Perth also beat South Fremantle twice back in 2019 even if it was only by a combined nine points despite the Demons missing the finals and the Bulldogs ending up facing Subiaco in the Grand Final.

While Perth has enjoyed things over the last four meetings, it wasn’t long ago when South Fremantle was on its own eight-game winning streak over the Demons, and winning nine of 10 between 2014 and a 78-point win in Round 20, 2018.

South Fremantle has one forced changed from the loss to East Perth two weeks ago with premiership ruckman Brock Higgins out injured with Hamish Free coming in to take his place.

Jaxon Bellchambers, Aiden Hall, Trent Newton and Matthew Ward are the other players in the selection mix for the Bulldogs to take on the Demons at Fremantle Community Bank Oval on Saturday afternoon.

From the Perth team that lost to East Fremantle last Saturday, Oscar Bird, Austin Davis, Clayton Giblett, Simon Hayward, Corey Hitchcock, Jayden Quill and Jordon Reid all come into the squad.

Haydn Busher, Christian Eyres and Matthew Rogers are three significant losses for the Demons who just started to get some key players back last week.

East Fremantle will then play host to the West Coast Eagles with both teams looking to make it back-to-back wins for the first time in 2021.

East Fremantle was impressive last week beating Perth by 26 points to see the Sharks knocking on the door of the top five with a 4-5 record so far this season.

West Coast is also coming off its first win of 2021 last week having knocked off Subiaco by holding on to win by five points in a thrilling finish.

That all points to a significantly closer contest this time around than back in Round 6 when East Fremantle hammered the Eagles at Shark Park as well to the tune of 122 points.

Fresh off his dominant five-goal haul last week that saw him named the WAFL Player of the Round, Jonathon Marsh is out this week for East Fremantle for the clash with the Eagles.

Cameron Eardley and Cody Leggett should return for the Sharks, though, with Reuben McGuire, Max Murphy and Tom Wallis the other players in the mix for selection in the search for back-to-back wins.

Coming off the first win of the season last week against Subiaco, there are plenty of changes at West Coast with Seb Bentley, Will Collins, Harry Edwards, Ben Fitzgerald, Luke Foley, Ethan Hansen, Michael Humble, Cooper Nitschke and Harry Sinclair all added to the extended squad.

Jalen McGee, Ty Sears, Luke Shuey, Nathan Vardy and Connor West are the players out at this stage for the Eagles.
 

OPTUS WAFL PREMIERSHIP SEASON – ROUND 12

SUBIACO (7-2, 2nd) v SWAN DISTRICTS (5-4, 5th) – LEEDERVILLE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.10PM
Live scores, stats
Radio: SEN

PEEL THUNDER (3-6, 8th) v EAST PERTH (2-7, 9th) – DAVID GRAYS ARENA, SATURDAY 2.10PM
Live scores, stats
Livestream: The West Australian

WEST PERTH (5-4, 4th) v CLAREMONT (8-1, 1st) – PROVIDENT FINANCIAL OVAL, SATURDAY 2.10PM
Live scores, stats
Livestream: Front Row Screens

SOUTH FREMANTLE (6-3, 3rd) v PERTH (4-5, 7th) – FREMANTLE COMMUNITY BANK OVAL, SATURDAY 2.10PM
Live scores, stats
Radio: 91.3 SportFM

EAST FREMANTLE (4-5, 6th) v WEST COAST EAGLES (1-8, 10th) – NEW CHOICE HOMES PARK, SATURDAY 2.10PM
Live scores, stats
Livestream: The West Australian