Round 18 Optus WAFL PreviewFriday, August 6, 2021 - 2:08 PM - by Chris Pike

THERE are just four matches in Round 18 of the WAFL season on Saturday afternoon but there is plenty at stake in each of them highlighted by a salivating contest between Claremont and Subiaco.

All four of the Round 18 matches in the Optus WAFL Premiership Season take place on Saturday afternoon at 2.10pm while West Perth and the West Coast Eagles sit out with a bye.

The Game of the Round without question takes place at Claremont's Revo Fitness Stadium with the third placed Claremont hosting the ladder leading Subiaco.

Swan Districts also needs a win to consolidate their finals position up against Peel Thunder at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval.

East Perth can keep its slim finals hopes alive as well up against Perth at Leederville Oval while it's a fascinating derby set for Fremantle Community Bank Oval between South Fremantle and East Fremantle.

Claremont might have missed a chance last Sunday to make this Saturday's clash with Subiaco to be for top spot, but that doesn’t take away its importance for both clubs.

The Tigers host the Lions at Revo Fitness Stadium with Claremont looking to bounce back from that surprise loss last Sunday in challenging conditions to East Perth at Leederville.

That saw Claremont slip to third position on the WAFL ladder as a result with a 10-4 record while Subiaco made it four wins in-a-row when they started on fire against West Perth and went on to score a strong 20-point victory.

That result improved the Lions to an 11-3 record and a significant percentage gap in top spot meaning that even with a loss to Claremont on Saturday, Subiaco will still hold onto that first place at least for now courtesy of percentage.

Claremont slipped percentage behind South Fremantle last week with that loss to East Perth but it's a big game for the Tigers. A win will keep them right in the hunt for a top two finish while a loss leaves them vulnerable to dropping to fourth and missing out on a finals double chance altogether.

The two teams met earlier this season back in Round 6 and that saw Subiaco score a convincing 40-point win over Claremont at Leederville Oval on that occasion.

From the Claremont team that lost to East Perth last Sunday, there are four changes highlighted by the return of former captain, Sandover Medallist and dual premiership player Kane Mitchell following a surprise stint in the reserves.

Jacob Blight, Logan Guelfi and Steven Miller are the other players added to the Claremont team to take on Subiaco while Anthony Treacy, Ben Elliott, Oliver Eastland and Isaac Barton go out.

Subiaco has added premiership stars Lachlan Delahunty and Hayden Kennedy to its extended squad along with youngsters Ben Golding and Jack Mayo with nobody confirmed out at this stage from the win against West Perth last Saturday.

Swan Districts is back home to Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval to host Peel Thunder on Saturday with the black-and-whites needing to rebound strongly.

Swans suffered a surprise defeat last Saturday on the road to East Fremantle which cost them the opportunity to lock away a finals position coming into this week's clash at home against an undermanned Thunder outfit.

Swan Districts could have recorded a ninth win of the season last week against East Fremantle which would have put them all but out of reach for any of the teams outside the top five even with five rounds of the 2021 WAFL season still remaining.

However, it wasn’t to be and that leaves Swans still in fifth position with an 8-6 record but with East Fremantle and East Perth sitting on 5-9, they are still within striking distance if the black-and-whites don't get back on the winner's list.

That chance presents on Saturday for Swan Districts against a Peel team that has now lost three matches in-a-row and eight of their past nine to have slipped out of the finals hunt with a 4-10 record.

Peel had just the one Fremantle-listed player available for selection last week and it proved costly to their competitiveness with South Fremantle taking full advantage to beat them by 116 points in Mandurah.

The two teams last met in Round 9 of this season and that took place at David Grays Arena. It was a tight affair too with Swan Districts just managing to beat Peel 10.7 (67) to 7.17 (59) to make it three wins in-a-row for Swans against the Thunder.

Swan Districts has made just the one change to the team that lost to East Fremantle last Saturday with Jake Dugan to come into the line-up to make his league debut with Jackson Beck making way.

Peel Thunder continues to only have access to Reece Conca from Fremantle with the Thunder having added Roy George, Jonathon Ietto, Jarrad McIlvinney and Tyler Nesbitt to their extended squad from the team that was hammered by South Fremantle.

East Perth has built into some impressive form in the second half of the season and if the Royals can continue that on Saturday against Perth at Leederville Oval, finals might still be not quite out of reach.

East Perth struggled to start the 2021 season losing their opening five matches and seven of the first eight, but the Royals have been able to find some impressive form since including to record upset wins over top three teams South Fremantle and Claremont.

That included a seven-point win against Claremont last Sunday in challenging conditions at Leederville and that keeps the Royals an outside chance to still take part in finals action in 2021.

For that to happen they will need Swan Districts to continue losing to keep that fifth position open, but East Perth has now improved to a 5-9 record on the season to be three games and percentage out of fifth spot with four games and five rounds of the season remaining.

Meanwhile, it has turned into a horror season for Perth on the back of breaking that finals drought in 2020. 

The Demons have now lost their past seven matches and after losing to the West Coast Eagles last Saturday, they are only percentage out of dropping to last place on the WAFL ladder.

Understandably East Perth has decided to make no changes from the team that beat Claremont last Sunday with Adam Boules, Brad Fullgrabe, Ben McGuire and Stan Wright the four emergencies.

Perth continues to have virtually a full team sidelined through injury and a lot of those are key, experienced players, and things have got worse at the selection table for the Demons last week.

Coming out of last week's loss to the West Coast Eagles, Perth has called up Brodie Gray, Zac Hill and Zac Sanderson while key trio Christian Eyres, Doulton Langlands and Kristian Cary go out.

South Fremantle has enjoyed quite a run of dominance in Fremantle derbies in recent years but all signs point to a more competitive contest this Saturday with plenty on the line for both the Bulldogs and East Fremantle.

The second derby of 2021 takes place at Fremantle Community Bank Oval on Saturday afternoon with South Fremantle coming into the clash having won the last 11 meetings with East Fremantle.

Now coming into Saturday's contest, South Fremantle is fresh off a 116-point hammering of Peel Thunder in Mandurah last Saturday which saw them rise to second spot on the ladder, but the Bulldogs do need to continue winning to stay in that position.

East Fremantle might only still be a slight chance of making the finals in 2021, but the Sharks did ensure it was at least somewhat of a chance with an upset win against the fifth placed Swan Districts at New Choice Homes Park last Saturday.

That improved the Sharks to a 5-9 record on the season and while they still would need plenty to go their way to make the finals, especially Swan Districts continuing to lose, if they keep winning then anything is still possible for them in 2021.

All that sets up a fascinating Fremantle derby at Fremantle Community Bank Oval on Saturday afternoon with the Bulldogs needing a win to stay in second position and the Sharks in a must-win situation to keep their finals hopes alive altogether.

South Fremantle comes into the derby on the back of having won 11 consecutive meetings against East Fremantle by an average of 70.5 points.

Among those 11 wins have been victories for the Bulldogs over the Sharks by 145 points, 113, 95, 94, 91 and 73, but it was a lot closer back on WA Day this year when they held on for a 16-point win at Shark Park.

East Fremantle's last win as a derby was way back in Round 12, 2016 as they won on WA Day of that year at Fremantle Community Bank Oval by 39 points.

At Fremantle Community Bank Oval alone, South Fremantle has won the past six derby match ups.

From the South Fremantle team that hammered Peel Thunder by 116 points last Saturday in Mandurah, the Bulldogs have made four changes with Kye Barker, Aiden Hall, Seaton Thompson and George Wessels all earning a recall into the side in the approach the finals.

That means that premiership stars Zac Dent, Brock Higgins and Ben Rioli remain sidelined with Jaxon Bellchambers, Dylan Main, Jesse Motlop and Trent Newton out of the team that was so impressive at David Grays Arena a week ago.

East Fremantle has made just the one change from the team that beat Swan Districts last week to keep its season alive with Corey Holmes into the line-up while Corey Warner goes out.
 

OPTUS WAFL PREMIERSHIP SEASON – ROUND 18

CLAREMONT (10-4, 3rd) v SUBIACO (11-3, 1st) – REVO FITNESS STADIUM, SATURDAY 2.10POM
Live scores, stats
Livestream: The West Australian
Radio: 91.3 SportFM

SWAN DISTRICTS (8-6, 5th) v PEEL THUNDER (4-10, 8th) – STEEL BLUE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.10PM
Live scores, stats

EAST PERTH (5-9, 7th) v PERTH (4-10, 9th) – LEEDERVILLE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.10PM
Live scores, stats

SOUTH FREMANTLE (10-4, 2nd) v EAST FREMANTLE (5-9, 6th) – FREMANTLE COMMUNITY BANK OVAL, SATURDAY 2.10PM
Live scores, stats
Radio: SEN
Livestream: Front Row Screens