Round 19 Optus WAFL PreviewFriday, August 13, 2021 - 12:46 PM - by Chris Pike

THE five teams that will play finals this WAFL season might be set entering the final month but the positions inside the top five are anything but settled while there's still plenty of motivation for those teams out of contention to finish off strongly.

Swan Districts' win last weekend meant that they joined West Perth, Claremont, South Fremantle and Subiaco in being guaranteed of a finals position for the 2021 Optus WAFL Premiership Season.

There is plenty of fascination around the four matches scheduled for Round 19 across this weekend with Subiaco looking to entrench top spot, East Perth try to keep winning to upset Swans' run into the finals, Claremont attempts to get back in touch of a top two spot and West Perth tries to stay in the top three race.

Add in that Perth and the West Coast Eagles are trying to avoid the wooden spoon and that East Fremantle is trying to find a way to turnaround this century's form against the Lions, and it's an intriguing set of four matches.

Reigning premiers, and the second placed, South Fremantle and the eighth placed Peel Thunder, on a four-match losing run, are the two teams who have a bye in Round 19.

Subiaco hosts East Fremantle at Leederville Oval on Saturday afternoon with the Lions having a chance to further lock away their hold on the minor premiership while the Sharks are just trying to finish 2021 well enough to show they have improved.

Subiaco comes into Round 19 with a 12-3 record on the season and having won their last five matches to be a game and significant percentage ahead of the second placed South Fremantle.

Another win on Saturday for the Lions and it would likely mean they will need to lose their last two matches of the season against East Perth and Peel Thunder to be any chance of not ending the home and away season on top of the ladder.

East Fremantle, meanwhile, missed any chance of staying in the finals race with a 61-point derby loss to South Fremantle last week.

However, the Sharks have shown signs of improvement in their 5-10 season to date but they would need to take another couple of wins with them into the off-season to take too much from another season without finals.

East Fremantle lost a 12th straight match against South Fremantle last Saturday and now the Sharks come into this Saturday's clash having lost their last nine games against the Lions.

Subiaco has won those nine in-a-row against East Fremantle by an average of 61.4 points and going back even further, the Lions have won 14 of the last 15 clashes with the Sharks and 39 of 45 since mid-2002 in a remarkable run of dominance.

Subiaco's dominance over East Fremantle at Leederville Oval is stark as well. The Lions have won the past four clashes between the two teams at the venue, and 20 of the 25 overall.

From the Subiaco team who escaped with a last gasp win against Claremont last week, Jack Beverley, Isaac Clinch, Jordan Faraone, Ben Golding and Corey Robinson have been added to the squad.

Captain Leigh Kitchin goes out having accepted a one-week suspension.

East Fremantle lost to South Fremantle last week and from that side, Hugh Dixon, Reuben McGuire, Brynn Teakle and Tom Wallis have all been added to their squad to take on Subiaco.

Swan Districts is back to Steel Blue Oval on Saturday having secured their finals return but they face a significant test up against an in-form East Perth at the Bassendean venue.

Swan Districts beat Peel Thunder last week to record their ninth win of the season secure a return to the finals for the first time since 2017, and first time during the coaching tenure of Adam Pickering.

That victory saw Swans remain three games and massive percentage ahead of the sixth placed East Perth on the WAFL ladder. With four rounds and both teams having three games remaining, there's no way for the Royals to make up that gap meaning Swans are locked away for that finals berth.

For those mathematically minded, for East Perth to still finish above Swan Districts the Royals would need to win their last three games and Swans to lose all of theirs. 

But East Perth would also need to make up 283 points that currently separates the two teams. While mathematically possible technically, it really isn’t with Swans to finish their season against South Fremantle and Claremont, and the Royals against East Fremantle and Subiaco.

Swan Districts played some good football last week to beat Peel to secure that fifth position but they will likely need to improve on that to overcome an in-form East Perth side on Saturday.

The Royals lost seven of their first eight matches this season to all but cancel them from the finals race, but they have since bounced back to have won five of their last six games including the past two against Claremont and Perth.

East Perth has also beaten the finals bound Claremont and South Fremantle this season so they will be attempting to take another big scalp with them on Saturday against Swan Districts at Steel Blue Oval.

From the Swan Districts team that defeated Peel a week ago, Jackson Beck, Tom Edwards, Callum Garcia, Jack O'Sullivan and Greg Ottaviano have all been added to their extended squad.

Meanwhile, Lewis Jetta goes out of the side to face the Royals on Saturday.

East Perth is in a terrific run of form but have made three changes for the clash with Swan Districts.

Kade Dittmar has been named to make his debut with Ben McGuire and Stan Wright into the team with Jackson Ramsay, Corey Watts and Matthew Young going out.

Perth and Claremont then lock horns at Lathlain's' Mineral Resources Park on Saturday afternoon.

While it might appear a mismatch on paper, it could very well be an intriguing contest with the Tigers having now lost consecutive games and the Demons are on an eight-game losing streak of their own.

Claremont has slipped from contending for top position on the ladder to now being back in third spot only a game clear of the fourth placed West Perth but a game and significant percentage behind the second placed South Fremantle.

The Tigers have actually lost four of their past six matches after opening up 2021 under returning coach Ashley Prescott winning nine of their first 10 matches. 

So Claremont does need to start regaining that strong form and Saturday against Perth would be the ideal chance to try and build some confidence again.

It has turned into a horror season for Perth on the back of playing finals in 2020. The Demons have had the worst imaginable injury run and as a result they have now lost their past eight matches to be needing to find a win to avoid the chance of finishing up with the wooden spoon.

Perth suffered an eighth straight loss to East Perth last week and from that team, the Demons have recalled Kristian Cary, Kane La Fontaine and Jack Richardson. 

Mitch Browne, Zac Hill and Jack Steel go out of the team for the Demons against the Tigers.

Claremont has now lost consecutive matches for the first time in 2021 with Sam Alvarez, Cameron Anderson, Isaac Barton, Ben Elliott, Max Minear, Alex Peare Ben Rushforth all added to the squad for the clash with Perth.

Meanwhile, Lachlan Martinis, Kane Mitchell and Tyron Smallwood are three key players going out for the Tigers to take on the Demons.

The last game of the round then takes place between West Perth and the West Coast Eagles at Joondalup's Provident Financial Oval with bounce down set for 11.40am.

It might feature a finals bounce team against the side currently occupying bottom spot on the WAFL ladder but it should be a significantly more interesting game than that suggests.

The Falcons had the bye last week and prior to that lost to Subiaco but before that they were in a hot run of form winning six matches in-a-row to have moved up into third position on the ladder.

West Perth has since slipped back to fourth with a 9-5 record but they have a game in hand on the other teams in the top five so would still be eyeing off a top three finish, but to do that they will need to beat the Eagles at home on Sunday.

Defeating West Coast will be easier said than done, though, with the Eagles also coming off a bye and prior to that they had won consecutive matches against Perth and East Perth.

The Eagles have actually won four of their past six matches as well after losing their first eight of the 2021 season so they are in impressive form and will be tough for the Falcons to overcome on Sunday.

West Coast also has the chance to avoid the wooden spoon with some wins in the run home and with West Perth trying to end up as high up on the ladder as they can too, Sunday's game broadcast on Channel 7 should be a fascinating one.
 

OPTUS WAFL PREMIERSHIP SEASON – ROUND 19

SUBIACO (12-3, 1st) v EAST FREMANTLE (5-10, 7th) – LEEDERVILLE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.10PM
Live scores, stats
Livestream: The West Australian

SWAN DISTRICTS (9-6, 5th) v EAST PERTH (6-9, 6th) – STEEL BLUE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.10PM
Live scores, stats
Radio: SEN

PERTH (4-11, 9th) v CLAREMONT (10-5, 3rd) – MINERAL RESOURCES PARK, SATURDAY 2.10PM
Live scores, stats
Livestream: Front Row Screens
Radio: 91.3 SportFM

WEST PERTH (9-5, 4th) v WEST COAST EAGLES (4-10, 10th) – PROVIDENT FINANCIAL OVAL, SUNDAY 11.40AM
Live scores, stats ???????
TV: Channel 7