Round 20 Optus WAFL PreviewFriday, August 20, 2021 - 1:20 PM - by Chris Pike

THERE might be only three matches in Round 20 but they are all fascinating in their own rights as the WAFL finals approach highlighted by West Perth hosting South Fremantle on Sunday as they battle over a double chance.

Round 20 of the 2021 WAFL Premiership Season features three matches including one between two teams in decent form despite being out of the finals hunt, another two trying to avoid the wooden spoon and then the Falcons and Bulldogs trying to earn a double chance come finals time.

The Round 20 action gets underway on Saturday afternoon with East Perth playing host to East Fremantle at Leederville Oval, with the winner a good chance to end the season in sixth position and knowing that finals weren’t too far away for them with a bit of luck in 2021.

Then also on Saturday afternoon at Mandurah's David Grays Arena is a contest between Peel Thunder and the West Coast Eagles. With both teams on four wins, a victory could take them out of wooden spoon contention.

That all leads into West Perth hosting South Fremantle at Joondalup's Provident Financial Oval on Sunday afternoon with the Falcons a chance to replace the Bulldogs in second spot while the reigning premiers will end the round in top spot with a victory.

Starting with Saturday's clash at Leederville Oval between the Royals and Sharks, both teams have the chance to show what they are capable of and recording their seventh win of the season.

Both teams come into the game in solid recent form for the most part and on identical 6-10 record with East Fremantle fresh off their best performance of the season to beat Subiaco while East Perth suffered a disappointing loss to Swan Districts.

But going back beyond that, East Fremantle lost by 61 points to South Fremantle and had lost five of the last six matches to fall out of finals contention.

While the Royals all but put themselves out of the finals hunt starting the season losing seven of the opening eight games, if you take out last week's 41-point loss to Swan Districts and they have been in good form lately winning six of the last 11 games.

Saturday will be the first meeting between the teams since Round 3 of this season when East Fremantle won by 25 points and this contest will be a good indication of which side was in fact closer to pushing for a finals spot in 2021.

East Perth has added Adam Boules, Mitch Dobson, Brad Fullgrabe and Matthew Young to the squad from the team that went down to Swan Districts at Steel Blue Oval a week ago.

From the East Fremantle team that was so impressive to beat Subiaco last Saturday, Blaine Boekhorst, Cam Eardley, Nick Kommer, Reuben McGuire and Tom Monaghan have all been added to the extended squad with Tim Bockman the only out at this stage.

Then in Mandurah, Peel Thunder will be hosting the West Coast Eagles in what will be an intriguing contest with both teams trying to avoid the wooden spoon and considering it's the final round of the AFL season.

Considering it is the final round for Fremantle and West Coast in the AFL, it will be interesting to see who ends up lining up from the Dockers for the Thunder and from the Eagles' list in their WAFL side.

Then there is the fact that both teams come into the game on identical 4-11 records for the season. With Perth on four wins as well, a victory for either one on Saturday will go a long way to helping them avoid finishing with the wooden spoon.

The two teams did meet back in Round 5 of this season with Peel thumping West Coast by 79 points but the personnel was vastly different on both sides that day than it will be on Saturday.

Peel is coming off a bye and prior to that has lost four straight matches including last up to Swan Districts by 52 points and the week before that 116 to South Fremantle.

West Coast is coming off a disappointing 71-point loss to West Perth having won four of six matches prior to that.

Then there is the undoubted Game of the Round at Provident Financial Oval on Sunday between West Perth and South Fremantle.

West Perth's season got off to a rocky start and that all began against the reigning premiers South Fremantle at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

The Bulldogs beat the Falcons for a fifth consecutive time with the 21-point win to make it a run of 14 in the last 15 going back further, but plenty has changed since that Round 1 meeting of the 2021 Optus WAFL Premiership Season.

For the most part, South Fremantle has maintained that form to sit in second position on the WAFL ladder coming into Sunday's clash with West Perth at Provident Financial Oval.

The Bulldogs are within striking distance of top spot as they look to blend back in premiership stars Brock Higgins, Dylan Main, Ben Rioli and Zac Dent in coming in weeks while youngsters Hamish Free, Toby McQuilkin, Manfred Kelly, Regan Spooner, Aiden Hall and Trent Newton fight to stay in.

The Falcons deserve to lay claim to being the form team in the competition right now. They overcame a rough start of losing four of the first seven games to have now won seven of the last eight fresh off a 71-point thumping of the West Coast Eagles.

Take out the shock win in the 2018 preliminary final for West Perth and things have been disastrous against South Fremantle in recent years.

Not only have they lost the other 14 games against the Bulldogs, but South Fremantle has also won on their last six trips up to Joondalup which Nelson hopes starts to turn around this Sunday.

"It has been a while since we played them and a few things have changed since then, but they have had the wood on us over the last few years," Nelson said.

"I can't really remember the last time we beat them, it might have been that prelim final a few years back. 

"We'll be trying to redeem ourselves and get a win over them and get a bit of confidence to know that we can beat a big side like them. The reigning premiers would be a good way for us to start to make a claim to finish in the top three."

West Perth is fresh off a big win over West Coast and can go second with a win over the Bulldogs. From that team last week, Nathan Alexandre, Ryan Hudson, Michael Mallard and Tom Medhat have been added to their squad.

South Fremantle is fresh off the bye and a 61-point win against East Fremantle on the top of a 116-point hammering of Peel Thunder to now be in a position where they will take top spot with a win on Sunday.

Premiership stars Zac Dent and Brock Higgins have been added to the squad to return from injury layoffs for the Bulldogs while Jake Florenca is a chance to play his first game since last year's preliminary final when he ruptured his Achilles tendon to heartbreakingly miss the premiership.
 

OPTUS WAFL PREMIERSHIP SEASON – ROUND 20

EAST PERTH (6-10, 7th) v EAST FREMANTLE (6-10, 6th) – LEEDERVILLE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.10PM
Live scores, stats
Livestream: Front Row Screens
Radio: SEN

PEEL THUNDER (4-11, 8th) v WEST COAST EAGLES (4-11, 10th) – DAVID GRAYS ARENA, SATURDAY 2.10PM
Live scores, stats 
Livestream: The West Australian

WEST PERTH (10-5, 4th) v SOUTH FREMANTLE (11-4, 2nd) – PROVIDENT FINANCIAL OVAL, SUNDAY 1.10AM
Live scores, stats
TV: Channel 7
Radio: 91.3 SportFM