Round 5 WAFL PreviewFriday, May 20, 2022 - 1:41 PM - by Chris Pike

THE 2022 WAFL season resumed on Saturday with a full Round 5 of fixtures following the State Game and all five encounters have plenty of fascination about them in what has been a remarkable even season to date.

After the opening four rounds of the 2022 WAFL season, three teams have won three of four matches, five teams have split their four games while only reigning premiers Subiaco have won one of four and the West Coast Eagles are the only team without a win so far.

Following last week's State Game where the WAFL narrowly lost to the SANFL by four points at Optus Stadium, the season resumes this Saturday and the first game is between Subiaco and Swan Districts in Kalgoorlie at 12.10pm.

Both teams are looking to build some momentum and attempt to break into the top five when they do battle at Sir Richard Moore Oval.

The other four matches all take place at 2.10pm on Saturday afternoon with Claremont hosting East Perth at Revo Fitness Stadium with both teams trying to bounce back from last up losses prior to the State Game.

South Fremantle and Peel Thunder are two more teams coming off losses and currently sitting on 2-2 records coming into their clash at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

West Perth has won its past three matches to have built some impressive momentum going into the week off as the Falcons prepare to host the winless West Coast Eagles on Saturday at Joondalup's Pentanet Stadium.

Then there are two teams who come into their match at Lathlain's Mineral Resources Park in winning form with Perth hosting the ladder-leading East Fremantle.

WAFLW TEAM OF THE WEEK – ROUND 4

ROUND 4 WAFL WRAP 

SUBIACO v SWAN DISTRICTS

Two teams looking to build some momentum after slow starts to the season do battle in Kalgoorlie on Saturday with Subiaco taking on Swan Districts.

Kalgoorlie's Sir Richard Moore Oval will host a fascinating Round 7 WAFL match with Subiaco and Swan Districts looking to continue to build some momentum after starting the 2022 season slowly on the back of reaching finals last year.

Subiaco won another premiership in 2021 but then lost its opening three matches this year to South Fremantle, Claremont and West Perth before managing a thrilling one-point win in the battle of Leederville Oval co-tenants with East Perth two weeks ago.

Swan Districts returned to playing finals last year but then opened up 2022 with losses to East Perth and East Fremantle before bouncing back the last two games with victories against Perth and Claremont.

Now with Subiaco looking to improve to 2-3 and Swan Districts trying to go to 3-2 with a win in Kalgoorlie on Saturday, it shapes as a tremendous match up.

It has been quite a dominance of Subiaco against Swan Districts in recent times even though the black-and-whites won their most recent clash in Round 12 last year at Leederville Oval by a point.

That was a stunning result for Swans with Subiaco still going on to win the premiership and prior to that, the Lions had won 12 straight over Swan Districts by an average of 49.8 points.

Subiaco had five representatives in Sunday's State game with South Australia including captain Leigh Kitchin. Not only was he the skipper of the WAFL team, but he won the Simpson Medal on the back of 30 possessions.

His teammate Stefan Giro also had 16 disposals for the Lions and Ben Sokol kicked two goals while Lachlan Delahunty finished with 11 disposals and seven hit outs. Wingman Chad Harris also gathered 21 touches.

Swans co-captain Jesse Turner played his first game for WA as well on Sunday and finished with21 touches as the only Swan Districts representative in the team.

From the Subiaco team that broke through for their first win of the season two weeks ago against East Perth, the Lions welcome back gun Harry Marsh along with Kody Eaton and Jake Stergiou for the clash on Saturday with Swan Districts.

Lewis Putt, Jaimon Alone and Isaac Clinch are the players to make way at Subiaco.

Swan District has made two changes from the team that beat Claremont a fortnight ago with key pair Josh Cipro and Ryan Kemp coming into the side to play Subiaco while Nathan Ireland and Elijah Hewett go out.
 

CLAREMONT v EAST PERTH

Claremont and East Perth both made strong starts to the 2022 WAFL season but are looking to bounce back from tight losses leading into the State Game break.

The Tigers and Royals do battle at Revo Fitness Stadium on Saturday both with the aim of returning to the winner's list and to retain their positions inside the top five after the opening five rounds of the season.

Claremont started the season impressively with wins against West Perth, Subiaco and South Fremantle before a slip up two weeks ago against Swan Districts at Bassendean.

East Perth, meanwhile, also opened up the 2022 campaign impressively beating Swan Districts and Perth but the Royals have now lost to East Fremantle and Subiaco to be sitting at 2-2 coming into Saturday's clash with Claremont.

While East Perth did score a win last up against Claremont by seven points at Leederville Oval in Round 17 last year, the Tigers have had the better of the Royals in recent times.

Prior to that loss, Claremont had won the last seven meetings with East Perth by an average of 35.1 points. East Perth's last win at Revo Fitness Stadium was back on Round 19, 2017 with the Tigers winning their last four home matches over the Royals.

Claremont had two representatives in last Sunday's State Game for WA against South Australia with Sandover Medallist Bailey Rogers kicking three goals. Ryan Lim gathered 17 possessions in his WAFL State debut as well.

There were two players from East Perth who lined up in the State Game at Optus Stadium with Scott Jones amassing 16 hit outs in the ruck while Angus Schumacher gathered 18 possessions and laid seven tackles.

Claremont suffered its first loss of the season two weeks ago at the hands of Swan Districts and now the Tigers have made seven changes to their team to take on East Perth at home this Saturday.

Co-captains Declan Mountford and Jared Hardisty are among the inclusions for Claremont along with Sam Alvarez, Steve Miller, Max Minear, Tyron Smallwood and Oliver Sheldrick.

Cameron Anderson, Isaac Barton, Jacob Blight, Lawrence Evans, Timm House, Louis Passera and Oliver Sheldrick are the players going out for the Tigers from the team that lost to the Swans.

East Perth lost a heart stopper by a point to Subiaco a fortnight ago and from that team Kade Dittmar, Ben McGuire and Angus Schumacher come in to take on Claremont at Tigerland this Saturday.

Tom Edwards-Baldwin, Shayne Hille and Jackson Ramsay are the players to go out of the East Perth team.
 

SOUTH FREMANTLE v PEEL THUNDER

South Fremantle and Peel Thunder do battle in a tantalising match up on Saturday at Fremantle Community Bank Oval featuring two teams looking to improve on their 2-2 starts to the 2022 WAFL season.

The Bulldogs and Thunder both come into Saturday's clash at Fremantle Community Bank Oval having won two of their first four matches leading into last week's break for the WAFL's State match with South Australia at Optus Stadium.

Saturday's game now presents the chance for the winner to record their third win of the season and to consolidate themselves inside the top five by the end of Round 5 of the season.

South Fremantle started the season with wins against Subiaco and the West Coast Eagles, but they have since suffered defeats at the hands of two teams above them on the ladder at present, Claremont and West Perth.

Peel also comes into the game with a 2-2 record having beaten East Fremantle and West Coast but suffered loss to West Perth and Perth going into last week's State Game bye.

This will be the first meeting between the two teams since Round 17 last year in Mandurah when South Fremantle hammered a shorthanded Peel by 116 points.

The Bulldogs have won the previous five meetings between the two teams now by an average of 42.4 points.

Peel's last win against South Fremantle was in Round 16, 2018 in Mandurah and their last win at Fremantle Community Bank Oval was the qualifying final of 2017 when they were on their way to winning back-to-back premierships.

This is actually the first game the two teams will play at Fremantle Community Bank Oval since Round 18, 2019 where South Fremantle won by 40 points.

There were three players from South Fremantle who took part in Sunday's tight loss for the WAFL against the SANFL in the State Game.

Noah Strom and Chad Pearson were key parts of the defensive set up while midfielder Jake Florenca was impressive once more finishing with 18 touches and a goal.

Peel didn't have any representatives following the withdrawal from the squad of Ben Hancock, Tyrone Thorne and Blair Bell.

South Fremantle lost narrowly to West Perth at Joondalup two weeks ago but have three key inclusions to take on Peel on Saturday. Jake Florenca, Zac Strom and Steve Verrier all return to the Bulldogs line-up.

Meanwhile, captain Dylan Main, four-time premiership player Nick Suban and emerging defender Aiden Hall are out of the South Fremantle team.

There are plenty of changes at Peel Thunder as well from the team that lost to Perth by a point with Jye Amiss, Joel Hamling, Liam Henry, Matthew Johnson, Lloyd Meek, Tyler Nesbitt, Josh Treacy and Darcy Tucker all coming into the team.

Brodie Carroll, Mitch Curnow, Wade Derksen, Neil Erasmus, Roy George, Brodie Lake, Haydn Matthews and Brad McGowan are the players to make way in the side for the Thunder against the Bulldogs on Saturday.
 

WEST PERTH v WEST COAST EAGLES

The recent form of West Perth and the West Coast Eagles couldn’t possibly be more contrasting coming into their Round 7 meeting on Saturday at Joondalup's Pentanet Stadium.

Going into the week off for the State Game, West Perth had won three matches in-a-row against Subiaco, Peel Thunder and South Fremantle after starting the season with a close defeat at the hands of Claremont.

West Coast have had a tough start to the season losing to Perth by two points, South Fremantle by 76 points, Peel Thunder by 55 points and then last Saturday to East Fremantle by 123 points.

So coming into Saturday's clash at Joondalup, West Perth is attempting to win a fourth straight match while West Coast is just looking to be competitive and if a first win of 2022 is the end result, that would be a bonus.

This will be just the sixth ever meeting between the two teams including the elimination final of 2019 that was won by the Eagles in thrilling fashion by three points.

The Eagles did win two of the first three clashes the two teams had but the Falcons have now won the last two with two wins last year by a combined 149 points.

West Perth had six players to be the most represented team in the State Game against South Australia on Sunday at Optus Stadium.

Luke Meadows gathered 15 possessions in the game from the Falcons, Keegan Knott kicked two goals, Aaron Black had nine disposals, Zac Guadagnin was solid defensively with 14 possessions and six marks, Tyler Keitel kicked a goal and Noah Pegoraro was a standout at centre half-back.

West Perth has now won three straight matches on the back of the win over South Fremantle two weeks ago and have seen no need to change their 22 to take on West Coast on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Eagles have made five changes to the team that lost last Saturday to East Fremantle with Joey Deegan, Riley Pobjoy, Luke Strnadica, Josh Underwood and Logan Young coming into the side.

Rhett Bazzo, Sam Emery, Brady Hough, Sam Medland and Jarrod Pickett go out of the West Coast line-up.
 

PERTH v EAST FREMANTLE

Two teams looking to continue to pick up some momentum as they try and return to the finals mix in 2022 meet at Lathlain's Mineral Resources Park on Saturday with Perth hosting East Fremantle.

Perth might have suffered a heavy Round 2 loss to East Perth, but the Demons' other three matches this year have all been tight affairs including them recording wins against the West Coast Eagles and Peel Thunder.

East Fremantle now comes into Round 5 sitting on top of the WAFL ladder on the back of last Saturday's 123-point hammering of the West Coast Eagles in the rescheduled clash from the previous weekend.

That means that the Sharks are now on a three-game winning streak and they have the chance to retain top spot with a win against the Demons at Lathlain on Saturday.

This is the first clash between the teams this year with East Fremantle winning their second battle of 2021 by 26 points also at Lathlain in Round 11.

However, prior to that the Demons had won three in-a-row and five of the past six between over the Sharks. At Mineral Resources Park, Perth has also won four of the past five against East Fremantle coming into Saturday's contest.

Perth had just the one player representing the Demons in last week's State Game for WA with Fraser McInnes making his debut for the Black Swans. He finished with eight possessions up forward.

East Fremantle had three players in the WAFL team as well with Matthew Jupp solid down back while Jonathon Marsh had 12 disposals and Cam Eardley 24 touches to go with seven marks and five tackles.

Perth got over the line by a point against Peel two weeks ago and from that team, Jordan Busher, Nyika John, Chris Mayne and Connor Sing come back in for the Demons.

Dakota Baldwin-Wright, Jack Avery, Matthew Taylor and Simon Hayward are the players to make way in the Perth line-up.

East Fremantle welcomes back state representatives Matthew Jupp and Cam Eardley who missed last week's huge win over the West Coast Eagles but Jonathon Marsh isn’t available to play against Perth on Saturday.

Enrique Aiken-Featherstone, Tom Marshall and Tom Monaghan are out of the Sharks team to take on the Demons on Saturday at Lathlain.