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Round 7 WAFL PreviewFriday, June 3, 2022 - 11:04 AM - by Chris Pike
WHAT a WA Day long weekend of WAFL action we are in store for with three fascinating match ups on Saturday and then the two traditional derbies on Monday with all four teams involved entering inside the league’s top five positions.
The WA Day long weekend is the biggest round on the WAFL home and away schedule, and the 2022 edition is going to be no different with three games on Saturday with plenty on the line, and plenty of intrigue, and then the two huge derbies on Monday featuring four in-form and contending teams.
Round 7 of the 2022 WAFL season gets underway was on Saturday afternoon with all three matches bouncing down at 2.10pm.
Reigning premiers Subiaco will be hosting Peel Thunder at Leederville Oval with the Lions attempting to stay in touch of the top five with their third win of the season while the Thunder are looking to string wins together in an attempt to break back into the five.
Just to add to the occasion, dual Brownlow Medallist and Fremantle Dockers captain Nat Fyfe will be making his first appearance of the 2022 season in a Peel Thunder jumper.
Also on Saturday afternoon, Claremont will be hosting Perth at Revo Fitness Stadium with the Tigers looking to bounce back from a loss last week to Peel while the Demons are coming off a heartbreaking loss to West Perth after the siren in Joondalup.
The third game on Saturday afternoon takes place at Bassendean’s Steel Blue Oval with Swan Districts hosting the West Coast Eagles.
Swans come into the game fresh off a hard earned win also at home last week against South Fremantle while West Coast is still hunting its first win of the 2022 season.
That all leads into the two biggest home and away matches of any WAFL season on WA Day.
First up is the Perth Derby between West Perth and East Perth at Joondalup’s Pentanet Stadium. The Falcons come into the game in second position on the WAFL ladder on a five-game winning streak while the Royals are looking for back-to-back wins after beating the Eagles by 78 points.
The round will then wrap up at Fremantle Community Bank Oval with South Fremantle hosting East Fremantle in the Fremantle Ports WA Day Foundation Derby.
South Fremantle has won the past 12 derbies against the Sharks including the last four WA Day Foundation Derby match ups by an average of 66.5 points.
WAFL TEAM OF THE WEEK – ROUND 6
SUBIACO v PEEL THUNDER
Peel Thunder has still not beaten Subiaco since their second premiership triumph but with Nat Fyfe in the line-up and coming off a good performance, they will look to deliver another blow to the Lions on Saturday.
The two teams meet on Saturday at Leederville Oval and while Subiaco are the reigning WAFL premiers, they come into the clash having won just two of six games and just trying to find a way to stay in finals contention.
That won't be easy up against a Peel team on Saturday who is coming off an impressive win against Claremont and will have the Fremantle captain in their line-up for Saturday's clash at Leederville Oval.
Somewhat remarkably the last time Peel has defeated Subiaco is still the Grand Final of 2017.
The Thunder made it back-to-back premierships that day with the 16-point win in the last ever WAFL game at Subiaco Oval just 12 months after also beating the Lions in the decider the previous year to breakthrough for their maiden premiership.
Since that 2017 triumph, Subiaco has won all seven clashes with Peel by an average of 47.4 points.
The closest of those was in the most recent match in Round 22 last year when Peel almost pulled off the miracle comeback which would have cost the Lions the minor premiership.
But Subiaco held on to win by four points to make it seven in-a-row against Peel to secure top spot and to then go on to claim another premiership.
Subiaco is looking to bounce back from last week's loss to East Fremantle and will unveil another three debutants with Galen Silvagni, Jake South and Lachlan Henderson all coming into the team for the first time.
Jordan Faraone also returns for Subiaco while veteran defender Jordan Lockyer is out with a season-ending knee injury with Jaimon Alone, Jordan Snadden and Lachlan Vanirsen all out of the team to take on the Thunder.
Peel will be looking to make it consecutive wins and will be boosted by the presence of dual Brownlow Medallist and Fremantle Dockers captain Nat Fyfe. Now a 202-game AFL veteran, he'll play his first ever game for Peel and first WAFL game since Round 5, 2010 for Claremont.
Jackson Knight, Haydn Matthews and James Sturrock all come back into the Peel line-up while Sebit Kuek is straight in for the Thunder on the back of being taken by Fremantle in the AFL Mid-Season Rookie Draft during the week.
He has kicked 16 goals so far this season for East Perth including three last Saturday in the Royals' win against the West Coast Eagles.
Connor Blakely, Mitch Crowden, Lachlan Cullen, Liam Henry and Lloyd Meek have all been named out of the Thunder team to take on the Lions at Leederville Oval on Saturday.
CLAREMONT v PERTH
Claremont and Perth have generally played tight encounters in recent times and that could again be the case at Revo Fitness Stadium on Saturday with both teams looking for bounce back victories.
Claremont suffered just its second loss of the season last Saturday going down to Peel Thunder by 22 points while Perth lost in heartbreaking fashion to West Perth with a goal after the siren to break the deadlock.
So both the Tigers and Demons come into Saturday's contest at Tigerland looking to hit back with Claremont trying to improve on their 4-2 record that has them in third position while Perth are currently sitting second last at 2-4.
This is the first time the teams have played since Round 19 last year when Claremont won a hard fought battle by eight points at Lathlain.
That meant the Tigers have won three of the last four matches against the Demons but the biggest margin in that time has been 32 points and they are generally tight, and low scoring battles.
While there was one big blowout with Claremont beating Perth by 99 points back in Round 20, 2017, generally they have been close battles and in the last 10 meetings, the Tigers have won six and the Demons four.
Claremont would have been disappointed in its effort last week against Peel to suffer its second loss of the season and they get some impressive tall timber back to take on Perth on Saturday.
Timm House returns to spearhead the attack having kicked eight goals in the first four games of the season. No. 1 ruckman Oliver Eastland also makes his return to play his first game of the 2022 season.
Bailey Bennett also comes into the Claremont line-up to play his first game of the season while Sam Alvarez, Jason Carter and Max Minear are the players to go out from the Tigers team that lost to Peel last Saturday.
Perth will be attempting to return to the winner's list to stay in touch with the top five and they have some handy returnees for the occasion including Haydn Busher to come back in to play against a Claremont team he played 95 of his 143 career games with.
Regan Clarke, Austin Davis, Andrew Fisher, Clayton Giblett and Kieran Hug all come back in for the Demons as well.
Mitch Browne, Jye Clark, Corey Hitchcock, Nyika John, Kane Johnston and Sam Stubbs all go out from the Demons' side that lost to the Falcons after the siren.
SWAN DISTRICTS v WEST COAST EAGLES
Swan Districts has never lost to the West Coast Eagles and will be looking to keep that trend going at Steel Blue Oval on Saturday to try and break into the top four.
Swans come into the game on Saturday in good form having beaten South Fremantle last Saturday as they prepare to host an Eagles team still winless in 2022.
Swan Districts comes into the game sitting in seventh position on the WAFL ladder but only percentage outside of fourth spot with a 3-3 record following last week’s win against the Bulldogs.
Swans played strongly last week to beat a Bulldogs team that has played in the last three Grand Finals to win by nine points and now Saturday presents an opportunity to win and likely end the round sitting inside the top five.
The black-and-whites went into that game last week having lost the last nine times against South Fremantle and were without emerging ruckman Matthew Germs along with Tony Notte whose consecutive games streak came to an end at 194.
That opened up an opportunity in the ruck for debutant Brodie Morris who battled hard for 15 hit outs in an overall terrific team performance from the Swans.
Swan Districts is now preparing to take on a West Coast team on Saturday at Steel Blue Oval with the Eagles having yet to taste a victory in 2022, losing all six of their matches by an average of 69 points.
This will be the fifth time that the two teams have played one another and the first since Round 14 last year when it was a thriller with Swan Districts beating West Coast by just the two points.
All four previous meetings have taken place at Steel Blue Oval with Swans winning each of them by Round 3 last year by 39 points, by four points in Round 17, 2019 and then by 14 points in Round 7 of that same season.
Swan Districts comes into Saturday’s clash as both the sixth ranked attack and defence across the opening six rounds while the Eagles are last in both categories having conceded 113.5 points a game and scoring just 44.3.
West Coast is also the worst performing team across all four quarters over the opening six rounds of the season while Swans are ranked third in first quarters, eighth in second, third in third terms and then seventh across final quarters.
Swan Districts fought hard to beat South Fremantle last week and will look to keep that momentum going with ruckman Matthew Germs returning to take on West Coast as will Tony Notte after his remarkable consecutive games streak of 194 ended last week thanks to COVID protocols.
Elijah Hewett is also back for the black-and-whites while last week's debutants Brodie Morris and Brenton Hilton go straight back out as does Tarir Bayok.
There are plenty of changes again at West Coast as they chase their first win of 2022 with Josh Browne, Lachlan Feeney, Jayden Johnstone, Jack Petruccelle and Luke Strnadica all into the line-up to face Swan Districts at Bassendean.
Hugh Dixon, Josh Edwards, Patrick Naish, Caelen Penny and Riley Pobjoy are the West Coast players going out from the team that lost to East Perth last week.
WEST PERTH v EAST PERTH
West Perth is attempting to reclaim top spot on the WAFL ladder and to beat East Perth for a fifth consecutive time in Monday's traditional Perth Derby.
The Falcons will be on home turf for the annual WA Day battle at Pentanet Stadium against the Royals as they attempt to make it five straight wins against their old foes for the first time since doing so between 1994 and 1995.
Both teams come into the game in good form too at Joondalup with West Perth on a five-game winning streak and on a high having beaten Perth after the siren last Saturday.
Ironically the man who kicked the winning goal was Mitch Dobson who will now play for West Perth against East Perth for the first after being involved in a swap in the off-season that saw the Royals gain the services of key forward Tom Medhat.
That has the Falcons sitting on a 5-1 record just percentage off top spot while the Royals are also in the top five at 3-3 on the back of a 78-point win against the West Coast Eagles last week.
Coming into the 2022 edition of the WA Day Derby, West Perth has won its last four clashes with East Perth by an average of 27.8 points.
The last derby win for the Royals was back in Round 8, 2019 and their last win at Joondalup was Round 20, 2017.
The Falcons have won the last four at Pentanet Stadium by an average of 23 points, and beyond that West Perth has won eight of their past nine games on hurt home turf against East Perth.
Overall West Perth has won six of the last seven games against East Perth while in terms of derbies on WA Day, it has been a more even battle with the two teams splitting the past four meetings.
West Perth comes into the game in second position just percentage off top spot with the fourth best attack and second best defence in the competition.
East Perth is fourth at 3-3 with the best percentage of all teams bar the top two with the third best points for so far and the fifth best points against.
The Falcons are comfortably the best starting team in the competition having outscored their opponents by an average of 22 points in first quarters over the opening six weeks.
They aren’t quite as strong the rest of the way ranking seventh in second quarters, fifth in third terms and sixth in fourth quarters.
In contrast, East Perth haven't been great starters being outscored by 22 points in first terms. The Royals haven’t come out of half-time too well either being outscored by 16 points in third quarters.
However, they are the best ranked team in both second and fourth quarters, outscoring their opponents by 143 points across the six games to date.
SOUTH FREMANTLE v EAST FREMANTLE
South Fremantle has won the past 12 Fremantle Derbies coming into Saturday's Fremantle Ports WA Day Foundation Derby at Fremantle Community Bank Oval, but this is a different East Fremantle unit in 2022.
It has been a remarkable dominance in recent times from South Fremantle in derbies as the Bulldogs have racked up 12 wins in-a-row, but the Sharks come into Monday's clash on top of the WAFL ladder.
South Fremantle has won just three of six matches so far in 2022 on the back of a third straight Grand Final appearance last year.
The Bulldogs lost to Swan Districts last week and will be determined to bounce back on Monday to not only make it 13 in-a-row against the old enemy, but to stay inside the top five by the end of Round 7.
The Sharks, though, deserve to be feeling confidence of beating the Bulldogs for the first time in 13 attempts coming into the game on a five-game winning streak including having beaten Subiaco impressively by 44 points last Saturday at the WACA Ground.
South Fremantle will be attempting to win a 13th consecutive Fremantle Derby against East Fremantle when the Bulldogs host the traditional clash at Fremantle Community Bank Oval, but it’s the Sharks that come into Monday’s game on top of the WAFL ladder.
East Fremantle has now won its last five matches this season including beating Subiaco last Saturday at the WACA Ground to come into Monday’s derby on top of the ladder with a 5-1 record.
South Fremantle sits in fifth position at 3-3 and having lost to Swan Districts last Saturday, but the Bulldogs have played in the last three WAFL Grand Finals, finished top two in the last six seasons and have dominated East Fremantle in recent times.
South Fremantle has won the last 12 derbies overall against East Fremantle by an average of 69.7 points. That has included two wins over 100 points and three more by margins in the 90’s so it has been quite the period of dominance for the Bulldogs.
That has included the Bulldogs winning the past four WA Day Derbies as well by an average of 66.5 points.
East Fremantle’s last derby win was way back on WA Day in 2016 when the Sharks beat South Fremantle by 39 points at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.
In the period since then, South Fremantle has won all 12 clashes between the two arch-rivals on top of at least reaching a preliminary final in every season since while East Fremantle hasn’t won a derby nor reached the finals.
However, this looks to be the most anticipated Fremantle Derby in some time with East Fremantle on its first five-game winning streak since they won six in-a-row on the way to reaching a preliminary final in 2014.
Since then, the Sharks have been on two separate losing streaks of 12, and another of 14, but this looks to be an East Fremantle team ready to make its mark on the competition in 2022 even though they lost yet another player to the AFL mid-week when ruckman Brynn Teakle joined Port Adelaide.
East Fremantle not only sits on top of the ladder but they are ranked the best attacking team in the competition scoring 98.7 points a game. South Fremantle are also the best defence after six rounds conceding just the 57.8 points.
East Fremantle has been the second best starting team this season ranked second in first quarters along with third in second terms, and second in third quarters. However, they haven’t been as good finishing out games, ranked eighth in fourth quarters.
South Fremantle, meanwhile, is ranked fifth in first terms, fourth in both second and third quarters, and then third in fourth stanzas having outscored their opponents by 33 points so far.