Round 2 WAFLW PreviewThursday, March 16, 2023 - 9:54 PM - by Chris Pike

ROUND 2 of the 2023 WAFLW season is looming as a fascinating weekend with South Fremantle and East Perth opening proceedings on Saturday night before three games on Sunday highlighted by the premiers of the last three years Claremont and Peel Thunder doing battle.

The 2023 WAFLW season began last weekend with West Perth scoring its first ever win in the competition beating East Perth while Peel Thunder defeated Swan Districts, Claremont beat East Fremantle in the Grand Final rematch, and Subiaco and South Fremantle played out a draw.

There are now another four matches in Round 2 this weekend beginning with South Fremantle playing East Perth on Saturday evening at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

The other three matches will all take place on Sunday afternoon beginning with West Perth at home to East Fremantle at Joondalup's Pentanet Stadium.

Swan Districts will play its first home game of the season hosting Subiaco at Steel Blue Oval with Claremont taking on Peel Thunder at Revo Fitness Stadium.

WAFLW TEAM OF THE WEEK – ROUND 1

ROUND 1 WAFL WRAP

It's also Round 2 in the Rogers Cup Youth Girls competition with all four matches to be played on Sunday.

That gets underway with Perth playing its first ever Rogers Cup fixture by hosting East Perth at Lathlain's Mineral Resources Park at 9am.

Then at 11am, West Perth plays East Fremantle at Pentanet Stadium and at midday, Swan Districts takes on Subiaco at Steel Blue Oval, and Claremont faces Peel Thunder at Revo Fitness Stadium.

SOUTH FREMANTLE v EAST PERTH – SATURDAY 5.00PM

South Fremantle and East Perth will both be chasing their first victories of the WAFLW season when they meet on Saturday evening at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

South Fremantle opened the 2023 season with a draw with Subiaco last Sunday at Leederville Oval while at the same venue on Saturday, East Perth played its first ever game in the WAFLW competition in a loss to West Perth.

The Bulldogs now will play their first home game of the new season on Saturday evening with the clash against the Royals at Fremantle Community Bank Oval bouncing down at 5pm.

Having not won a game in the WAFLW in its first two seasons in 2020 and 2021, South Fremantle had a vastly improved 2022 campaign winning four games and being significantly more competitive.

The Bulldogs will look to continue that improvement now in 2023 to and try and put themselves in the finals mix on the back of a Round 1 draw with Subiaco last Sunday.

South Fremantle finished that game with 32 more possessions for the game against Subiaco along with having a monstrous 47 inside-50 entries to 15 and 14 scoring shots to nine but they couldn’t quite convert that dominance into a victory.

There was a lot to like in the performance from the Bulldogs that they will now look to build on including an impressive debut from basketballer turned footballer Ariana Hetherington in the ruck with 15 possessions and 15 hit outs.

Kahra Sprlyan gathered 19 possessions in that draw for the Bulldogs, Liusaidh Gilchrist 16 and Tahleah Mulder 15 while Casey Byrne kicked two goals.

East Perth played its first ever WAFLW game last Saturday in an eventual 48-point loss at Leederville Oval to West Perth.

It took until the fourth quarter for the Royals to kick a goal with both coming courtesy of Tristin Ogonoski while captain Jess Valvasori picked up 13 possessions, Matilda Bennett 13 and Sarah Madden 13.

Megan Bain, Abbey Barber, Darcy Clements, Leila Fotu, Dakoda Hallam, Cali Hunt and Stephanie Mostert have all been added to the squad for South Fremantle for the home opener.

Meanwhile, Kloe Bassett, Heidi Hughes and Molly O'Hehir go out of the Bulldogs team from the side that drew with Subiaco in Round 1.

There are three changes to the East Perth team with Gabrielle Canicosa, Makayla Cocking and Holly Gill coming into the team with the Royals chasing that first victory.

Tristin Ogonoski goes out of the East Perth line-up after kicking her team's first two goals in the WAFLW competition last week against West Perth. Melisha Hardy and Kelsey Lang are the two players going out of the Royals team.
 

WEST PERTH v EAST FREMANTLE – SUNDAY 1.00PM

The gap was significant between West Perth and East Fremantle in 2022 but the Falcons have the chance to show how far they have come when hosting the Sharks on Sunday afternoon.

West Perth will take on East Fremantle on Sunday from 1pm at Joondalup's Pentanet Stadium in their first home game of the 2023 season.

The Falcons come into the contest fresh off their first ever WAFLW victory last Saturday while the Sharks lost their first home and away season game last Sunday since 2021.

It was tough going last year in the WAFLW competition for West Perth. In their first season, the Falcons went winless and struggled to score and be competitive.

In direct contrast, East Fremantle dominated the season going through undefeated and then booking a spot in the Grand Final beating Claremont before just coming up short in the decider in heartbreaking fashion.

However, with West Perth now on the board with a win last week against East Perth and East Fremantle opening the new season with a loss to Claremont last Sunday, this Sunday's clash looms as a fascinating affair.

Going back to last year and East Fremantle won all three meetings against West Perth with the Sharks finishing the home and away season undefeated, and the Falcons going through winless.

As a result, the Sharks kept the Falcons scoreless in their last meeting in Round 16 to win by 62 points which came on the back of a 91-point win in Round 13 at New Choice Homes Park with West Perth managing just two behinds.

The first clash came back in Round 5 last year with East Fremantle beating West Perth 12.16 (88) to 1.0 (6).

Going back to last Saturday where West Perth recorded its first ever win in the WAFLW competition, there were plenty of standout performers including Tia Bergin kicking three goals and two each to Grace Betti and Katherine Bennett.

Emily Bennett was also terrific in the win for the Falcons with 22 possessions and seven tackles while Betti finished with 19 disposals, Jess Roper 18 touches and Bianca Webb 18 possessions.

East Fremantle did a lot right last Sunday against Claremont in the Grand Final rematch but couldn’t quite convert in front of goal. 

Despite having 19 more possessions and four extra scoring shots, the Sharks managed just the one goal in either half and ended up losing the season-opener to Claremont by six points at Joondalup.

Gabby O'Sullivan and Anjelique Raison were the goal scorers for East Fremantle with Sharon Wong finishing with 18 possessions, Zipporah Fish 17 and Jae Flynn 16.

West Perth has made just the one change from the team that beat East Perth last week with Liliana Grassenis coming into the team at the expense of Angelina Wodcke.

From the East Fremantle team that lost to Claremont last Sunday, Nadya Browne, Georgie Cleaver, Caylen Crook, India Ferrier, Lauren O'Connor and Chloe Williams have been added to the squad.

At this stage, it's just Leanne Gubbins and Samara Pluschke who have gone out of the Sharks team.
 

SWAN DISTRICTS v SUBIACO – SUNDAY 2.00PM

Swan Districts and Subiaco will both be hunting their first victories of the WAFLW season on Sunday when they lock horns in the Round 2 clash at Steel Blue Oval.

With Swan Districts fresh off a narrow loss last Saturday night to Peel Thunder and Subiaco having had a draw at home to South Fremantle last Sunday, a first win of the 2023 season will be up for grabs on Sunday at Bassendean.

Games between Swans and the Lions have generally been tantalising affairs as well with the strong history at both clubs so Sunday should be no different with that first win of the season up for grabs.

The teams produced contrasting performances in Round 1 as well with Swans getting the better of Peel in just about every area but only managing to convert that into two goals.

Meanwhile, it was the opposite story for Subiaco where they were the ones more efficient in the eventual draw with South Fremantle.

With Swans attempting to avoid an 0-2 start as they try to remain a finals team in the WAFLW competition and the Lions not wanting to be winless after two games attempting to break back into the top four, and it's an important early season battle for both clubs.

The last time the two teams met was back in Round 13 last year where Subiaco kept its finals hopes alive by winning by 17 points at Leederville Oval.

Earlier in the season and Swan Districts scored a convincing 49-point win over the Lions at Steel Blue Oval.

Going back to last Saturday night where Swans lost a tight battle to open the new season against Peel in Mandurah, there was a lot to like for the black-and-whites including captain Jess Cox leading the charge with 28 possessions and eight tackles.

Swans' two goals for the game came from Kayley King and Courtney Zappara while Carys D'Addario also finished with 17 disposals but they couldn’t quite capitalise on having more disposals, hit outs, inside-50 entries and scoring shots for the game.

Meanwhile for Subiaco last week, despite having 32 fewer possessions, 32 less inside-50 entries and only nine scoring shots to 14, they managed to secure the draw with South Fremantle.

Kelsey Patterson kicked two of the five goals in the game for the Lions while Olivia Crane picked up 22 possessions, Tarni Golisano 20 and Joanna Cregg 15.

Swan Districts is chasing that first win of 2023 with Hope Arrowsmith, Kaitlyn Beaton, Teyharna Curry, Jaime Henry, Chanti McHenry and Sarah Wielstra all added to the squad.

Abbygail Bushby and Megan Carron are the two players going out of the team so far.

Subiaco has made three changes from the team that drew with South Fremantle last Sunday with Hali Epis, Meadhbh Moloney and Amy Mullholand coming into the team.

Going out for the Lions are Dahna Lee, Madizen Wilkins and Olivia Wolmarans.
 

CLAREMONT v PEEL THUNDER – SUNDAY 2.00PM

Claremont and Peel Thunder have shared the last three WAFLW premierships and on the back of Round 1 victories, one of them will make a perfect start to the 2023 season.

With the Tigers fresh off winning last year's premiership in stunning fashion with the upset Grand Final win against East Fremantle, and then the Thunder having won the 2020 and 2021 flags, that sets the stage for Sunday's contest.

Claremont will be hosting Peel on Sunday afternoon at Revo Fitness Stadium with bouncedown set for 2pm.

Both teams are coming off Round 1 victories as well with Peel beating Swan Districts last Saturday night in a tight contest while Claremont prevailed in a Grand Final rematch on Sunday at Joondalup against East Fremantle.

With last week's game having to be moved away from Revo Fitness Stadium, Sunday will be the first home game of the season for Claremont and will provide the occasion for them to celebrate last year's premiership and to raise the flag as well.

The last time the teams played one another was in Round 15 last season which saw Claremont defeat Peel by 25 points at Mandurah's Lane Group Stadium.

Earlier in the season and the Tigers also defeated the Thunder by 39 points with that game played at Revo Fitness Stadium in Round 6.

Claremont began its premiership defence last Sunday beating East Fremantle by six points at Joondalup with two goals from Jacinta Valentini while Claire Ortlepp finished with 19 possessions, Jayme Harken 17 and Kate Orme 16.

Going back to last Saturday night where Peel started the new season by beating Swan Districts at home in Mandurah, Ebonee Hardie kicked two goals while captain Ebony Dowson gathered 24 possessions, Jade Briggs 19 and Jaide Britton 17.

Coming into the Claremont squad at this stage for the game on Sunday are Emily Elkington, Brooke Elliott, Matilda Husband, Ella Smith, Charlotte Tompkin and Rebecca Tuckey.

Going out at this stage are Kristel Petrevski and Mackenzie Webb.

There are three changes that the Thunder have made from the team that beat Swan Districts last Saturday night with Ebony Bilcich, Emma Grundy and Jessica Ruland coming into the team.

Going out for Peel are Jaide Britton, Kaitlyn Srhoj and Chloe Wrigley.