Round 3 WAFLW PreviewThursday, March 23, 2023 - 10:16 PM - by Chris Pike

ROUND 3 of the 2023 WAFLW season sees the four matches split across this weekend highlighted by Subiaco taking on East Fremantle on Saturday, and the Dhara Kerr Cup clash between Swan Districts and Claremont on Sunday.

There remains just the one team after the opening two rounds of the WAFLW season with two wins on the board and that's the reigning premiers Claremont.

With South Fremantle, Subiaco, East Fremantle, West Perth and Peel Thunder all having one win so far and then East Perth and Swan Districts still chasing their first victories, Round 3 is going to be a chance for a host of teams to make a statement.

Round 3 gets underway at 2pm on Saturday afternoon with Subiaco taking on East Fremantle at Leederville Oval. The Lions are yet to lose in 2023 with a draw first up to South Fremantle and a win against Swan Districts while the Sharks had a first up loss to Claremont before beating West Perth last week.

Second up on Saturday afternoon is South Fremantle hosting West Perth at 4pm at Fremantle Community Bank Oval. The Bulldogs are also undefeated so far this season with a win and a draw while the Falcons won their first ever WAFLW game back in Round 1 before losing to East Fremantle last week.

The other two Round 3 matches take place on Sunday beginning with the annual Dhara Kerr Cup match up between Swan Districts and Claremont to be played at Steel Blue Oval from 2pm.

At the same time on Sunday afternoon, East Perth will be taking on Peel Thunder at Leederville Oval.

WAFLW TEAM OF THE WEEK – ROUND 2

ROUND 2 WAFL WRAP

Meanwhile, there's also four Round 3 Rogers Cup matches to take place this weekend beginning on Saturday at midday with Subiaco playing East Fremantle at Leederville Oval, and Perth taking on Claremont at Lathlain's Mineral Resources Park.

Then on Saturday evening at 6pm at Fremantle Community Bank Oval, South Fremantle plays West Perth and on Sunday at 12pm, East Perth faces Peel Thunder at Leederville Oval.

SUBIACO v EAST FREMANTLE – SATURDAY 2.00PM

Subiaco and East Fremantle both recorded their first wins of the 2023 season last week and now will be looking to make it consecutive victories when they meet at Leederville Oval on Saturday.

The Lions had a first up draw while the Sharks lost a Grand Final rematch to Claremont back in Round 1, but with Subiaco beating Swan Districts last week and East Fremantle defeating West Perth, it sets the stage for a fascinating match up this Saturday afternoon. 

Last time the two teams met was back in Round 15 last year with a big win for East Fremantle who beat Subiaco by 48 points as part of their undefeated home and away season at New Choice Homes Park.

Prior to that, the Sharks also won by 50 points in Round 7 at Leederville Oval after holding the Lions goalless but in their last meeting of 2021, Subiaco did score a 12-point win in Round 15 of that season.

Subiaco began the 2023 season with a draw at home to South Fremantle in Round 1 with Kelsey Patterson kicking two of the five goals. Olivia Crane finished with 22 possessions, Tarni Golisano 20 and Joanne Cregg 15.

The Lions then notched their first win of the season last Sunday beating Swan Districts by 47 points at Steel Blue Oval.

That saw Patterson kick another two goals as did Jess Ritchie while Golisano ended up with 25 disposals, Cregg 21 and Tiah Toth 20 to go with nine tackles.

East Fremantle opened up 2023 losing in the home and away season for the first time since 2021, going down to Claremont in a Grand Final rematch by six points despite being on top of most areas in the game.

Gabby O'Sullivan and Anjelique Raison were the goal kickers in that game for East Fremantle with Sharon Wong collecting 18 possessions, Zipporah Fish 17 and Jae Flynn 16.

Then last Sunday, East Fremantle beat West Perth by 28 points also at Joondalup with O'Sullivan finishing with another 24 possessions while Ashleigh Gomes had 23, Flynn 21, Ashlee Atkins 20, Beth Beckett 19, Wong 18 and Raison 18 to go with 13 hit outs and a goal.

From the team at Subiaco that beat Swan Districts last week, Lauren Bilaloski, Meg Brown, Stephanie Dalton, Dahna Lee and Jess Pillera have been added to the squad to face East Fremantle this Saturday.

The only out for the Lions at this stage from that line-up is Liana Burchell.

East Fremantle has also added plenty of players to the squad from its team that defeated West Perth last week.

Caylen Crook, Mylee Leitch, Samara Pluschke, Ridma Ratnakele, Tiani Teakle and Larissa Versaci have all  been included in the extended squad for the Sharks to take on Subiaco on Saturday.

Going out for East Fremantle at this stage are Katelyn Catalano and India Ferrier.
 

SOUTH FREMANTLE v WEST PERTH – SATURDAY 4.00PM

Three of South Fremantle's five WAFLW wins so far have come against West Perth with the Bulldogs looking to add to that on Saturday afternoon but the Falcons won't be handing them anything.

West Perth's first ever WAFLW game in 2022 was a scoreless loss to South Fremantle but the Falcons managed to be more competitive in the other two clashes with the Bulldogs in their inaugural season.

They will look to continue that trend on Saturday at Fremantle Community Bank Oval with both the Bulldogs and Falcons hunting a second win of the 2023 WAFLW season.

Going back to last year and West Perth's first ever WAFLW game was played against South Fremantle with the Bulldogs winning by 74 points at Fremantle Community Bank Oval after holding the Falcons scoreless.

The Bulldogs also beat the Falcons by 35 points in Round 9 at Joondalup's Pentanet Stadium but that was a significantly more competitive contest.

Their third clash of 2022 was also a competitive affair even with South Fremantle ending up winning by 24 points also at Pentanet Stadium.

South Fremantle started its 2023 season with a first up draw with Subiaco at Leederville Oval where Casey Byrne kicked two goals. Kahra Sprlyan also picked up 19 possessions, Luci Gilchrist 16, Ariana Hetherington 15 (15 hit outs), Tahlea Mulder 15 and captain Lauren Vecchio 14.

The Bulldogs then hosted East Perth last Saturday night and recorded their first win of 2023 beating the Royals by 66 points.

Noa McNaughton kicked three goals for South Fremantle with Makaela Tuhakaraina and Zoe Huggett adding two apiece. Mulder finished with 21 possessions, Gilchrist 18, Bethany Bond 18 and Vecchio 16 while Hetherington had another 14 touches and 25 hit outs in the ruck.

West Perth opened up the new season with a first ever WAFLW victory beating East Perth by 48 points at Leederville Oval.

Tia Bergin kicked three goals in that win for the Falcons with Grace Betti and Katherine Bennett adding two apiece. Emily Bennett also collected 22 disposals, Betti 19, Jess Roper 18 and Bianca Webb 18.

It was tougher going last Sunday for West Perth in a 28-point loss at home to East Fremantle. Liliana Grassenis kicked the lone goal with Betti ending up with 20 touches, Roper 16 and Brooke Hongell 15.

South Fremantle will be attempting to remain an unbeaten and in that quest, Abbey Barber, Kloe Bassett, Darcy Clements, Stephanie Mostert , Molly O'Hehir and Ella Ward have been added to the squad to take on West Perth.

Going out of the Bulldogs team at this stage are Leila Fotu and Dakoda Hallam.

West Perth has made two changes from its team that lost to East Fremantle last week with Emily Bennett and Louise McBride coming into the side. Going out for the Falcons are Liza Kneebone and Chanel Scott.
 

SWAN DISTRICTS v CLAREMONT – SUNDAY 2.00PM

The annual Dhara Kerr Cup goes on the line on Sunday afternoon with the winless Swan Districts playing host to the undefeated Claremont at Steel Blue Oval.

It's a second straight home game at Steel Blue Oval for Swan Districts on Sunday afternoon with the black-and-whites hunting their first win of the 2023 WAFLW season but it won't be easy against the undefeated reigning premier Tigers.

It has been a tough start to the new season for Swan Districts with first up losses to Peel Thunder and Subiaco while Claremont's premiership defence couldn’t have got off to a better start with wins against East Fremantle and Peel.

That sets the stage for a tantalising match up on Sunday afternoon with Swan Districts and Claremont also battling over the Dhara Kerr Memorial Cup.

Dhara Kerr is honoured in the first meeting of each season between Swans and Claremont in recognition and memory of her life that was tragically cut short at just 24 years of age in 1995.

She packed a lot into those years, though, and was a true trailblazer on the football field especially after moving to Perth in 1992.

Playing with Innaloo, she won the fairest and best award four straight seasons between 1992-95 and captained her club to their first premiership in 1995. 

In the Grand Finals she played in, Kerr shared best on ground honours with Sharon Woods in 1993 and won this award outright in 1994 and 1995. Kerr was also the WAWFL fairest and best winner in 1992, 93 and 94.

The last meeting between the two teams was in the preliminary final of last year where Claremont was able to beat Swan Districts by 18 points at Revo Fitness Stadium on the way to winning the premiership a week later.

Before that last year, Claremont also scored a 31-point win in Round 12 at Steel Blue Oval and in Round 8, it was a 42-point victory as well for the Tigers over Swans at Revo Fitness Stadium.

The two teams also clashed in Round 1 last year over the Dhara Kerr Cup with Claremont winning on that occasion over Swan Districts 8.12 (60) to 1.2 (8).

It has been a tough start to the new season for Swan Districts starting with the narrow five-point loss in Round 1 in Mandurah against Peel Thunder.

On that Saturday evening, the goalkickers for Swans were Kayley King and Courtney Zappara.

Captain Jess Cox also picked up 28 possessions, Carys D'Addario 17, King 15, Tyla Fitzgerald 14 and Lily Paterson 14.

Last Sunday was then far from the ideal home opener for Swans at Steel Blue Oval with the eventual 47-point defeat the hands of Subiaco.

Tamzyn Beros was the lone goal scorer for the black-and-whites while Jaime Henry came into the team from the Rogers Cup to pick up 19 possessions. Captain Cox also had 15 disposals, Hope Ugle-Hayward 13 and Jasmine Ware 13. 

Claremont, meanwhile, has made a perfect start to its premiership defence beginning with a first up six-point win in the Grand Final rematch against East Fremantle.

Jacinta Valentini kicked two goals in that win for the Tigers with Claire Ortlepp collecting 19 possessions, Jayme Harken 17 and Kate Orme 16.

Claremont backed that up by beating the premiers of the previous two seasons as well with an 18-point win over Peel at Revo Fitness Stadium where the Tigers had 15 scoring shots to two, and 44 inside-50 entries to 16.

Both Claremont's goals came courtesy of Adele Arnup while Jasmin Stewart was outstanding with 31 possessions while Harken finished with 26 disposals, Jacinta Valentini 26, Orme 18 and Eva Campo 18.
 

EAST PERTH v PEEL THUNDER – SUNDAY 2.00PM

The competition's newest team, East Perth, will play host to the side with two of the four WAFLW premierships to their credit, Peel Thunder, at Leederville Oval on Sunday.

East Perth is playing in its first WAFLW season and the going has been tough over the opening two weeks with losses to West Perth and South Fremantle with the Royals managing just the three goals in total.

It's now another significant test for the Royals on Sunday at Leederville Oval against a Thunder team who won the 2020 and 2021 premierships, and are looking to bounce back from a loss last week to Claremont after opening 2023 beating Swan Districts.

East Perth has started its life in the WAFLW competition with a first up loss to West Perth and then a defeat to South Fremantle last Saturday night.

Back in Round 1 in their first ever game at Leederville Oval, the Royals went goalless for the opening three quarters before two goals in the last term to Tristin Ogonoski. 

However, she wasn’t able to back up to play last week against South Fremantle at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

Also against West Perth in Round 1, captain Jess Valvasori produced a strong showing for East Perth with 13 possessions, four tackles and four marks with Sarah Madden gathering 13 disposals and Matilda Bennett delivering 13 touches and 16 hit outs in the ruck.

Again it took until the fourth quarter for East Perth's one goal of the game thanks to Bennett in the eventual 66-point loss. She also had another 10 disposals, six tackles and 13 hit outs in the ruck.

Madeleine Goodman also gathered 12 possessions to go with seven tackles for the Royals and captain Valvasori 12 disposals and three tackles.

It has been a mixed start to the season for Peel beginning with a five-point win at home against Swan Districts back in Round 1.

In that win, Ebonee Hardie kicked two goals for the Thunder while captain Ebony Dowson amassed 24 possessions. Jade Briggs also had 19 disposals, Jaide Britton 17, Evie Cowcher 14, Abby Barnden 14 in her return, and Chloe Wrigley 13 to go with 12 tackles.

Coming off that first up win, it was tough going for the Thunder last Sunday against Claremont. Peel had just the two scoring shots for the game and it was only Claremont's inaccuracy that stopped the margin being greater than the eventual 18 points.

Peel's lone goal came from Tanisha Anderson while Cowcher racked up 29 possessions, Dowson 19, Krystal Carter 18 (19 tackles) and Jorja Haines 18.