Round 6 WAFLW PreviewThursday, April 13, 2023 - 8:56 PM - by Chris Pike

THE WAFLW season resumes this weekend after a break and it couldn’t restart in more exciting fashion beginning with the first ever battle of the Leederville Oval co-tenants and finishing with the two remaining undefeated teams locking horns.

Not only does the round begin on Saturday with the co-tenant battle and finish with the two teams yet to lose playing off, but in between it's the first two WAFLW premiers taking on one another, and then you have a team on the rise trying to keep a regular powerhouse team winless in 2023.

Round 6 of the 2023 WAFLW season begins on Saturday morning at 9.40am with Subiaco and East Perth playing one another for the first time at Leederville Oval.

Following that on Saturday at midday at Mandurah's Lane Group Stadium is the premiers of 2020 and 2021 Peel Thunder facing off with the 2019 premiers, East Fremantle.

That's only the first half of the Round 6 action. It continues on Sunday with two matches at 2pm with Swan Districts still chasing its first win of the season up against West Perth at Steel Blue Oval.

Then comes the battle of two teams yet to taste defeat this season with the reigning premiers Claremont playing host to South Fremantle at Revo Fitness Stadium.

WAFLW TEAM OF THE WEEK – ROUND 4

ROUND 4 WAFL WRAP

It's also Round 6 in the Rogers Cup Youth Girls competition with the action getting underway on Saturday morning at 10am with Peel Thunder taking on Perth at Lane Group Stadium.

The other three matches take place on Sunday beginning at 9.40am at Leederville Oval with Subiaco facing off with East Perth.

Then at 12pm, Swan Districts faces West Perth at Steel Blue Oval and Claremont takes on South Fremantle at Revo Fitness Stadium.

 

SUBIACO v EAST PERTH - SATURDAY 9.40AM

Subiaco and East Perth will meet for the first ever time in the WAFLW competition on Saturday morning at Leederville Oval.

The Leederville Oval co-tenants will create their own piece of history on Saturday morning by playing one another for the first time with the Lions trying to stay in touch with the top four, and the Royals attempting to still record that first ever victory.

Subiaco comes into the game with a win, draw and two losses from the opening four rounds having started the season with that draw with South Fremantle in Round 1.

From there, the Lions beat Swan Districts by 47 points in Round 2 before losing to East Fremantle in a tight contest by a goal and then going down to Claremont last up by 60 points at Leederville Oval prior to the break.

Meanwhile, it's been a tough initiation to life in the WAFLW competition for East Perth having scored just a combined 4.11 (35) in their first four matches.

Life began with the Royals kicking two last quarter goals in a 48-point loss to West Perth in Round 1 but things have become progressively more challenging since.

East Perth lost to South Fremantle by 66 points in Round 2 before going down to Peel Thunder by 25 points in Round 3 and then managing just one behind in a 66-point defeat at home to East Fremantle two weeks ago.

Following Subiaco's tough loss to Claremont a fortnight ago, Agnes Monisse, Tiah Toth, Breanna Wills, Kate Pocsidio, Jess Pillera, Dahna Lee and Hayley Corlett have been added to the squad to take on East Perth.

Going out of the Lions team at this stage from that loss to the Tigers are Lauren Bilaloski, Claudia Langley and Tess Lyons.

Then from the East Perth team that lost to East Fremantle two weeks ago, the Royals have made seven changes with Lacey Holdsworth, Shannon De Bari, Makayla Cocking, Bianca Glanville, Ashleigh Greenwell, Kelsey Lang and Marlee Hedley have all come into to the team to play Subiaco.

Going out for East Perth are Eliza Van De Velde, Madeleine Goodman, Emily Boothman, Jessica Moore, Tristin Ogonoski, Anna Shae Michael and Ruby Burgess.
 

PEEL THUNDER v EAST FREMANTLE - SATURDAY 12.00PM

Peel Thunder and East Fremantle combined to win the first three WAFLW premierships and now will lock horns for the first time in 2023 on Saturday at Mandurah's Lane Group Stadium.

East Fremantle won the first ever WAFLW premiership back in 2019 before Peel won the flags in 2020 and 2021, and now it sets the stage for another fascinating battle on Saturday in Mandurah.

It has been a mixed bag to open the new season for Peel on the back of winning two premierships and still reaching the finals a season ago with the Thunder coming into Saturday's clash with East Fremantle with two wins and two losses to date.

Peel opened up the season with a narrow five-point win against an inaccurate Swan Districts at home before losing to reigning premiers Claremont by 18 points on an afternoon where the Thunder managed just the two scoring shots for the game.

The Thunder then bounced back to beat East Perth by 25 points in Round 3 and then before the break, in Round 4 Peel went down to West Perth by 37 points at Joondalup to now sit with a 2-2 record just outside the top four.

East Fremantle might have lost back in Round 1 to Claremont to open the new season in the grand final rematch, but the Sharks have been building some impressive form since then to put together three consecutive wins coming into last week's break.

East Fremantle's first win was to the tune of 28 points in Joondalup to West Perth in Round 2 before the Sharks continued to build momentum with a tight win over Subiaco in Round 3 and then hammered East Perth by 66 points in Round 4 at Leederville Oval.

Given Peel and East Fremantle combined to win the first three WAFLW premierships, there's a fascinating recent history between the two teams in the competition.

The most recent match up last year with both teams on the way to the finals came in Round 12 at East Fremantle Oval with the Sharks beating the Thunder by 15 points.

Prior to that, East Fremantle also defeated Peel by 34 points in Round 8 in Mandurah while the Sharks also won by 13 points in a high-scoring affair also at Lane Group Stadium in Round 4.

Peel's last win over East Fremantle came back in Round 10, 2021 to the tune of 29 points also in Mandurah.

Peel lost to West Perth a fortnight ago and will be attempting to bounce back this week with Abby Barnden, Aisha Wright, Katrina Shrewsbury, Makinley Minchin, Gracie Fenton and Jade Briggs all added to the squad to take on East Fremantle on Saturday.

Going out of the Thunder line-up from the loss to the Falcons are Kira Phillips and Emma Grundy.

East Fremantle is coming off a thumping win of East Perth two weeks ago and now from that team, Tayah Palmer, Larissa Versaci, Ashlee Atkins, Eleanor Hartill, Georgia Bett, Laura Catherine, Tessa Lynch, Lauren O'Connor and Ridma Ratnakele come into the squad to face Peel.

Going out for the Sharks to take on the Thunder are Georgie Cleaver, Amber Kinnane, Taya Chambers, Tiani Teakle and Leanne Gubbins.
 

SWAN DISTRICTS v WEST PERTH - SUNDAY 2.00PM

With Swan Districts attempting still to win its first game of the 2023 season and West Perth looking to keep its improved form going, and it should be a fascinating match up at Steel Blue Oval on Sunday.

While Swan Districts had the better of things against West Perth in their first WAFLW match ups in 2022, things have started strikingly different in 2023 for both teams.

With Swans having lost their first four matches and the Falcons having recorded their first two wins in the WAFLW competition, it sets the stage for what should be a tantalising match up at Steel Blue Oval on Sunday.

It has been a rough start to the new season for Swan Districts in the WAFLW competition with the black-and-whites yet to record a victory despite some encouraging performances nonetheless along the way.

Swans opened the new season with a narrow five-point loss to Peel where they did have 12 scoring shots to seven for the game despite the defeat.

Next up and Swan Districts found the going tough at home to Subiaco in Round 2 with a 47-point defeat before losing to the undefeated reigning premiers Claremont by 24 points also at Steel Blue Oval.

Last up prior to the break in Round 4 and Swan Districts suffered a 53-point loss at the hands of South Fremantle at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

In that game, despite the defeat Carys D'Addario kicked two goals for Swan Districts and captain Jess Cox was terrific with 21 possessions and five marks while Emma Nanut gathered 16 disposals, Jaime Henry 16 and Hope Ugle-Hayward 14.

Meanwhile, West Perth has had a terrific start to its second season in the WAFLW competition to currently sit in fourth position with a 2-2 record coming into Sunday's clash with Swan Districts.

West Perth opened the 2023 season with a historic first ever win against the competition's newest team East Perth by 48 points at Leederville Oval.

From there, the Falcons lost to East Fremantle in Joondalup by 28 points before a 28-point loss at Fremantle Community Bank Oval to South Fremantle.

However, two weeks ago West Perth produced their best ever WAFLW performance to beat Peel by 37 points at Pentanet Stadium.

In that victory, there was plenty to like in the performance from the Falcons with Natasha Spurr and Karry Plummer kicking two goals apiece while Katherine Bennett gathered 26 possessions, Grace Betti 22, Megan Norbury 21, Emily Bennett 20, Taylor Ferguson 18 and Jeevna Heer 18.

The two teams did battle twice in West Perth's first season in the league in 2022 and the result was two big wins for Swan Districts.

The first came in Round 3 at Steel Blue Oval with Swans kicking 15 goals to one on the way to a 98-point win before the return clash at Joondalup in Round 11 saw the black-and-whites kick 10 goals to two to end up winning by 53 points.
 

CLAREMONT v SOUTH FREMANTLE - SUNDAY 2.00PM

Claremont and South Fremantle are both yet to taste defeat in the 2023 WAFLW season setting the stage for what could well be the game of the season so far on Sunday at Revo Fitness Stadium.

Coming off winning last year's premiership, Claremont has been super impressive to open 2023 with four strong wins while South Fremantle has three wins and a draw as well to be hot on the heels of the Tigers.

Even though Claremont has dominated the first seven meetings between the two teams over the past three seasons winning by an average of 51.9 points and conceding a total of nine goals, Sunday's clash will be a chance for South Fremantle to show how far it has improved.

It's been an ominous start for Claremont to its premiership defence with four strong wins to open the 2023 season leading into the break last week over Easter.

Claremont started its premiership defence winning the grand final rematch against East Fremantle by six points in Round 1 at Joondalup's Pentanet Stadium.

The Tigers then celebrated the premiership by raising the flag in Round 2 at home to Peel Thunder before going on to score the 18-point victory in a game where they had 15 scoring shots to two despite kicking just two goals to one.

Claremont continued its momentum with a 24-point road win against Swan Districts in Round 3 and then a fortnight ago prior to the break, the Tigers beat Subiaco by 60 points on the back of kicking 10 goals to one for the game at Leederville Oval.

In that win, Adele Arnup and Eva O'Donnell kicked three goals apiece for Claremont with Jasmin Stewart racking up 28 possessions, Jayme Harken 23, Matilda Dyke 21 (18 hit outs), Kate Orme 16 and Krstel Petrevski 16.

Meanwhile, it's been a breakthrough start to the season for South Fremantle with the Bulldogs having not beaten any other WAFLW club bar West Perth so far coming into 2023.

South Fremantle started the season with a draw to Subiaco back in Round 1 at Leederville Oval but with 14 scoring shots to nine, the Bulldogs will look back on that as a great missed opportunity.

However, South Fremantle has certainly made up for it since beginning with a 66-point hammering of East Perth in Round 2 at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

The Bulldogs backed that up by beating West Perth by 28 points in Round 3 and then another dominant 53-point victory against Swan Districts at Fremantle Community Bank Oval leading into the Easter break.

In that big win for South Fremantle, Noa McNaughton kicked five goals with Makaela Tuhakaraina, Zoe Huggett and Casey Byrne adding two each. Charli Wicksteed also gathered 17 possessions, Kahra Sprlyan 17 and captain Lauren Vecchio 17.

South Fremantle and Claremont have met seven times over the past three WAFLW seasons since the Bulldogs joined the competition back in 2020, and the Tigers have enjoyed each of them.

It started back in Round 3, 2020 with Claremont beating South Fremantle by 57 points at Fremantle Community Bank Oval having kicked nine goals to one. It was a similar story three weeks later at Revo Fitness Stadium with the Tigers winning by 56 points.

There were three meetings during the 2021 season starting in Round 3 with Claremont kicking 11 goals to three also at Tigerland on the way to a 51-point win. However, the 3.4 kicked that day by South Fremantle is still its highest score against Claremont.

Next up also at Revo Fitness Stadium in Round 7 was a 47-point win for Claremont with South Fremantle going goalless before the Bulldogs won by 29 points in Round 13 at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

The two meetings in 2022 saw two more wins for Claremont with the Tigers on their way to winning the premiership. Claremont won by 41 points at Fremantle Community Bank Oval before also winning by 82 points in Round 14 at Revo Fitness Stadium.