Round 9 WAFLW PreviewFriday, May 5, 2023 - 9:39 AM - by Chris Pike

A SECOND grand final rematch highlights Round 9 of the WAFLW season this weekend with Claremont trying to remain undefeated and East Fremantle attempting to avoid a rare third consecutive defeat.

Just one of the four Round 9 matches for the 2023 WAFLW season will take place on Saturday and it will be held in the evening from 5pm at the WACA Ground with East Fremantle playing host to Claremont.

The Sharks are trying to avoid losing three consecutive matches for the first time since 2021 while the Tigers have still not lost since the second semi-final last year to East Fremantle.

The rest of the round will take place on Sunday afternoon beginning at 12pm with West Perth and South Fremantle taking on one another in a clash in-form teams.

The Falcons and Bulldogs are two of the newer teams in the competitions, but with South Fremantle locked into second spot and West Perth trying to break into the top four, it could be their most captivating match up yet.

Later on Sunday afternoon at 2pm will see East Perth taking on Subiaco in the battle of Leederville Oval co-tenants before Swan Districts plays host to Peel Thunder at Steel Blue Oval.

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Round 9 in the Rogers Cup gets underway on Saturday at Lathlain's Mineral Resources Park with Perth still hunting its first win up against East Fremantle from 11.30am.

The other match up on Saturday takes place at 12pm at Mandurah's Lane Group Stadium with South Fremantle playing Peel Thunder.

The other two contests are on Sunday to close Round 9 with Subiaco facing Claremont at Leederville Oval from 10am and then at 12pm, it's East Perth playing Swan Districts at Leederville Oval.

 

EAST FREMANTLE v CLAREMONT – SATURDAY 5.00PM

East Fremantle and Claremont do battle in the second WAFLW grand final rematch already of 2023 on Saturday evening at the WACA Ground with the Sharks desperate for a bounce back win and the Tigers out to remain undefeated.

Since East Fremantle beat Claremont in last year's second semi-final, the Tigers haven’t lost a single game going on to beat Swan Districts in the preliminary final and then the Sharks in the grand final.

Now Claremont has started 2023 in dominant form winning the opening seven matches with a winning margin of 35 points.

The Tigers will put that undefeated streak on the line against an East Fremantle team who is trying to avoid a three-game losing run of its own.

The Sharks did win four straight after the Round 1 loss to the Tigers, but have since lost to South Fremantle and Swan Districts the past two weeks.

That means East Fremantle needs to try and hit back on Saturday evening against Claremont at the WACA Ground in their first home game of the season to consolidate their position in the top four, and stay in contention with the second placed South Fremantle.

The first grand final rematch between the two teams opened up the 2023 campaign in Round 1 with Claremont backing up the premiership triumph beating East Fremantle by six points.

In that game, Claremont kicked four goals to two in the win including Jacinta Valentini kicking two for the Tigers while Claire Ortlepp racked up 19 possessions, Jayme Harken 18 and Kate Orme 16.

East Fremantle's goals came from Gabby O'Sullivan and Anjelique Raison while Sharon Wong amassed 18 possessions, Zipporah Fish 17 and Fremantle Dockers AFLW draftee Jae Flynn 16.

East Fremantle is looking to bounce back from the last two losses and the Sharks have added Georgie Cleaver, Natasha Entwistle, Zipporah Fish, Grace Freeman, Leanne Gubbins, Anjelique Raison and Ridma Ratnakele to the squad to take on the Tigers on Saturday evening.

Going out from the Sharks team that lost to Swan Districts last Sunday are Ashleigh Gomes, Jasmine Johansen and Tiani Teakle.

Claremont is looking to keep its undefeated run this season going and coming into the squad to take on East Fremantle on Saturday evening are Juliet Kelly, Amalie Moe, Eva O'Donnell, Ella Slocombe and Mackenzie Webb.

There's just one out so far from the Claremont team that hammered East Perth last Sunday and that's Kate Orme fresh off a performance from half-back for the Tigers that saw her named to the WAFLW Team of the Week.

 

WEST PERTH v SOUTH FREMANTLE – SUNDAY 12.00PM

Two of the WAFLW's newer teams are both in their best ever form in the competition leading into a tantalising match up at Pentanet Stadium between West Perth and South Fremantle on Sunday.

While both the Falcons and Bulldogs struggled upon their initial entry into the WAFLW competition, they are both adjusting to life as part of it nicely and that has included some terrific recent performances.

Since South Fremantle beat West Perth by 28 points earlier this season in Round 3, the Bulldogs have gone on to score wins against Swan Districts, East Fremantle and Peel Thunder while only suffering their lone loss of 2023 at the expense of the undefeated Claremont.

West Perth, meanwhile, has beaten Peel and Subiaco since while only suffering losses to the Tigers and Swan Districts. That included perhaps the Falcons best ever WAFLW win last week against the Lions.

South Fremantle has made history the past two weeks with first ever wins over the Sharks and Thunder which has the Bulldogs clear in second position on the WAFLW ladder with five victories, a loss and a draw.

West Perth is knocking on the door of the top four as well now with a 3-4 record coming into Sunday's match up at Joondalup.

With South Fremantle having joined the WAFLW competition in 2020 and having a couple of seasons to get accustomed with West Perth only joining in 2022, the Bulldogs have enjoyed life against the Falcons in the first four meetings.

That included holding West Perth scoreless in Round 1 last year with the Falcons playing their first ever WAFLW game with the Bulldogs winning by 74 points at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

South Fremantle also beat West Perth by 24 and 35 points in the other two clashes between the two teams in 2022.

Then in Round 3 of this season, the Bulldogs also defeated the Falcons by 28 points at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

On that occasion, Bethany Bond kicked three goals for South Fremantle while Tahleah Mulder racked up 23 possessions, Lauren Vecchio 19 and Luci Gilchrist 18.

West Perth's goals were kicked by Grace Betti, Tia Bergin and Elissa Price while Brooke Hongell collected 25 disposals, Taylor Ferguson 19, Kayla Van Den Heever 18 and Jess Roper 18.

While South Fremantle has won the four meetings so far against West Perth by an average of 40.3 points, there's every reason to expect a tighter contest at Pentanet Stadium on Sunday.

 

EAST PERTH v SUBIACO – SUNDAY 2.00PM

Subiaco dominated East Perth in the battle of the Leederville Oval co-tenants only three weeks ago with the Lions now needing another win over the Royals on Sunday to hold onto fourth position.

Subiaco held East Perth to just two behinds in that 57-point win back in Round 6 in the first ever clash between the WAFLW clubs who share Leederville Oval.

Since then and the Lions did score a big 47-point win against Peel Thunder but then had a slip up with an 11-point defeat to West Perth.

The Lions are now only just holding onto fourth position on the WAFLW ladder with three wins, three losses and a draw meaning they need a win on Sunday to avoid slipping out of a finals spot.

Since that loss to Subiaco and East Perth kicked two goals but lost Swan Districts by 89 points before last week's 85-point defeat against the rampant unbeaten Claremont with the Royals not managing a single score. 

It was only three weeks ago when the Leederville Oval co-tenants met in the WAFLW competition for the first time with a Saturday morning 57-point win for Subiaco where they were able to limit East Perth to scoring just the two behinds.

In that win, Beth Schilling kicked two goals for the Lions with captain Tarni Golisano celebrating her 150th game with 29 possessions. Madison Dodd also had 17 touches, Tiah Toth 16 and Amy Mulholland 14.

East Perth might have gone goalless, but Sarah Madden finished with 20 disposals, Lillian Ninyett 12, Chloe Sauzier 12 and Makayla Pugliese-Thompson 11 to go with nine tackles.

East Perth is looking to put in a more competitive showing coming off the scoreless outing against Claremont last week.

Coming into the Royals team from the one that lost to the Tigers last week are Jessica Davidson, Tahlia Dawson-Gibbs, Jorja Elisseou and Eliza Van De Velde.

Going out from that East Perth team that took on Claremont last Sunday are Holly Gill, Anna Shae Michael, Chloe Sauzier and Grace Smith.

Subiaco is looking for a bounce back win to secure its place in the top four with Taylisha Brown, Olivia Crane, Madison Dodd, Claudia Langley, Charlotte Newland, Eva Popovsky, Tiah Toth and Olivia Wolmarans all back into the Lions line-up to take on the Royals on Sunday afternoon.

Going out from the Subiaco team that lost to West Perth last week are Liana Burchell, Tarni Golisano, Kelsey Patterson and Tahli Wilkins.

 

SWAN DISTRICTS v PEEL THUNDER – SUNDAY 2.00PM

Swan Districts and Peel Thunder clash for the first time since Round 1 when they meet at Steel Blue Oval on Sunday with both teams attempting to stay in the WAFLW finals hunt.

With the Round 1 loss Swans had to the Thunder in Mandurah, it was the beginning of a four-game losing run but now it's them who come into this Sunday's clash in form while Peel has been struggling in recent weeks.

Swans opened the season losing their opening four matches but they have won three in-a-row to get their season right back on track with the victories against West Perth, East Perth and East Fremantle.

That leaves Swans knocking on the door of a top four position and a fourth successive win on Sunday and they could well end up in a finals position depending on how the other results pan out this weekend.

Peel, meanwhile, has lost its past four matches and needs to beginning turning things around quickly or else the Thunder will fall out of finals contention this WAFLW season altogether.

The 2023 season started for both Swans and the Thunder with a Round 1 clash against one another and that saw Peel score the 4.3 (27) to 2.10 (22) victory at Mandurah's Lane Group Stadium.

On that occasion, Ebonee Hardie kicked two goals for the Thunder while captain Ebony Dowson amassed 24 possessions while Jade Briggs finished with 19 touches, Jaide Britton 17, Evie Cowcher 14 and Abby Barnden 14.

Swan Districts' goals were kicked by Kayley King and Courtney Zappara with captain Jess Cox racking up 28 disposals to go with eight tackles, six inside-50 entries and five marks.

Carys D'Addario also had 17 possessions for the Swans, King 15, Tyla Fitzgerald 14 and Lily Paterson 14.

The two clubs have developed quite the rivalry already in the early years of the WAFLW competition.

You can go back to the Grand Final of 2021 where Peel Thunder pulled off the upset win against a Swan Districts team who had been the standout team in the competition right throughout the season.

The rivalry continued last year with Swans ending the quest for a premiership hat-trick of the Thunder with the black-and-whites winning the first semi-final to reach the preliminary final before losing to eventual premiers Claremont.