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Round 6 WAFL PreviewFriday, May 12, 2023 - 8:48 AM - by Chris Pike
THE last round of the WAFL season before the State game break sees all five matches take place this Saturday with Perth trying to snap its horror run against West Perth on a milestone day for two of their loyal servants.
That's just one of five tantalising match ups in Round 6 of the 2023 WAFL season with all five matches taking place on Saturday afternoon.
It's the last round of action as well before next Friday afternoon's Kia State Game which sees the best of the WAFL take on the SANFL at Adelaide Oval so it's the last chance for any players to press their claims, and to ensure they are in form and healthy enough to take their places.
Three of the four Round 6 matches take place at 2.10pm on Saturday afternoon including Swan Districts returning home to Steel Blue Oval and playing host to the league-leading Claremont.
Perth remains at home at Mineral Resources Park and with captain Michael Sinclair celebrating his 150-game milestone and star defender Matt Taylor his 100th, the Demons attempt to break their run of outs against reigning premiers West Perth.
East Perth started the season on fire but have now lost its past two matches with the Royals attempting to bounce back against a South Fremantle team desperate for a win also when they clash at Leederville Oval.
The last of the 2.10pm match ups takes place at Mandurah's Lane Group Stadium and the second placed Peel Thunder will be looking for a significant enough to win to leapfrog them to top place against the winless West Coast Eagles.
The last game of the round is at 4.10pm on Saturday afternoon at the WACA Ground with East Fremantle at home to Subiaco.
WAFL TEAM OF THE WEEK – ROUND 5
All four matches in the Reserves for Round 6 also begin on Saturday morning starting at 9.40am with East Perth taking on South Fremantle at Leederville Oval.
Then at 11.30am, it's East Fremantle against Subiaco at the WACA Ground, and at 11.40am it will be Swan Districts at home to Claremont and then Perth playing West Perth at Lathlain.
In Round 6 of the Colts, three of the matches begin on Saturday morning with East Fremantle playing Subiaco, Swan Districts taking on Claremont and Perth at home to West Perth.
The last game of the round will be on Sunday at Fremantle Community Bank Oval where East Perth plays South Fremantle from 9am.
SWAN DISTRICTS v CLAREMONT – SATURDAY 2.10PM
With Swan Districts having just one win so far this season and Claremont only suffering one defeat, and for different reasons both teams need the win on Saturday afternoon at Steel Blue Oval.
Swan Districts might have lost four matches so far this WAFL season, but until last Sunday against Peel Thunder, they had been strongly competitive and those first three defeats could have easily gone their way.
However, Swans now come into Saturday's clash needing the win against the league-leading Claremont to bounce back from last week's 62-point loss in Mandurah to Peel and to avoid slipping further from top five contention.
It won't be an easy task, though, against a Claremont team who returned to the top of the WAFL ladder with last week's come from behind win against East Perth after conceding the opening six goals of the game.
The Tigers now sit in top spot coming into Round 6 but they are only percentage ahead of both Peel and Subiaco so need to keep winning if they want to stay where they are heading into the State game break.
Claremont has enjoyed things against Swan Districts in recent times and really even dating back to that fateful 2010 season where Swans shocked them in the greatest WAFL grand final of this century.
While the two teams did split their meetings in 2022 with each side winning their respective home matches by nine points, prior to that and Claremont has dominated proceedings against Swan Districts.
Prior to that win for Swans in Round 4 last year at Steel Blue Oval and the Tigers had beaten them nine straight times dating back to 2017.
Going back even further and since Swan Districts stunned Claremont with that one-point grand final win in 2010, the Tigers have won 23 of the 31 clashes between the two teams since.
It's even more stark at Revo Fitness Stadium where Claremont has won seven straight against Swan Districts by an average of 45.7 points. The last win at Tigerland for Swans came by 39 points back in Round 17, 2013.
However, Swans ended a nine-year losing run against South Fremantle at Fremantle Community Bank Oval two weeks ago so this Saturday might be a good time to end a 10-year drought at Revo Fitness Stadium.
Coming into Saturday's clash and Swan Districts is the second worst defence in the competition having conceded 81.2 points a game so far in 2023 while being ranked seventh in attack at 70.0 points.
In contrast, Claremont is the second best team defensively giving up 58.2 points while third best by scoring 89.4 points a game themselves.
The Tigers are also winning more of the ball than their opponents than any team in the WAFL with an average of 46.4 disposals a game. Swans are ranked second last in that category too with 35.4 fewer possessions than their rivals.
Swans are a good starting team, though, ranked third in first quarters so far this season while the Tigers are placed fifth.
After that, though, and Claremont is the second best team in the last three quarters across the competition with Swan Districts ranked ninth in second quarters and eight in the last, but third terms have been more kind where they've outscored their opponents by 19 points.
Swan Districts is looking to hit back from last week's loss in Mandurah to Peel and as a result, the black-and-whites have made plenty of mostly enforced changes for the clash with Claremont at home this Saturday.
The highlight at the selection table is the return of club legend Tony Notte from his knee reconstruction after rupturing his ACL in Round 18 last year against East Fremantle.
He has got through the last three weeks now in the reserves including last Sunday against Peel in Mandurah where he had 16 possessions and nine marks.
Notte has now got himself ready for his league return this Saturday for Swans to continue his 279-game playing career and he will have his work cut out whichever end of the ground he comes in to play at.
There are holes that Notte could fill at either end of the ground with co-captain and key forward Chris Jones along with tall defender Will Collins going out of the Swan Districts line-up with injury.
Also coming into the squad for Swans for Saturday's clash are Tarir Bayok, Max Chipper, Matthew Germs, Ben Hewett, Kane Hughes, Tyrell Metcalf and Jiah Reidy.
Joining Collins and Jones out of the Swan Districts team are the suspended Ryan Kemp and small defender Seb Bright.
Claremont is fresh off a nail-biting win against East Perth last Saturday and from that team, Mitchell Barron, Jack Buller, Jack Lewsey, Campbell Rogers and Felix Rogers have all been added to the squad to face Swan Districts this Saturday at Bassendean.
The only out for Claremont at this stage is key defender Declan Hardisty.
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PERTH v WEST PERTH – SATURDAY 2.10PM
Perth will be trying to beat West Perth at home for the first time in 19 years on Saturday and won't be short on motivation with the 150th game of captain Michael Sinclair and 100th of star defender Matt Taylor.
The Falcons have had a remarkable dominance against the Demons for a long time and that has been even more significant at Mineral Resources Park with Perth having not beaten West Perth at the Lathlain venue since 2004.
West Perth will rightfully enter this Saturday's clash as favourites too with the reigning premiers sitting in third position on the ladder with a 3-2 record and on the back of a 15-point win last Saturday against East Fremantle at the WACA Ground.
Perth, meanwhile, is coming off its first win of the season last week beating West Coast by 97 points as the Demons now look to build on that momentum.
There's added motivation for Perth too with captain Sinclair reaching his 150-game milestone to earn life membership and becoming the first Demons player to do so who has debuted this century. His long-time teammate Taylor will also be playing his 100th game.
While Perth did breakthrough for a rare win against West Perth back in Round 8, 2021, it has been a remarkable dominance that the Falcons have had over the Demons for a long time now.
Since the Demons won that game for the time beating the Falcons since 2011, West Perth has hit back to win the last three matches since by an average of 39 points.
Prior to that win in 2021, West Perth had won 19 in-a-row against Perth dating back to a last win from the Demons in Round 18, 2011.
So coming into Saturday's game and West Perth has won 22 of the past 23 matches with Perth and it's been even more of a dominance at Mineral Resources Park.
West Perth has beaten Perth on its last 11 visits against them at the Lathlain venue and has not lost to the Demons there in the past 18 attempts, with a draw thrown in there in 2008.
Remarkably, Perth has not beaten West Perth on its home ground since Round 9, 2004.
On that day 19 years ago, Matt Kennewell, Alan Wilson and Ben Matthews-Herald kicked two goals each for Perth with Daniel Maher, Chris Maguire, Scott Siekerka, Andrew Smith, Justin Sprigg, Damien Adkins, Chris Bossong, Andrew Glover, Richard Kelly, Sam Butler and Michael Johnson part of the team.
They beat a West Perth team that featured the likes of Glen Britten, Adam Campbell, Adam and Todd Curley, Simon Duckworth, Brendon Fewster, Clayton Lasscock, Brendon Logan, Josh Pearce, Kim Rigoll, Jason Salecic, Mark Seaby, Anthony Tsalikis and Phil Smith.
West Perth has been the best attacking team in the WAFL so far this season averaging 91.4 points a game while also ranked third defensively conceding 60.2 points.
Perth, meanwhile, is ranked ninth offensively with 63.0 points a game over the opening five rounds and eighth defensively at 81.0 points.
Both teams have been good ball winning teams so far this season with the Demons collecting 28 more possessions a game than their opposition and West Perth 41 more than theirs.
The Falcons are also the most accurate team in the competition at 60 per cent accuracy taking rushed behinds out of the equation with the Demons ranked seventh.
Perth is the sixth ranked team for first halves but then placed eighth in third quarters and ninth in fourth terms across the season while West Perth is the best third quarter term having outscored their opposition by 42 points.
The Falcons are then ranked second in first quarters, fifth in second terms and third in fourth stanzas.
Perth is fresh off its first win of the season last week in the 97-point thumping of West Coast and as a result, the Demons have made just the one change to take on West Perth back at Lathlain on Saturday.
Mitch Browne comes into the Perth line-up for his first game of the season while going out is the nuggety and helmeted Conor McPartland.
West Perth welcomes back inspirational co-captain Aaron Black after missing the past two games with a hamstring injury.
The 244-game dual premiership winning Sandover Medallist has only played in two losses in 24 games against Perth and has only ever lost once at Lathlain which just happened to be against West Coast in 2019.
Also coming into the squad for the Falcons to take on the Demons are Darcy Dixon, Ryan Hudson, Michael Mallard, Koopah Todd and Blake Wilhelm.
Going out for the Falcons are premiership winning pair Keegan Knott and Sam Rotham.
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EAST PERTH v SOUTH FREMANTLE – SATURDAY 2.10PM
Both East Perth and South Fremantle come into Saturday's clash at Leederville Oval attempting to snap two-game losing streaks heading into the State game break.
The Royals and Bulldogs will be determined to head into next week's break for the WAFL's State game clash in Adelaide with the SANFL avoiding a three-game losing streak heightening the stakes for the contest at Leederville Oval.
East Perth started the 2023 under new coach Ross McQueen on fire winning the first three matches to sit on top of the WAFL ladder.
However, the Royals have since lost to Peel Thunder and Claremont to slip outside the top five altogether coming into Saturday's match up with South Fremantle.
South Fremantle did open the season beating West Coast before a loss to Claremont but then victory at home to Peel Thunder which got the Bulldogs back to even pegging on the season after their loss of eight premiership points before the season began.
The Bulldogs are the only team to beat the Thunder this season, but they have suffered disappointing losses to Swan Districts and Subiaco since to remain on zero premiership points and needing a win over the Royals on Saturday at Leederville Oval.
South Fremantle has had the better of the recent rivalry with East Perth with the Bulldogs winning both clashes in 2022.
While East Perth did score a nail-biting win by five points in Round 10, 2021, South Fremantle has won 10 of the last 11 clashes having won nine straight prior to that breakthrough from the Royals.
However, the majority of recent match ups have been close with the last four all decided by 11 points or fewer while since a 68-point win by South Fremantle in 2018, every game between the Bulldogs and Royals has been won with a margin of 33 points or less.
Even at Leederville Oval and South Fremantle has beaten East Perth on five of the past six times even if the Bulldogs have generally struggled on the same ground against Subiaco including a loss last Saturday.
East Perth has been the fourth best scoring team in the WAFL so far this season at 88.8 points a game while placed seventh defensively conceding 78.4.
South Fremantle, meanwhile, has again found scoring a challenge this season with just 66.4 points a game to only be scoring more than Perth and West Coast. However, defensively the Bulldogs have again been strong conceding just 64.6 points per match.
East Perth is far and away the best starting team across the opening five rounds outscoring their opponents by 126 points, which is 79 more than their next rival.
Things haven’t been as good from there for the Royals with them ranked eighth in second quarters, ninth in the third and seven in the fourth where they have been outscored by 74 points after quarter-time.
In contrast, South Fremantle is just ranked seventh in opening quarters having been outscored by 21 points before then being ranked seventh in the second quarters, sixth in the third and fifth in the last.
East Perth is attempting to bounce back from its first two losses of the season and avoid a third consecutive defeat.
From the Royals side that lost narrowly to Claremont last Saturday, coming into the squad to face South Fremantle are Adam Boules, Jacob Msando, Sandon Page and Stan Wright.
There are no outs at this stage for the Royals from the side that couldn’t quite capitalise on kicking the first six goals of the game last week against Claremont.
South Fremantle is attempting to return to the winner's list as well this Saturday playing at Leederville Oval for a second consecutive week.
From the team that lost to Subiaco last Saturday, South Fremantle has added Riley Colborne, Seth Connor, Toby Dodds, Nathan Spooner to the squad to take on East Perth.
Wessels, in particular, has banged down the door for another league opportunity with another 27 possessions in the reserves last week against Subiaco.
However, regular league players Jarrad Doney and Jake Florenca will need to get at least one more reserves match under their belts before they get the chance to be called up into the league side.
Doney did have 25 possessions and nine tackles last week against the Lions, and Florenca 22 disposals and four tackles but it wasn’t quite enough to earn a spot in the league team to face East Perth.
The only out at this stage for the Bulldogs from the team that lost to Subiaco last week is versatile big man Jimmy Miller.
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PEEL THUNDER v WEST COAST EAGLES – SATURDAY 2.10PM
Peel Thunder has the chance to rocket to the top of the WAFL ladder if they are able to hand the West Coast Eagles a similar defeat to what they have suffered over the past four weeks.
Peel will be hosting West Coast at Mandurah's Lane Group Stadium on Saturday and the job appears ahead of the Eagles to put in a competitive showing against the Thunder.
Peel comes into the game in second position on the WAFL ladder with a 4-1 record including a strong 62-point victory against Swan Districts at home last Sunday.
The Thunder now has the chance to finish Round 6 on top of the ladder if they are able to beat the Eagles by 36 more points than what Claremont beats Swan Districts by, or indeed if the Tigers don't win at all.
Given West Coast has an average losing margin of 106 points so far this season including 123 points over the past four games, and Peel is every chance of managing just that.
Saturday's game will just be the seventh meeting the two teams have had in the WAFL with Peel having won the last four.
West Coast did win the first two clashes in 2019 with the Eagles on their way to a lone finals appearance while Peel has taken charge since.
The Thunder won both clashes over the Eagles in 2022 by an average of 64 points and you get the feeling West Coast would take that if offered for this contest given the way the season has panned out so far.
Peel has been the best team defensively in the WAFL across the opening five rounds of the season conceding just 57.6 points a game. That's bad news for an Eagles team who have only averaged scoring 46.0 a game themselves.
The Thunder are ranked fifth in attack having scored 81.6 points themselves while the Eagles are also last for giving up a monstrous 151.6 points a game with a horror losing margin average of 106 points.
West Coast has kicked 33 but conceded 115 goals so far this season while Peel has kicked 57 and only given up 40.
While the Thunder are averaging four disposals less than their opponents so far this season, the Eagles are averaging a monstrous 124.6 fewer touches than the teams they play against.
The two teams are the worst starting teams in the league with West Coast outscored by 151 points in first quarters and Peel by 34. However, after that things get better for the Thunder who are the best finishing team while ranked fourth in second quarters and fifth in the third.
The Eagles are the worst performing team in every quarter also being outscored by 157 points in second terms, 52 in the third and 168 in the fourth.
Peel was mighty impressive last Sunday in the 62-point win against Swan Districts and now remains at home in Mandurah to host the winless West Coast this Saturday afternoon.
There are plenty of changes to the Thunder team to take on the Eagles on Saturday with Guy Barnes, Travis Colyer, Max Knobel, Haydn Matthews, Liam Reidy, Michael Sellwood, James Sturrock and Corey Tregenza-Cashell all added to the squad.
Going out for Peel from the team that beat Swan Districts is suspended ruckman Riley Smith along with dual premiership winning veteran Blair Bell, and Fremantle Dockers pair Will Brodie and Josh Corbett.
West Coast has added AFL-listed big man Josh Edwards who will likely carry the ruck duties against Peel while Harry Creasey, Daniel Frost, Jarrod Garlett, John Levien, Tyler Mouritz and Jack Stevens have all been added to the squad.
Going out of the West Coast team that lost to Perth last week by 97 points are Harry Barnett, Callum Jamieson and Jack O'Sullivan.
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EAST FREMANTLE v SUBIACO – SATURDAY 4.10PM
East Fremantle and Subiaco will both be attempting to make a statement on Saturday at the WACA Ground to head into the WAFL's State game break on a winning note.
It looms as a tantalising match up between two teams currently sitting inside the top five with Subiaco looking to keep its recent momentum going and East Fremantle to bounce back from last week's defeat to West Perth.
The Sharks come into the match up in fifth position on the ladder with a 3-2 record after that loss to the Falcons but prior to that they had defeated Swan Districts, West Coast and Perth following a Round 1 loss in Mandurah to Peel Thunder.
Subiaco, meanwhile, had a slip up against East Perth in Round 2 but since then the Lions have beaten the grand finalists of last year West Perth and Claremont, and the grand finalists of the previous two seasons South Fremantle.
While Subiaco has dominated proceedings against East Fremantle for much of this century, the Sharks have started to turn the tide in recent times.
East Fremantle has now won the last three meetings against Subiaco including both in 2022 by an average of 34.5 points along with a 44-point win back in 2021 even though the Lions went on to win the premiership and the Sharks missed the finals.
While Subiaco had won nine straight against East Fremantle prior to this current three-game winning streak, the Sharks will take confidence heading into Saturday's clash after those past three victories.
Meanwhile at the WACA Ground, the teams have only ever played there four times in history with the first back on 1902 when East Fremantle won by 49 points.
The next was in 1915 with a Subiaco win by 25 points before the more recent clash until last year in 1990 when the Sharks prevailed by 32 points.
They played at the WACA Ground for the first time in 32 years in Round 6 last season with East Fremantle prevailing by 44 points.
Subiaco hasn’t won a game at all at the venue since being Swan Districts in the 1994 elimination final, but Saturday will only be the Lions' second game there since.
East Fremantle is the second highest scoring team so far this season with 91.0 points a game while they are placed sixth for conceding 66.8 points.
Subiaco, meanwhile, is played sixth for scoring 76.4 points and fourth for giving up 64.4 points a game.
Ball winning has been one of East Fremantle's great strengths so far this season where the Sharks have picked up 44 more disposals a game than their opponents. It's the opposite case for the Lions who have averaged 20 possessions less than their rivals.
Both teams have been accurate in front of goal too with the Lions the second most accurate team and the Sharks the third, despite two scores of 7.15 along the way.
The Sharks are the best second quarter team in the WAFL where they have outscored their opposition by 93 points. East Fremantle is then ranked fourth in first terms, seventh in the third and sixth in the fourth.
Subiaco is ranked third in both second and third quarters while being placed eighth in first quarters where they have been outscored by 32 points and then fourth in the last.
East Fremantle's midfield contingent looked unstoppable just two weeks ago but now all of a sudden coming out of last week's loss to West Perth and key on-ball pair Harry Marsh and Tom Joyce go out of the team through injury.
Coming into the Sharks squad to take on the Lions on Saturday for a third consecutive game at the WACA Ground are Austin Ball, Corey Homes, Lennon Marlin, Ben McGuire, Fraser Turner, Chris Walker and Matt Williamson.
The other player out for East Fremantle from the team that lost to the reigning premiers is Max Murphy.
Subiaco is fresh off wins against three finals teams from last year, Claremont, West Perth and South Fremantle ahead of trying to knock off another in an East Fremantle team who ended up second at the end of the 2022 home and away season.
The Lions have added experienced defender Aaron Heal, key forward Jack Mayo along with Jaimon Alone, Corey Hitchcock and Josh Robbins also added to the squad to face the Sharks.
The only out at this stage for Subiaco is teenage small forward Koltyn Tholstrup.