Round 11 WAFLW PreviewThursday, May 18, 2023 - 6:05 PM - by Chris Pike

THE WAFLW has the landscape free for them on Saturday afternoon this weekend and the Round 11 action is highlighted by the top two teams Claremont and South Fremantle doing battle at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

The race for top spot in the WAFLW goes on the line on Saturday afternoon with the Tigers and Bulldogs doing battle.

Claremont is still yet to lose this season but suddenly if that happens on Saturday, then South Fremantle will join them on eight wins and the race for the minor premiership will become a fascinating one over the rest of the season.

With the WAFL having a general bye with the State game on Friday afternoon against South Australia at Adelaide Oval, it's clear air for the WAFLW and all four Round 11 matches will be taking place on Saturday.

It all gets underway on Saturday at 11am with Subiaco at home to Swan Districts at Leederville Oval with the two teams fighting over third position on the WAFLW ladder.

Next up will East Perth up against East Fremantle at Leederville Oval at 1pm with the Royals still chasing their first WAFLW victory while the Sharks need a bounce back win to be a chance to break back into the top four.

Then at 2pm at Mandurah's Lane Group Stadium, it's Peel Thunder playing host to a West Perth team also needing a hit back victory to keep their fading finals hopes alive.

The round then wraps up with what could very well be the game of the season when Claremont takes on South Fremantle at 3pm at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

The Tigers come into the match up in top spot with eight wins and a draw while the Bulldogs are second at seven wins, a loss and a draw. A win for Claremont will all but lock in the minor premiership while South Fremantle winning would create a fascinating run home.

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Meanwhile, Round 11 of the Rogers Cup competition also takes place this weekend and it's highlighted by East Perth and East Fremantle locking horns over fourth position.

The Sharks sit in fourth position with a 6-3 record while the Royals are fifth on 5-4. East Perth has a vastly superior percentage to East Fremantle as well so the winner of the clash at Leederville Oval at 3pm will finish the round comfortably in the top four.

The round gets underway on Saturday at 9am with Subiaco playing Swan Districts at Leederville Oval. Also on Saturday at midday, Peel Thunder is at home to undefeated league-leading West Perth at Mandurah's Lane Group Stadium.

The round will wrap up on Sunday at Revo Fitness Stadium with the second placed Claremont at home to the winless Perth who is in its first season in the competition.

 

SUBIACO v SWAN DISTRICTS – SATURDAY 11.00AM

Third position in the WAFLW goes on the line on Saturday with Subiaco hosting Swan Districts at Leederville Oval.

Both teams come into the contest in winning form with Subiaco fresh off beating East Fremantle last week and Swan Districts made it five wins on the trot last week also defeating West Perth in emphatic fashion to set up a fascinating contest this Saturday.

Subiaco comes into the round sitting in third position with five wins, three losses and a draw this season. That has them ahead on the ladder because of that draw and some percentage of Swan Districts.

Swans are now in fourth position on the WAFLW ladder on the back of winning their past five matches to improve to a 5-4 record on the season.

The winner of Saturday's game will sit clear in third position by the end of Round 11. For Subiaco, that would give them a strong hold on remaining third heading towards the finals too while it would be a significant achievement for Swan Districts after losing those first four matches.

Both teams are fresh off Round 10 victories as well to be sitting third and fourth on the WAFLW ladder. Subiaco beat East Fremantle by 10 points last Saturday at the WACA Ground while Swans were dominant in beating West Perth by 50 points at Joondalup.

It was an emphatic performance from Swan Districts against an improved West Perth team with Courtney Zappara kicking six goals and Cassie McWilliam two while Ruby Mahony collected 28 possessions, Jaime Henry 23 and Kayley King 19.

Saturday's game is the second meeting between the two teams so far in the 2023 season with Subiaco beating Swan Districts by 47 points back in Round 2 at Steel Blue Oval.

On that occasion, Subiaco kicked eight goals to one for the game in the commanding win with Kelsey Patterson and Jess Ritchie kicking two goals each, and Tarni Golisano amassing 25 disposals, Joanne Cregg 21 and Tiah Toth 20 along with nine tackles.

In the same game, Tamzyn Beros kicked the lone goal for Swans with Jaime Henry picking up 19 touches, Jess Cox 15, Hope Ugle-Hayward 13 and Jasmine Ware 13.

Subiaco is looking to back up last week's win against East Fremantle with Lauren Bilaloski, Taylisha Brown, Lani Cordoba, Meg McAullay, Jess Pillera, Kate Pocsidio all added to the squad for the Lions to take on Swan Districts on Saturday.

Going out of the Subiaco team from the line-up that beat East Fremantle last week are Tiah Toth and Liana Burchell.

Swan Districts is looking to make it six consecutive wins when they take on Subiaco on Saturday with Kaitlyn Beaton, Tamzyn Beros, Brooke Edwards, Taylah Edwards and Daisy Rigby all added to the squad for the black-and-whites.

There's just one player going out of the Swan Districts team at this stage from the line-up that beat West Perth last week and it's captain Jess Cox.

 

EAST PERTH v EAST FREMANTLE – SATURDAY 1.00PM

East Fremantle has had a rough last month and needs a confidence boosting win against the winless East Perth at Leederville Oval on Saturday.

The Sharks have now slipped outside of the top four in the WAFLW on the back of losses to South Fremantle, Swan Districts and Subiaco to go with a draw against Claremont.

That has seen East Fremantle from sitting pretty in second position to now being down in fifth with four wins, four losses and a draw on the season and needing a win on Saturday against the Royals to return to the top four.

With Subiaco and Swan Districts ahead of East Fremantle and playing one another on Saturday, the Sharks should replace the loser of that match up and go back into the top four should they beat the Royals.

For East Perth, they are just trying to find a way to be competitive in their first season in the WAFLW competition and so far have lost their nine matches with an average margin of 65.1 points.

This will be the second time that East Perth and East Fremantle have played one another in the WAFLW competition. The Sharks won that first encounter in Round 4 of this season 9.13 (67) to 0.1 (1) at Leederville Oval.

On that Sunday afternoon, Chloe Reilly and Anjelique Raison kicked two goals each for East Fremantle with Beth Beckett racking up 27 disposals, Ashleigh Gomes 26, Amber Kinnane 20, Sharon Wong 20 and Emmelie Fiedler 13 to go with 24 hit outs and five tackles in the ruck.

East Perth didn’t manage a goal in that game but captain Jess Valvasori did have 13 possessions, Julia Uhe 12, Chloe Sauzier 11 and Leah Keating 11.

East Perth has once again made five changes for its team this week while still chasing that elusive first win in the WAFLW competition.

Bramley Haran, Taylah Horsham, Jaymii Karapetkov, Anna Shae Michael and Chloe Sauzier are the players coming into the squad for the Royals.

Going out of the East Perth team from the one that lost to South Fremantle last week are Kasey Bindon, Gabrielle Canicosa, Bianca Glanville, Melisha Hardy and Leah Keating.

East Fremantle has plenty of players added to its squad to take on East Perth on Saturday with Taya Chambers, Grace Freeman, Tayah Palmer, Ridma Ratnakele, Elsie Simpson and Chloe Williams all into the line-up for the Sharks.

At this stage, there are two players named to come out of the East Fremantle team that lost to Subiaco last week and they are Kim Boulton and Roxy Roux.

 

PEEL THUNDER v WEST PERTH – SATURDAY 2.00PM

If Peel Thunder or West Perth want to remain an outside chance of breaking into the finals still this WAFLW season then they need a win desperately at Lane Group Stadium on Saturday.

The Thunder and Falcons take on one another in Mandurah in Round 11 of the WAFLW and both are only just clinging to any semblance of remaining in finals contention.

Peel currently sits in second last position with a 2-7 record having now lost its last six matches while West Perth is in sixth spot at 3-6.

Neither team has a good percentage either so it's going to be tough no matter what to stay in the finals race but at least a win on Saturday will be a step in the right direction.

Both teams are also looking to bounce back from heavy losses last week to in-form teams with Peel having lost to Claremont by 56 points and West Perth going down to Swan Districts by 50 points.

West Perth created a slice of history earlier this season when beating Peel in the WAFLW competition for the first time with the 37-point victory at Joondalup's Pentanet Stadium.

In that game, Natasha Spurr and Karry Plummer kicked two goals apiece for the Falcons while Katherine Bennett racked up 26 possessions, Grace Betti 22, Megan Norbury 21, Emily Bennett 20, Taylor Ferguson 18 and Jeevna Heer 18.

Peel's goals were kicked by Ebonee Hardie and Kira Phillips while Kaitlin Srhoj had 18 possessions, Ebony Dowson 18, Ebony Bilcich 18 and Krystal Carter 17.

Peel's attempt to return to the winner's list against West Perth on Saturday will be helped with the inclusions of Kayla Bradshaw, Ava Cristodero, Tessa Kongras, Ashlee Norwood, Charlize Thompson and Aisha Wright.

Going out from the Thunder team that lost to Claremont last week are Ebony Bilcich and Ebonee Hardie.

West Perth will be looking to bounce back for a win to keep its slim finals hopes alive with Tia Bergin, Cameron Dawson, Harriet Jones, Louise McBride and Nadia Parora all added to the squad for the Falcons.

Going out of the West Perth team that lost to Swan Districts last week are Laura Butler, Georgia Cowman, Liza Kneebone, Keeley Oakes and Karry Plummer.

 

SOUTH FREMANTLE v CLAREMONT – SATURDAY 3.00PM

The game of the WAFLW season to date looms on Saturday afternoon at Fremantle Community Bank Oval with South Fremantle playing host to Claremont.

The two teams currently occupy the top two positions in the WAFLW and the fate of this season could very well be determined by what happens on Saturday afternoon.

A win for South Fremantle and suddenly the race to claim the minor premiership for the rest of this home and away season will be fascinating. 

A victory for Claremont, on the other hand, and it will just about guarantee them top spot and the minor premiership on the back of winning last year's premiership in stunning fashion.

The Tigers currently sit in top spot yet to lose a game this season and did bounce back from a draw with East Fremantle two weeks ago with a 56-point win over Peel last week.

That improved Claremont to a record of eight wins and a draw from the nine matches this season.

The Bulldogs have now won four consecutive matches since their lone loss of the season to Claremont to now hold a record of seven wins, a loss and a draw to be hot on the heels of the Tigers coming into this Round 11 match up.

This will be the ninth time that the two teams have met in the WAFLW competition since South Fremantle joined in 2020 and it looms as the most fascinating of those nine meetings with the two teams occupying the top two spots on the ladder.

It's the second time they have clashed in 2023 and the Round 6 meeting at Revo Fitness Stadium was the tightest contest the teams have played with one another across the eight meetings.

Claremont still beat South Fremantle for an eighth straight time but it was just by a 16-point margin. 

On that day, Adele Arnup and Ella Slocombe both kicked two goals each for Claremont in the win while Matilda Sergeant amassed 17 touches, Madeleine Scanlon 17, Rachel Ortlepp 15, Sarah Viney 15, Claire Ortlepp 15 and Jasmin Stewart 14 to go with eight tackles.

South Fremantle's goals were kicked by Noa McNaughton, Ariana Hetherington, Charli Wicksteed, Tahleah Mulder and Ella Ward with Mulder also gathering 20 disposals, Kloe Bassett 18, Lauren Vecchio 17 and Hetherington 15 to go with 17 hit outs in the ruck.

Going back over the eight games the two teams have played against one another and Claremont has won each of them at an average of 47.4 points.

Prior to the clash earlier this season, South Fremantle had never kicked more than three goals in a game against Claremont and had one goalless performance, and four others with just the one goal to their credit.

The Tigers had dominated the Bulldogs including kicking 13 goals against them once, 11 on another occasion, nine on another two times and then eight in three games too.

Highlighting the dominance Claremont has so far had over South Fremantle is that the Tigers have scored 72.62 in the previous eight clashes and the Bulldogs just the 14.31.

However, earlier this season South Fremantle showed it had closed the gap significantly on Claremont and now all signs are pointing to a tantalising match up on Saturday afternoon at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

Coming off the win against East Perth last Saturday, South Fremantle has added Jasmine Bazeley, Zoe Huggett, Heidi Hughes and Noa McNaughton to the squad to take on Claremont this Saturday afternoon.

Claremont has added Charlotte Adams, Matilda Husband, Andie Payne, Rebecca Tuckey and Georgia Webb to its squad from the team that beat Peel Thunder last week.

Going out of that side for the Tigers at this stage is Sarah Garstone.