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Round 8 WAFL PreviewFriday, June 2, 2023 - 9:04 AM - by Chris Pike
WHAT a round to celebrate the WA Day long weekend awaits in the WAFL with games spread across Saturday, Sunday and then Monday topped off with the two traditional derby match ups.
The biggest home and away round of any WAFL season is now upon us and while it's topped off with the Perth and Fremantle Derbies on Monday afternoon to celebrate WA Day, there are three tantalising match ups across the weekend as well.
Round 8 in the WAFL gets underway with the lone match on Saturday afternoon with Perth trying to back up its win against South Fremantle by playing host to the third placed Claremont. The game gets underway at 2.10pm at Lathlain's Mineral Resources Park.
There are then two matches on Sunday afternoon beginning with Swan Districts playing host to the West Coast Eagles at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval in the battle of the teams currently occupying the bottom two positions on the WAFL ladder.
Next up will be two teams inside the top five locking horns when the league-leading Peel Thunder puts a four-game winning streak on the line up against Subiaco at Mandurah's Lane Group Stadium.
That all leads into the two traditional derbies on WA Day beginning at the WACA Ground with East Fremantle attempting to snap a 14-game losing streak against South Fremantle.
While the Sharks sit second and the Bulldogs only have four premiership points to their name coming into Round 8, it's South Fremantle who has won 14 consecutive derbies now with East Fremantle not having beaten them since WA Day in 2016.
The Foundation Fremantle Derby on WA Day this year begins at the WACA Ground at 1.40pm.
The round then wraps up with a Perth Derby at Leederville Oval from 2.10pm with a spot in the top four going on the line when East Perth plays host to West Perth. The Royals are hunting a first derby win over the Falcons since WA Day in 2019.
WAFL TEAM OF THE WEEK – ROUND 7
The Round 8 Reserves action also begins on Saturday with Perth taking on Claremont at Mineral Resources Park from 11.40am. Then on Sunday at the same time, Peel Thunder plays Subiaco in Mandurah.
The other two matches are on Monday with East Fremantle playing South Fremantle from 11.10am and East Perth takes on West Perth at Leederville Oval from 11.40am.
Then in Round 8 of the Colts, Perth plays Claremont on Saturday morning from 9.10am. Then at the same time on Sunday in Mandurah, Peel Thunder takes on Subiaco.
The two derby match ups on WA Day see East Fremantle and South Fremantle battle at the WACA Ground from 8.40am. Then at 9.10am, East Perth and West Perth take on one another at 9.10am.
PERTH v CLAREMONT – SATURDAY 2.10PM
The WA Day Round in the WAFL begins on Saturday afternoon with Perth playing host to Claremont at Lathlain's Mineral Resources Park.
The Demons are at home to the Tigers with Perth coming off a thrilling win against South Fremantle last Saturday while Claremont is looking to hit back from a loss in Broome to East Fremantle.
Perth comes into the clash in seventh position just clinging to remaining in top five contention on the back of last week's win against the Bulldogs thanks to the last goal of the day to 101-game veteran Matthew Taylor.
Claremont remains in third place with a 5-2 record despite last week's 18-point defeat to East Fremantle in Broome.
Both teams are in similar positions too this week having lost a key forward to the AFL with Perth's Jaiden Hunter and Claremont's Jack Buller picked up by Essendon and the Sydney Swans respectively in Wednesday's mid-season draft.
Claremont comes into Saturday's clash having won the last four match ups with Perth including winning both clashes in 2022 by a combined 115 points, including a last up 81-point thumping in Round 17 at Lathlain.
Perth's last win against Claremont came back in the COVID shortened season of 2020 when the Demons did break their finals drought, but the Tigers made the grand final in that same season.
The Tigers have also enjoyed visiting Lathlain in recent times having won their last two visits against Perth, five of the last six, and 20 of the past 23 going back over the past 20 years.
Despite last week's win over South Fremantle, Perth is only ranked ahead of West Coast this season both for scoring at 65.3 points a game and defensively where they give up 84.6.
Claremont, meanwhile, is ranked fifth in attack scoring 83.4 points a game while the Tigers are third defensively conceding 63.4.
Perth remains the biggest ball winning team in the competition averaging 362 possessions a game while Claremont is ranked sixth with 339. Over the opening seven matches of the season, the Demons average 13 more touches than their opposition but the Tigers have been collecting 32 more than theirs.
Perth is the seventh ranked team in first quarters across the season so far while the Demons are ranked eighth in the second terms, eighth in the third and eighth in the fourth.
The Tigers are the second best fourth quarter team having outscored their opponents by an average of 14 points while they are placed third in second quarters, and sixth in both the first and third terms.
Perth is coming off last week's thrilling win against South Fremantle with Brodie Gray, Harry Quartermaine and Ned Shannon coming into the line-up to take on Claremont this Saturday.
The Demons suffered a big blow this week when Essendon drafted Jaiden Hunter fresh off his five-goal haul last Saturday against South Fremantle. So he goes out of the team naturally this week as does Mitch Browne and Regan Hill to face the Tigers.
Claremont is attempting to bounce back from last Saturday's loss in Broome to East Fremantle to consolidate its top five position with four changes coming from the Tigers.
Sam Alvarez is fresh off a dominant performance in the reserves last week so earns a call up with 88-game forward Alex Manuel also set for his first appearance of 2023 with Ben Elliott back into the team and George Graham to make his WAFL debut.
Claremont also lost emerging key forward Jack Buller to the AFL in the mid-season draft during the week when he was selected by the Sydney Swans so that virtually cancels out this week with the Demons losing Hunter.
Also going out of the Tigers team to take on the Demons this Saturday at Lathlain are Jason Carter, Louis Passera and Ben Clarke.
FOLLOW AND WATCH THE GAME LIVE HERE THANKS TO AFL.COM.AU
SWAN DISTRICTS v WEST COAST EAGLES – SUNDAY 1.40PM
The bottom two teams in the WAFL coming into Round 8 do battle at Steel Blue Oval on Sunday afternoon with Swan Districts playing host to the West Coast Eagles.
While Swan Districts and West Coast meet on Sunday as the current bottom two teams in the WAFL, the competitiveness of the two teams so far in 2023 couldn’t have been more contrasting.
Swans come into the Sunday match up with a 1-6 record, but heartbreakingly for the Swans five of those six defeats have been by seven points or fewer.
It's quite conceivable that the defeats for Swans to East Perth (one point), East Fremantle (four), West Perth (seven), Claremont (two) and Subiaco (four) could have gone the other way and the season would be looking considerably different right now.
Meanwhile for West Coast, the Eagles have lost all seven of their matches this season at an average of 98.7 points with three 100-plus point losses and the narrowest margin being the 42 points that they lost by against South Fremantle back in Round 1.
Sunday's game will be the seventh time that the two teams have met in the WAFL dating back to 2019, and Swan Districts has won all six of the meetings by an average of 27.3 points.
That included an 85-point thumping that Swans handed the Eagles in Round 17 last year at Steel Blue Oval. On that day, Swans held the Eagles to just one goal the entire afternoon and could have won by more had it not been for the kicking of 13.18 for the game.
Darcy Jones, Ryan Kemp, Chris Jones and Josh Cipro all kicked two goals each for Swan Districts while Jesse Turner racked up 40 possessions, Aidan Clarke 31, Jarvis Pina 29, Tobe Watson 27, Jehb O'Donohue 25, Sam Fisher 25, Josh Cipro 23 and Mitch Bain 21.
All six of those matches the two teams have played have all been at Steel Blue Oval as well since West Coast joined the WAFL competition as a standalone club in 2019.
Swan Districts comes into Sunday's match up after yet another devastating loss to Subiaco last Saturday at Leederville Oval, not because of the performance but how the result could so easily have again gone the other way.
Swans got off to a flying start to lead by 20 points early last week with the game's first three goals against Subiaco. And despite giving up the lead with three goals to one in the last quarter, still had a chance at the death to snatch it.
However, it was another loss for Swan Districts to deal with to leave them now with a 1-6 record coming into Sunday's match up with the bottom placed Eagles who are on their own 15-game losing streak dating back to last year.
As the bottom two teams in the competition, it's no surprise to see both struggling in a number of categories with Swan Districts both ranked eighth for scoring with 68.0 points a game and defensively with them conceding 76.9.
The Eagles are last in both categories scoring 49.7 points a game and then giving up 148.4.
The two teams are also the lowest ball winning sides in the competition with Swans averaging just 295 possessions a game and West Coast 283. That has Swan Districts averaging 29 less disposals a game than their opponents and the Eagles 122 fewer than theirs.
Swan Districts is the third best first quarter team in the competition having outscored their opponents by an average of two goals, including last week's fast start against Subiaco.
Swans are also the fifth best performing third quarter team, but in second and fourth quarters, they are ranked second last in both only ahead of the Eagles.
West Coast is ranked last across all four quarters averaging being outscored by 22 points in first terms, 33 in the second, 15 in the third and 29 in the fourth.
Not only did Swan Districts suffer another heartbreaking narrow loss last week to Subiaco, but also captain Brandon Erceg went down injured early in the game.
He bravely tried to keep the Swans rotations going by playing forward, but he now goes out of the team this week for the clash with West Coast joining Sam Fisher, Will Collins, Chris Jones and Seb Bright on the sidelines.
Also going out from last week's team for Swan Districts are Brayden Spackman and Nathan Ireland.
Coming into the squad for the black-and-whites to face West Coast this Sunday are Mitch Bain, Ayden Cartwright, Max Chipper, Cian Ehlers, Matthew Germs, Ben Hewett and Lawson Humphries.
There are plenty of changes at West Coast once more coming off last Sunday's defeated to East Perth.
Coming into the squad for Sunday's clash with Swan Districts are Josh Burke, Tyler Collins, Jack Downsborough, Josh Edwards, Daniel Frost, John Levien, Shannon Lucassen, Ryan Maric, Jack O'Sullivan and Ethan Sambo.
Going out of the Eagles line-up from the side that took on the Royals last Sunday are Jordyn Baker, Coby Burgiel, Campbell Chesser, Elijah Hewett, Callum Jamieson and Zane Trew.
FOLLOW AND WATCH THE GAME LIVE HERE THANKS TO AFL.COM.AU
PEEL THUNDER v SUBIACO – SUNDAY 2.10PM
Peel plays host to Subiaco at Lane Group Stadium on Sunday with the Thunder looking to maintain their hold on top position while the Lions can further consolidate their finals position.
The Thunder comes into Sunday's match up a game and percentage clear on top of the WAFL ladder having won six of the seven matches for the season including coming from 39 points behind to beat West Perth by nine points last Saturday at Joondalup.
Peel has the chance to maintain that gap on the rest of the competition with another win on Sunday but Subiaco comes into the contest with a chance to break into the top two as well.
The Lions currently sit in fourth place with a 5-2 record on the back of beating Swan Districts in a thriller by four points last week, but they are just percentage outside of second position coming into Round 8.
The two teams have a fascinating history with one another and after Peel beat Subiaco in the 2016 and 2017 grand finals to secure the back-to-back premierships, the Lions had dominated the rivalry up until last year.
Subiaco won seven straight against Peel following the 2017 grand final but Peel was able to turn things around last year winning both encounters by a combined 32 points with the Thunder on their way to a finals return and the Lions missing out on the top five.
Even in Mandurah the Lions have enjoyed life against the Thunder in general dating back to 1997. Subiaco has won 27 of the 32 games at Lane Group Stadium against Peel including 10 in-a-row before Peel snapped that run in Round 13 last year.
While sitting a game and percentage on clear of the WAFL ladder after seven rounds, Peel is also far and away the best defensive team in the competition conceding just 58.3 points a game. The Thunder are also third in attack scoring 89.4 points.
Despite sitting in fourth position and being only percentage out of second, Subiaco is ranked sixth both in attack and defence, scoring just 70.7 points a game so far and conceding 66.1.
Peel is also the second best ball winning team in the competition and is averaging 27 more disposals than their opponents while Subiaco is ranked eighth picking up 14 less possessions than the teams they play against.
The Thunder are actually the second worst starting team in the WAFL only ranked ahead of West Coast having been outscored by 72 points so far this season in opening quarters.
However, from there and Peel is the best team over the last three quarters outscoring their opponents by an average of 13 points in second terms, eight in the third and 20 in the fourth.
Subiaco's best quarter has been the third so far this season with the Lions ranked second only behind Peel while they come in eighth in opening quarters, fourth in the second and fourth in the last.
Peel maintained its one-game hold over top spot in the WAFL with last week's win against West Perth and now for this week's clash in Mandurah against Subiaco, Haydn Matthews, Sam Sturt, Corey Tregenza-Cashell and Karl Worner come into the squad.
At this stage there are no outs from the Thunder line-up that was so impressive coming back from 39 points down to beat the Falcons last week at Joondalup.
Subiaco is also fresh off a win against Swan Districts last week but the Lions do need to keep winning maintain that hold on a position inside the top five.
The Lions have made just the one change for the clash with Peel in Mandurah on Sunday with Michael Braut straight back into the team after missing last week with suspension. Young small forward Koltyn Tholstrup is the player to make room for him.
WATCH LIVE ON CHANNEL 7 FROM 2PM AND FOLLOW HERE
EAST FREMANTLE v SOUTH FREMANTLE – MONDAY 1.40PM
The biggest winning streak in Fremantle Derby history goes on the line on WA Day with East Fremantle playing host to South Fremantle at the WACA Ground.
It will be the first time ever that the traditional Foundation Derby on WA Day will be held at the WACA Ground as well with South Fremantle coming into the contest having won the last 14 clashes with East Fremantle.
Despite that, it's East Fremantle coming into the Monday match up in second position on the WAFL ladder with a 5-2 record on the back of last Saturday's impressive 18-point win against Claremont in Broome.
South Fremantle, meanwhile, might have a 3-4 record but has only recorded four premiership points this season to be losing touch with the top five coming into the WA Day Derby on the back of last Saturday's loss at home to Perth thanks to the last goal of the day going to the Demons.
This current winning streak South Fremantle is on in derbies is the second significant run this century, and the 14 games the Bulldogs have now won in-a-row over the Sharks has surpassed the 13 in-a-row from 2002-06.
It's the biggest winning streak in derbies of all-time already and not only has South Fremantle won the last 14 clashes with East Fremantle, but since a WA Day win in 2002 for the Sharks, the Bulldogs have won 42 of the previous 56 derbies in a significant dominance over the past 20 years.
This current 14-game winning streak for South Fremantle over East Fremantle began with a five-goal win in Round 19, 2016.
Since then, the Bulldogs have won the next 13 derby battles by an average of 62.2 points. Those wins have ranged everywhere from a 2017 demolition by 145 points to last year's two-point win on WA Day at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.
East Fremantle's last win against South Fremantle was on WA Day 2016 at Fremantle Community Bank Oval when the Sharks won by 39 points.
From that game, only East Fremantle captain Matthew Jupp will also be out there this Monday while the only surviving South Fremantle players will be captain Dylan Main, 163-game veteran Zac Strom and premiership midfielder Jacob Dragovich.
Meanwhile at the WACA Ground, this will be the first ever WA Day Derby held at the venue and only the second time the two teams have met there other than a grand final.
They did play the 1916 and 1917 grand finals at the WACA which were both won by South Fremantle before playing there in Round 14 last year with the Bulldogs also winning by 33 points.
So not only has South Fremantle won 14 straight matches against East Fremantle, but the Bulldogs have also never lost to the Sharks at the WACA Ground coming into Monday's contest.
After the opening seven rounds of the season and with East Fremantle sitting in second position on the ladder, the Sharks are placed fourth for scoring with 89.0 points a game while they are fifth giving up 64.6 points.
South Fremantle again has been good defensively this season placed fourth for giving up 64.1 points a game, but scoring has been a struggle once more for the Bulldogs with them ranked seventh with 69.0 points.
East Fremantle is the best ranked team in the WAFL in terms of possession differential with the Sharks averaging 36 disposals a game more than their opponents so far in 2023. South Fremantle comes in sixth with 16 more touches than the teams they play against.
East Fremantle's best quarter across the season to date has been second terms where the Sharks have outscored their opponents by an average of 13 points. They are then ranked fourth in opening quarters, fourth in the third and sixth in the last.
South Fremantle's best quarter has been the third with the Bulldogs outscoring their opponents by 19 points across the opening seven rounds. They are then ranked fifth for first quarters, sixth in the second and fifth in the fourth.
WATCH LIVE ON CHANNEL 7 FROM 1.30PM AND FOLLOW HERE
EAST PERTH v WEST PERTH – MONDAY 2.10PM
A spot in the top five goes on the line when East Perth hosts West Perth in the WA Day Perth Derby at Leederville Oval on Monday.
While West Perth has won six straight derbies now against East Perth, this Monday's clash looms as the most fascinating between the arch rivals in several years.
The Falcons as the reigning premiers currently hold onto fifth position with a 4-3 record after giving up a 39-point lead last Saturday at home to Peel Thunder before losing by nine points.
Meanwhile, the Royals also hold a 4-3 record having won their first three matches of 2023, then losing the next three and rebounding last Sunday to beat the West Coast Eagles by 74 points.
That sets the scene for a tantalising battle on Monday with the winner to sit inside the top five by the end of Round 8 and the loser to be looking on from the outside.
West Perth has enjoyed an impressive derby dominance over East Perth in recent years. The Falcons have now won the last six derby match ups with the Royals by an average of 32.5 points.
That included a 70-point win in the last meeting in Round 18 last year which took place on neutral turf at East Fremantle Oval with West Perth going on to win the premiership in 2022 and East Perth missing the finals for a fourth consecutive season.
The last time East Perth won a derby over West Perth was on WA Day back in 2019 which saw the Royal prevail by 10 points at Leederville Oval.
East Perth, though, has generally enjoyed hosting derbies at Leederville Oval in recent times. Despite the Falcons having won two of the last three derbies at the venue, going back further and the Royals have won eight of the previous 10.
The WA Day Derby this Monday will also be the first time that West Perth has returned to play at Leederville Oval since winning last year's premiership at the venue with the grand final win against Claremont.
Coming into the WA Day Derby for 2023 and West Perth has been the best attacking team in the WAFL as reigning premiers this season averaging 91.3 points a game. The Falcons also come in second defensively conceding just 63.3 points.
East Perth, meanwhile, is the second best scoring team in the competition with 90.4 points a game while the Royals are seventh having given up 76.6 points.
East Perth has been the best starting team in the WAFL so far this season having outscored their opponents by an average of 21 points. Things haven’t been as good from there with the Royals ranked seventh in second quarters, ninth in the third and seventh in the last.
West Perth, meanwhile, is the second best first quarter team having outscored their opponents by an average of 13 points while the Falcons come in fifth in the second quarters, seventh in the third and third in the fourth.