Round 2 WAFLW PreviewFriday, March 8, 2024 - 12:00 PM - by Chris Pike

ROUND 2 of the 2024 WAFLW season is split over this weekend with both Leederville co-tenants Subiaco and East Perth at home while the top two teams of 2023 lock horns while Swan Districts and Peel Thunder hunt for a first victory.

It shapes as a fascinating second round of the season on a number of fronts with South Fremantle playing host to Claremont on Saturday afternoon at Fremantle Community Bank Oval to open proceedings.

The other three matches all take place on Sunday with a double-header at Sullivan Logistics Stadium starting with Subiaco hosting East Fremantle before East Perth takes on West Perth. Swan Districts also plays host to Peel Thunder at Steel Blue Oval.

The round begins in the best possible way with the Bulldogs hosting the Tigers in a match up of the two teams that finished last year's home and away season in the top two positions.

As a result, they battled in the second semi-final with Claremont winning to advance straight to the Grand Final while South Fremantle earned a second chance to host the preliminary final. Both teams ended up losing to East Fremantle though.

The Bulldogs then started the new season with a derby against the Sharks last week suffering a narrow three-point loss while the Tigers made a winning start beating Swan Districts by 16 points at Revo Fitness Stadium.

Following last week's narrow loss to East Fremantle, South Fremantle receives a huge boost for this Saturday's match up with Claremont with the inclusion of Ariana Hetherington.

Having transitioned from basketball, she had a stunning 2023 season for the Bulldogs going on to win the team's fairest and best award, making the WAFLW Team of the Year and then ending up picked up by the Fremantle Dockers and playing in the AFLW competition.

She is now into the line-up to take on Claremont this Saturday with Alira Fotu and Hannah Young also added to the squad.

Claremont has added Amy Evans, Lauren Hutton, Jessica Low, Amalie Moe, Savannah Muir and Claudia Wright to its squad from the one that beat Swan Districts last Saturday.

Going out of the Tigers team that beat Swans are Emily Bonser and Matilda Husband.

Then on Sunday, the double-header at Sullivan Logistics Stadium begins with Subiaco playing East Fremantle.

Both teams are coming off Round 1 wins with the Lions beating East Perth by 95 points while the Sharks started their premiership defence defeating South Fremantle by three points with the last two goals.

From that Subiaco team that beat East Perth last week, Beth Schilling and Isabelle Starmer come into the line-up with Claudia Langley and Breanna Wills going out.

Coming into the squad for East Fremantle are Taya Chambers, Jasmine Johansen, Jayda Jones and Rennie Meadmore.

Then later at Leederville, East Perth hosts West Perth in a battle of the competition's two newest teams.

The Royals are still hunting their first win in the WAFLW competition and had a first up 95-point loss to Subiaco while the Falcons were greatly improved last season, and started well last Saturday beating Peel Thunder in Mandurah by 37 points.

East Perth has made plenty of changes with Abbey Barber, Hannah Challender, Layla Firns, Makayla Pugliese-Thompson, Jessica Rentsch and Sian Vinicombe all coming into the side.

Going out are Dana East, Bianca Glanville, Courtney Horsham, Courtney Lindgren, Alessia Schmiedgen and Ebony Thompson.

Coming into the West Perth squad are Kenleigh Duve, Tarni Golisano, Dakoda Hallam, Ebony Jackson, Megan Kauffman and Elissa Price.

Going out from the team that beat Peel are Grace Betti and Bianca Webb.

Swan Districts will also host Peel Thunder at Steel Blue Oval with both teams hunting a first win of 2024 after Swans lost to Claremont last Saturday and the Thunder went down at home to West Perth.

Meanwhile, Round 2 of the Rogers Cup begins on Friday night with South Fremantle playing Perth from 6pm at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

The other three matches take place on Sunday beginning with Subiaco against East Fremantle at Sullivan Logistics Stadium from 10.05am. The other game at Leederville between East Perth and West Perth begins at 4.20pm.

Also on Sunday morning starting at 10.05am will be Swan Districts up against Peel Thunder at Steel Blue Oval.

SOUTH FREMANTLE v CLAREMONT – SATURDAY 2.00PM, FREMANTLE COMMUNITY BANK OVAL

SUBIACO v EAST FREMANTLE – SUNDAY 12.10PM, SULLIVAN LOGISTICS STADIUM

SWAN DISTRICTS v PEEL THUNDER – SUNDAY 12.10PM, STEEL BLUE OVAL

EAST PERTH v WEST PERTH – SUNDAY 2.15PM, SULLIVAN LOGISTICS STADIUM