WAFL Round 19 PreviewFriday, July 26, 2013 - 3:32 PM - by Chris Pike

WAFL Round 19 consists of the final two derbies of 2013 with plenty riding on the results while in the other two games Swan Districts and Claremont are looking to return to the winner's list against out of contention sides.

West Perth takes on East Perth at Arena Joondalup, South Fremantle hosts East Fremantle at Fremantle Oval, Swan Districts battles Peel Thunder at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval and Subiaco faces Claremont at Leederville's Medibank Stadium.

All four matches are on Saturday afternoon with a bounce down time of 2.05pm.

WEST PERTH (10-5, 2nd) v EAST PERTH (9-5, 4th) – ARENA JOONDALUP, SATURDAY 2.05PM
Selected teams

Perth derbies do not need any reason to have any added spite to them but this Saturday's clash at Arena Joondalup certainly does with the result to have big repercussions on final positions in the top-four come the end of the season.

Perth derbies between the Falcons and Royals have become the fiercest, most physical and most intense clashes in any WAFL season and now this week's battle will see both teams throwing everything into getting the victory.

West Perth has been looking safe in second position on the ladder for some time now, but a surprise loss to South Fremantle last Saturday at Arena Joondalup has left the Falcons a little vulnerable.

That defeat snapped a four-game winning run for West Perth and sees the Falcons fall to a 10-5 record to be just one win and percentage ahead of the third-placed Perth and fourth-placed East Perth.

The Royals had a shaky start to the season in the first year under new coach Brian Dawson but things have now come together tremendously with six straight victories to improve to a 9-5 record on the season and while their percentage isn’t great, they have a game in hand on the rest of the competition.

The winner of Saturday's derby could very well end up finishing the season in second position as a result setting up a double chance come finals time.

There have already been two Perth derbies this season with West Perth thumping East Perth in Round 1 at Arena Joondalup by 75 points but the Royals hit back in the Foundation (WA) Day clash at Leederville's Medibank Stadium running over the top of the Falcons to win by 19 points.

For the first occasion in some time, West Perth pulled up with a clean bill of health injury-wise from last week's loss to South Fremantle with captain Jason Salecic getting through his first full league game of the season.

Ray Bartholomew returned in the reserves from a calf injury and had 13 possessions to be in contention to come into the league side this Saturday against the Royals.

Back-up ruckman Frank Stockley has been doing all he can in the reserves to keep himself in the mix for a league spot this season and is again in contention this week to take on Paul Johnson and East Perth's big men department.

Small running defender Kris Shannon is also in the mix to come in for the Falcons for what would be his first league appearance of the season, and first since playing in West Perth's two Foxtel Cup matches last year.

East Perth's big men is perhaps its greatest strength with Johnson, Josh Smith and Scott Lycett but one third of that will be missing on Saturday with Lycett called up by the Eagles to replace the sore Nic Naitanui.

However, Brock Higgins has been developing nicely as a key forward option and back-up ruckman and is the likely replacement for Lycett while Adam Selwood should also be back with the Royals after again being dropped by the Eagles.

Another Eagle Blayne Wilson is out of the East Perth line-up as is small forward Arthur Bennell but there are some more than handy players still trying to break into the side at the right time of the year including Danny Chartres, Rowan Brookes, Jordan Wityk and Shaquille McKenzie.

SOUTH FREMANTLE (3-12, 8th) v EAST FREMANTLE (7-8, 6th) – FREMANTLE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.05PM
Selected teams

The final Fremantle derby of the season is set to be another cracking contest this Saturday at Fremantle Oval with the Bulldogs looking to continue their best form of the season and the Sharks needing to win in order to stay alive in the finals race.

South Fremantle and East Fremantle have already met in two Fremantle derbies this season with the Sharks winning at Fremantle Oval in the ANZAC Day clash by 29 points before the Bulldogs turned that around in the Foundation Derby with a thumping 67-point victory.

This third clash of the season is again for the Uittenbroek-Ciccotosto Cup with the now annual contest taking place for the first time last season when South Fremantle scored an upset win over the eventual grand finalist East Fremantle.

South Fremantle might again be out of finals contention in 2013 but got off the bottom of the ladder last week with a terrific 39-point win over West Perth at Arena Joondalup.

Prior to that, the Bulldogs had played well in narrow losses to top-four teams Claremont and Perth as well and now return to Fremantle Oval this Saturday looking to maintain their best run of form so far in 2013.

East Fremantle, on the other hand, remains a chance to still play finals football in 2013 coming off making last year's grand final but the Sharks will have to win all of their remaining games to get there.

The Sharks have bounced back from a run of losing six of seven games to have now won their last two against Subiaco to improve to a 7-8 record on the season but they remain two games out of the four and won't be able to have a slip up in the run home.

South Fremantle's only out at this stage is West Coast's Ashton Hams after being picked by the Eagles to take on the Western Bulldogs.

Hams was outstanding in the midfield last week in the win over West Perth with 35 possessions and also had 34 disposals and three goals back in the Foundation Derby win over the Sharks.

Reece Adams, Warrick Andreoli, Tyler Hall and Alex Grima are the South Fremantle players who have been showing form in the reserves that are putting their names up for a recall into the league side this week to take on the Sharks.

East Fremantle loses West Coast's Daniel Kerr to continued soreness in his knee following last week's convincing win over Subiaco with Jayden Schofield also out of the Sharks line-up to face the Bulldogs.

Another Eagle Brad Sheppard is set to return from injury for East Fremantle as are important defenders Steven Dodd and Brad Cooper.

Former Perth player Michael Edwards is a chance to make his East Fremantle debut after some good form in the reserves with Kurt Tropiano a possibility to come in and provide the Sharks some more height around the ground or up forward.

SWAN DISTRICTS (8-7, 5th) v PEEL THUNDER (3-12, 9th) – STEEL BLUE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.05PM
Selected teams

Peel Thunder might have beaten Swan Districts the last time the two teams met, but the black-and-whites will be desperate to not let that happen again as they try to stay in touch for a finals berth.

Peel put in a terrific effort back in Round 6 to beat Swan Districts at Mandurah's Bendigo Bank Stadium but the Thunder have dropped away since then and Swans are now playing much better football.

The Thunder have now lost six straight matches after an impressive run between Rounds 6 and 10 where they won three matches and suffered two narrow losses to Claremont and South Fremantle.

However, things have fallen away for Peel since then with a dramatic loss of players to injury, unavailability due to the AFL and not seeing eye to eye with the club.

That saw Peel slip to the bottom of the ladder after last week's 74-point loss at home to Perth and now it's going to be a big ask for the Thunder to avoid another wooden spoon.

However, Swan Districts is well and truly still in the finals mix despite last Saturday's 12-point loss to East Perth that saw the black-and-whites slip down to fifth position.

Swans play Peel this week, have a bye and then play the Thunder again so if they can do as expected and win both those games then they are well and truly still in line to play finals in 2013 coming off a preliminary final appearance in 2012.

Swan Districts loses two key players from its back-line with Justin Simpson out with a torn calf he suffered early in last week's loss to East Perth. Jarrad Blight continues to be unable to string games together and goes out of the side.

However, Peel is lacking any genuine key forward targets aside from Brad Holmes so the absence of some key defenders for Swan Districts might not be felt too heavily.

Travis Casserly is pressing for selection with Swan Districts to make his return. He has come back this season from a two-year suspension and came in for two league games early on before suffering a fractured leg.

However, he has now been back to play four games in the reserves and now could be the ideal replacement for one of Simpson or Blight in the defence.

Nathan Blakely, Nathan Broad, Blaine Boekhorst and Connor Blakely are the other players pressing to be called up into the Swan Districts league side.

Peel Thunder has some handy inclusions, though, from the team that lost to Perth at home last Saturday.

Key ball winner and good goal kicker Kristin Thornton is back after missing the last four games through injury.

Fremantle hard running pair Hayden Crozier and Jesse Crichton also return along with former Brisbane Lions key position player James Hawksley and the experienced Matt Brown after missing a week with a minor hamstring complaint.

Fremantle ruckman Craig Moller and former Melbourne-listed small forward Kelvin Lawrence are the two players out of the Thunder side at this stage.

SUBIACO (5-10, 7th) v CLAREMONT (13-2, 1st) – MEDIBANK STADIUM, SATURDAY 2.05PM
Selected teams

Subiaco might have upset Claremont earlier in the season to hand the Tigers their first loss of 2013 but it would be a brave human to suggest that the now struggling Lions can repeat that against a Claremont outfit looking to return to the winner's list.

Subiaco was impressive back in Round 11 beating Claremont by 10 points at Claremont Oval and that was in the middle of a three-game winning run for the Lions.

Things were looking good for Jarrod Schofield's team at that point, but Subiaco has failed to win a game since then with losses to Swan Districts, West Perth, East Fremantle, Perth and the Sharks again to now slip to a 5-10 record on the season to be in seventh position and out of the finals mix.

Claremont remains clear on top of the WAFL ladder and set to claim its fourth straight minor premiership on the hunt for a third consecutive premiership, but the Tigers do have to return to the winner's list first.

The Tigers had just scraped over the line in a three-point win over East Fremantle and then four-point victory against South Fremantle before the Round 17 clash with Swan Districts they lost by 39 points at Claremont Oval.

Claremont then went on to lose its Foxtel Cup semi-final against West Adelaide so it is coming off two straight losses heading into this week's clash with Subiaco.

Three key players go out injured making Subiaco's job of upsetting Claremont for the second time this season all the harder.

Former Fremantle veteran defender Antoni Grover has gone forward in the games he's played this season with Subiaco and kicked four majors last week against East Fremantle, but again has not been able to back up and play this week against the Tigers.

Experienced premiership midfielder Rob Forrest also goes out after suffering another knee injury during last Saturday's loss to East Fremantle while young small forward Michael Wood is also out so the Lions are going to be hard pressed to find some avenues to goal against Claremont.

Ryan Herring and Brad Stevenson are the most likely inclusions to offer Subiaco some targets in attack while Michael Genovese, Kyle Halligan, Daniel Leishman and Ryan Wade are all pressing for inclusion as well for the Lions.

Claremont had the bye last weekend after losing to Swan Districts and also going down in a Foxtel Cup clash just four days later against West Adelaide, and has some key players out of their side to face Subiaco.

Captain Andrew Browne injured a quad muscle in the loss to Swan Districts a fortnight ago and goes out of team as does experienced dual premiership key position player David Crawford. Small forward Liam Smith is also out of the side.

Midfielder Ryan Neates returned in the Foxtel Cup game in Adelaide and now returns to Claremont's league line-up with Fremantle's Alex Silvagni also likely to return.

Hugo Breakey, Richard Cronin, Steven Edwards, Matthew Goyder and Jack Richardson are also pressing to come into the Tigers' league side.