WAFL Round 21 PreviewFriday, August 9, 2013 - 12:02 PM - by Chris Pike

ROUND 21 of the 2013 WAFL season is highlighted by a massive country battle in Moora with West Perth looking to further cement second position on the ladder and Perth to win and return to the top-four.

Perth heads to its country zone town of Moora to take on West Perth on Saturday afternoon with the other two games of Round 21 seeing East Perth and Subiaco do battle in the clash of Medibank Stadium co-tenants with Peel Thunder hosting Swan Districts at Mandurah's Bendigo Bank Stadium.

PERTH (9-7, 5th) v WEST PERTH (12-5, 2nd) – MOORA, SATURDAY 2.05PM
Selected teams

Moora will host the match of the round on Saturday afternoon when Perth heads to its country zone to host West Perth with both sides desperate to come home with the four points.

Perth has been inside the top-four for all but two weeks of the 2013 season to date, but the 28-point loss to East Fremantle at East Fremantle Oval last Saturday saw the Demons fall out of the top-four again.

That means the Demons desperately need to bounce back and beat West Perth this Saturday with tough games to come against East Perth, Claremont and South Fremantle to finish the season.

In order for the Demons to play finals for the first time since 1997, they will likely need to win three of those last four games so starting with a win this Saturday over West Perth is crucial to their September ambitions.

However, beating West Perth is going to be far from an easy task.

The Falcons currently sit three games clear of East Fremantle, Swan Districts, Perth and East Perth in second position on the ladder and can go a long way to securing that position, and the finals double chance, with a win over Perth in Moora on Saturday.

Despite a hiccup in Round 18 at home to South Fremantle, West Perth has been in terrific form since losing back-to-back games in Rounds 11 and 12.

The Falcons won four straight games after that before the loss to the Bulldogs and now have beaten East Perth and Peel the last fortnight to improve to 12-5 record on the season to be looking strong in second spot on the ladder.

Perth and West Perth have met just the once so far this season with the Falcons getting the better of the Demons by 36 points back in Round 10 at Arena Joondalup.

Perth last hosted a WAFL game in Moora back in 1999 when 1746 fans turned out to see the Demons record a 27-point victory over Swan Districts.

Perth's hopes of pulling off the victory won't be helped with the loss of two of its most important players coming into the contest.

Hawthorn premiership midfielder from 2008 Chance Bateman is out of the side after hurting his hamstring in last week's loss to East Fremantle while Matt Tedesco is also a massive loss from the half-back line against his former side.

Tedesco has emerged as one of the very best running defenders in the competition this season for the Demons averaging 21.8 possessions a game and he even sneaked forward for two long goals last Saturday against East Fremantle, but he's a big loss from the side to face West Perth.

On the positive side, though, for the Demons they have some handy inclusions with Brennan Stack to return after a week in the reserves. He has kicked 40 goals this season and will resume his dynamic duo act up forward with captain Paul Bevan who has booted 47 majors so far in 2013.

Cameron Manuel, Kane Ransted and Matthew Hunt are the other Perth players vying for selection and whoever gets picked will have a big job to try and replace the job that Tedesco has been doing so well all season so far.

West Perth hasn’t named anyone out at this stage from its team that beat Peel comfortably last week but veteran defender Dan Hunt will return so there will be at least one change to the line-up.

Peel wasn’t able to take advantage of a West Perth defence last week that was without Hunt and Michael Pettigrew, but Nick Rodda stepped up in the full-back role strongly and now Hunt is back to add some further height and experience to that defensive set up.

Ben McNamara and Jack Thrum have both been in good form in the reserves for the Falcons as well and continue to press for selection, and the coaching staff will be seriously considering playing them this Saturday in Moora against Perth.

EAST PERTH (9-7, 6th) v SUBIACO (5-12, 7th) – MEDIBANK STADIUM, SATURDAY 2.05PM
Selected teams

Medibank Stadium co-tenants East Perth and Subiaco meet twice in the last month of the WAFL season starting this Saturday giving the Lions a big chance to have a say in whether or not the Royals play finals in 2013.

The East Perth-Subiaco rivalry has built into one of the biggest in WAFL football since the two teams joined up at the Leederville venue in 2004 and now the two clashes in the last month of the season give plenty for the Royals and Lions to focus on.

East Perth has lost its last two games to top-two teams West Perth and Claremont coming off a five-game winning run which has seen the Royals slip down to sixth position on the ladder behind East Fremantle, Swan Districts and Perth.

The Royals, Sharks, Swans and Demons all currently sit on nine wins with East Perth possessing the worst percentage of the four so the black-and-blues will need to win at least three of their last four games of the season to play finals football.

That adds plenty more incentive for East Perth to make sure it beats Subiaco in the two battles of the co-tenants.

While Subiaco might be well and truly out of finals contention having lost seven straight matches, the Lions would love nothing more than to upset East Perth's finals hopes and to also get a win to ensure they can't finish 2013 with the wooden spoon.

The Leederville co-tenants have met just the once this season back in Round 3 with Subiaco proving too strong on that occasions beating East Perth 16.8 (104) to 13.11 (89).

East Perth need to win to be a chance of finishing the weekend back inside the top-four and will be helped with the expected return of 166-game veteran forward and former captain Michael Swan. Callum Hart and Mitch Howlett are also pressing for a return.

West Coast pair Matt Rosa and Adam Selwood will also remain with the Royals this week while Blayne Wilson and Scott Lycett will still be playing with the Eagles after being important players for East Perth for most of 2013 at either end of the ground.

Subiaco's hopes of returning to the winner's list and helping to upset East Perth's finals hopes have been hampered with the loss of half-forward Ray Daniels.

The recruit this year from Swan Districts has been one of the Lions' best players all season long averaging over 15 possessions a game and kicking 13 goals. However, he is out of the Subiaco team to take on East Perth as is 78-game veteran Rhett Kerr.

The Lions only have inexperience to call upon as replacements with Michael Genovese (one league game), Nick Hay (one), Alliston Pickett (14), N Stewart (nil) and Ryan Wade (seven) coming into the squad to be in contention of playing on Saturday in the co-tenant battle.

PEEL THUNDER (3-14, 9th) v SWAN DISTRICTS (9-7, 4th) – BENDIGO BANK STADIUM, SATURDAY 2.05PM
Selected teams

Swan Districts hasn’t had an easy time so far this season against Peel Thunder but needs to record another four points this Saturday to remain inside the top-four.

Swan Districts currently sits in fourth position on the ladder and could move up to third replacing East Fremantle with a win on Saturday over Peel at Mandurah's Bendigo Bank Stadium.

However, a loss for Swans and they could fall as far as to sixth spot on the ladder if East Perth beats Subiaco and Perth is able to overcome West Perth.

That gives the black-and-whites plenty to play for coming off the bye last weekend but their first two clashes with Peel this season give them plenty of reasons to head down to Mandurah fully knowing they need to be at their best.

Peel was able to beat Swan Districts at home back in Round 6 by 14 points and then just two weeks ago, Swans had to fight hard to down the Thunder by just 11 points at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval.

The Thunder will also be desperate to not finish with another wooden spoon in 2013 and a win on Saturday over Swans will see them move to within equal points of South Fremantle with a clash to come against the Bulldogs next weekend.

Peel Thunder's chances of causing an upset and putting a big dent in Swan Districts' finals chances might rest on what Fremantle does at selection.

At this stage, Jesse Crichton and Hayden Crozier have been added to the Dockers' extended squad to face the GWS Giants at Patersons Stadium on Sunday.

However, if they aren’t in Fremantle's final squad and are released to line-up for Peel they could very well have a big impact in whether or not the Thunder can pull off their second win over Swans this season and fourth win overall for the campaign.

Further helping Peel's hopes is the return of Fremantle forward Matt Taberner giving the Thunder a key forward target.

If the resting Fremantle ruckman Craig Moller and Jack Hannath is able to go forward as well, then Peel's forward-line could provide plenty of headaches for the Swan Districts defence.

Peel's midfield with Viv Michie, Brendon Jones, Marlon Motlop, Matt Orzel, Kristin Thornton and then if Crichton and Crozier are there has the potential to get the ball forward enough so Swans will have to be on their game.

Swan Districts had the bye last weekend after beating Peel in a tight affair two weeks ago at Steel Blue Oval, and from that team Adam Faulkner goes out of the side with Graham Jetta, Connor Blakely, Aidan Anderson and Jarrad Blight all pressing for an inclusion.