WAFL Round 24 PreviewFriday, August 30, 2013 - 6:06 PM - by Chris Pike

THE final round of the 2013 WAFL season takes place with four matches this Saturday afternoon with three of them having a bearing on whose year is over and who plays finals while even the dead rubber holds plenty of interest.

Five teams remain a chance to play finals football heading into Round 24 setting up a thrilling finale to the 2013 home and away season with East Fremantle needing to win to stay in the hunt for a top-four spot and then hoping either Swan Districts or East Perth lose.

However, if Swan Districts beats the second-placed West Perth at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval and East Perth downs the eighth-placed Subiaco at Leederville's Medibank Stadium then the top-four will be set regardless of how East Fremantle goes against the minor premier Claremont at East Fremantle Oval.

The only game without any finals repercussions is at Lathlain's Brownes Stadium with a Perth team that has faded in the second half of the season hosting a South Fremantle side that is finishing a tough 2013 campaign in exciting fashion.

SWAN DISTRICTS (11-8, 3rd) v WEST PERTH (13-6, 2nd) – STEEL BLUE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.05PM
Selected teams

West Perth might finish in second position no matter what happens against Swan Districts at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval on Saturday, but Swans need to win to ensure their place in the finals.

West Perth is guaranteed of finishing in second spot with the second semi-final already set for next Sunday against Claremont at Claremont Oval with a grand final spot up for grabs.

However, the Falcons will certainly want to be entering that clash with the Tigers in good, winning form and the only way to make sure of that is to beat Swan Districts at Steel Blue Oval on Saturday.

Swan Districts returned to third position last weekend with a 23-point win at home over East Fremantle so that means that the black-and-whites simply need to beat West Perth on Saturday to secure a finals spot, and likely home first semi-final next Sunday.

However, if Swan Districts loses it doesn’t mean necessarily that it will fall out of the finals mix.

If East Perth also loses to Subiaco and East Fremantle goes down to Claremont, then even with a loss Swans will still finish third.

If Swans loses and East Perth wins, then Swan Districts will slip down to fourth and if Swans lose, and both the Royals and Sharks win then the black-and-whites will miss out on playing in the finals in 2013 altogether.

Swan Districts and West Perth have met twice already this season with Swans winning at Arena Joondalup by 28 points on Anzac Day while the Falcons bounced back with a three-point thrilling win in Round 15 at Steel Blue Oval.

Swan Districts must win to be ensured taking part in the finals the following week and from last Saturday's team that beat East Fremantle, Swans lose retiring West Coast veteran Andrew Embley.

However, that might not be the worst news in the world considering the fact that Embley kicked 1.7 last week and in order to take care of business against West Perth this Saturday, Swan Districts will need to make the most of its chances in front of goal.

One player set to help put some goals on the board is the returning Kirk Ugle who has kicked 22 goals so far this season.

Defenders Nathan Broad and Jarrad Blight, and in-and-under midfielder Adam Faulkner are also pushing for selection in the black-and-whites line-up.

West Perth has made a host of changes to its line-up following the bye last weekend and a heavy loss to East Fremantle the previous week with a host of experienced and important players sidelined.

The Falcons do lose another key veteran to injury with star forward Anthony Tsalikis injuring his shoulder early in that game against East Fremantle and now having to undergo a shoulder reconstruction.

Ben McNamara is also out from that side as is Fremantle's Josh Mellington who is one of a host of Dockers players called up to take on St Kilda at Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

There are some big names back for the Falcons, though, with Matt Guadagnin, Chris Keunen, Joe Morrow, Kris Shannon and Andrew Strijk all named to return.

The biggest inclusion without question is of Jay van Berlo. He injured the medial ligament in his knee against East Perth in Round 19 but has now done everything right in his rehab and is set to make his return for the Falcons on Saturday at Bassendean against Swans.

EAST FREMANTLE (10-9, 5th) v CLAREMONT (17-2, 1st) – EAST FREMANTLE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.05PM
Selected teams

East Fremantle and Claremont meet in a grand final rematch from last year in a clash where the Tigers have nothing to play for but form and trying to avoid injuries while the Sharks need to win to maintain any semblance of hope of playing finals in 2013.

Since playing off in last year's grand final that saw Claremont win by 26 points to set up a second straight WAFL premiership, the Sharks and Tigers have met twice already this year with Claremont winning at Claremont Oval by 42 points in Round 9 and then by three points in Kununurra in Round 15.

Claremont is secure on top of the WAFL ladder having lost just two games this season to have sewn up a fourth successive minor premiership as the Tigers search for a third straight premiership.

However, East Fremantle is a long way off right now of being able to get back to another grand final.

The Sharks lost to Swan Districts at Bassendean last Saturday to slip outside of the top-four again to fifth position.

Now the equation is a tough one for East Fremantle to play finals with the Sharks not only needing to beat Claremont but also then relying on either Subiaco upsetting East Perth or West Perth downing Swan Districts.

East Fremantle's hopes of pulling off the upset win to stay alive with a chance to make the finals have been helped by the West Coast Eagles at selection.

Even though running defender Jacob Brennan is out of the East Fremantle line-up following last Saturday's loss to Swan Districts, hard running pair Bradd Dalziell and Brad Sheppard both return.

It was somewhat of a surprise to see Dalziell dropped by the Eagles after showing some good AFL form in recent weeks, but when playing with East Fremantle this season he has been simply brilliant averaging 31 possessions a game and kicking seven goals in his six matches.

Dalziell has not had a game of less than 24 possessions with East Fremantle this season and that was his only match under 30 with his of 36 coming in Round 12 against Peel Thunder to go with his two goals on that afternoon.

Mitch Boyle, Tyler Chalwell, Cameron Crisafio, James Depane and Sam Read are all pushing up for selection with East Fremantle as well while Alex Howson and Brad Dick join Brennan out of the team.

Claremont hasn’t named anyone out at this stage from last week's team that beat Perth and ended any slight hopes the Demons still had of playing finals, but three key players are pushing to return.

Andrew Foster is having an outstanding season playing more in the midfield in 2013 while Jesse Laurie could very well be in career-best form off half-back and Tom Taylor has become a permanent member of the defence this season, and that trio are all pressing to return to face East Fremantle on Saturday.

EAST PERTH (11-8, 4th) v SUBIACO (6-13, 8th) – MEDIBANK STADIUM, SATURDAY 2.05PM
Selected teams

Subiaco is just playing for pride in its last game of 2013 on Saturday but its Medibank Stadium co-tenant East Perth must win to guarantee a spot in the finals series.

Subiaco had lost eight straight matches leading into last Saturday's clash with Peel Thunder also at Medibank Stadium where the Lions returned to the winner's list with a 45-point victory.

East Perth lost a high-scoring thriller, meanwhile, at Fremantle Oval against South Fremantle to miss the chance of having its finals spot secure heading into the last round.

The Royals could now miss the finals altogether with a loss to Subiaco if East Fremantle is able to beat Claremont at the same time.

That is the worst case scenario. The best case scenario heading into the weekend is that East Perth can still finish third and secure a home first semi-final if the Royals beat the Lions, and if Swan Districts loses to West Perth at Bassendean.

The Leederville co-tenants have already played off against one another twice this season with The Lions winning by 15 points in front of 3406 people on Good Friday before the Royals bounced back with a thumping 68-point win only three weeks ago.

As if playing for a finals berth isn’t motivation enough, East Perth will also be looking to win for Aaron Sweet's 100th game with the Royals.

All eyes will also be on Subiaco after the match to see if premiership stars Aidan Parker and Darren Rumble decide that Saturday will be their last WAFL games. It would be disappointing if it is because the duo are still among the Lions' best and most consistent performers.

East Perth loses another of its West Coast-listed players with Adam Selwood going up to play his final AFL game with West Coast on Adelaide on Saturday night at Patersons Stadium.

Selwood kicked five goals in last Saturday's high-scoring loss to South Fremantle and now he goes out of the team joining Scott Lycett, Matt Rosa and Blayne Wilson as West Coast players who have become regular fixtures of East Perth's line-up throughout 2013.

However, while East Perth loses Selwood after he kicked five goals last week the Royals are boosted with the league's leading goalkicker Josh Smith coming back into the line-up after missing the clash with the Bulldogs.

Experienced defender Danny Chartres is also a chance to come into the East Perth line-up just a week out from its likely finals appearance with young midfielders Mitch Howlett and Ashley Boyes also a chance to come in and play.

Two Subiaco youngsters Joel Ashman and Dylan Elliott go out of the team that beat Peel comfortably last Saturday with the experienced Chris Phelan a welcome return for the Lions with Nick Hay also make a strong case to come in after kicking six goals in the reserves last Saturday.

James Garcia, Kyle Halligan and Ryan Wade are also in the mix to earn a call up to play in Subiaco's final game of a disappointing 2013 campaign.

PERTH (9-10, 6th) v SOUTH FREMANTLE (6-13, 7th) – BROWNES STADIUM, SATURDAY 2.05PM
Selected teams

South Fremantle is aiming to continue its strong late season form heading to Lathlain's Brownes Stadium on Saturday to take on a Perth team who hasn’t been able to capitalise on an outstanding start to 2013.

South Fremantle and Perth's seasons have followed opposite paths with the Bulldogs having a horror start but now finishing strongly while the Demons started tremendously before now finishing off in disappointing fashion.

The Bulldogs lost their first seven games of the season before breaking through with a win over Peel in Round 9. South Fremantle then scored a tremendous Foundation Derby win over East Fremantle two weeks later, but then again went on another four-game losing run.

However, South Fremantle has now found some outstanding and exciting form for the future with a 39-point win over West Perth in Round 18, eight-point win over Subiaco in Round 20, 93-point thumping of Peel in Round 22 and then last Saturday's impressive 12-point win over East Perth.

That means that South Fremantle has now won its last three games and four of its last five heading into Saturday's clash with Perth, but the Demons' season has headed in the opposite direction.

Perth started the season in exciting fashion winning its first three games and five of its first seven with the only two losses being by under a goal in thrillers against East Fremantle and Claremont.

The Demons lost three straight games between Rounds 10 and 13, but then bounced with four wins in five matches to again look set for a first finals campaign since 1997.

However, since Perth has lost to East Fremantle by 28 points in Round 20, by 60 to West Perth in Round 21, 48 to East Perth in Round 22 and then by 21 points last Saturday against Claremont to have now fallen to a 9-10 record.

The Demons and Bulldogs have met twice so far in 2013 with Perth winning two tight affairs – the first one by 13 points in Round 3 at Brownes Stadium and then the return clash by 10 points at Fremantle Oval in Round 15.

In that last meeting, Perth kicked the last two goals to win the game after South Fremantle appeared set to record the win when in front during time-on.

If Perth hoped to bounce back from a disappointing finish to the season and get a win at home in the final round, then it hasn’t been helped both at selection and with the fact that an in-form South Fremantle is coming to Lathlain looking to keep its own winning run continuing.

Perth loses four key players from the side that went down to Claremont last Saturday with ruckman Mitchell Lleyendekkers, centre half-forward Fraser McInnes, dangerous forward Simon Tunbridge and classy midfielder Jarryd Morton all out of the line-up for the Demons.

A host of players are looking to come into the Perth side for its last game of 2013 led by Jackson Sketcher who racked up 40 possessions in the reserves last week.

Joel Kalajzic, Christian Eyres, Mark Deaves, Kieran Hug, Matthew Hunt and Daniel O'Sullivan are the other players look to earn a spot in the Perth side.

South Fremantle's hopes of finishing the season with a fourth straight win have received a massive boost at selection with West Coast's Ashton Hams to return.

Last time he played for the Bulldogs was two weeks ago against Peel when he kicked six goals with 31 possessions while averaging 25 disposals in his eight games for the Bulldogs this season while also kicking 22 goals.

Fremantle's Haiden Schloithe does go out for South Fremantle, though, after injuring his ankle in the dying stages of last Saturday's exciting win over East Perth at Fremantle Oval.

Experienced duo Toby Bairstow and Reece Adams, and Mitch Carter and Kaiden Matera are all trying to earn a spot in the South Fremantle league team for the last game of 2013 as well.