WAFL Round 4 PreviewFriday, April 11, 2014 - 11:05 AM - by Chris Pike

ROUND 4 of the WAFL season is an all Saturday afternoon affair with Subiaco and East Perth looking to remain unbeaten, and South Fremantle and Peel Thunder desperate to taste victory for the first time in 2014.

All four matches will take place on Saturday afternoon at 2.05pm with East Perth taking on West Perth at Leederville's Medibank Stadium, Swan Districts hosting South Fremantle at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval, East Fremantle battling Claremont at East Fremantle Oval and Peel Thunder playing Subiaco at Mandurah's Bendigo Bank Stadium.

Perth has the bye after a 2-1 start to the season.

EAST PERTH (3-0, 2nd) v WEST PERTH (1-2, 5th) – MEDIBANK STADIUM, SATURDAY 2.05PM
Selected teams

West Perth has its first win on the board for 2014 and now is gearing up for a grand final rematch against East Perth this Saturday at Leederville's Medibank Stadium.

West Perth and East Perth will do battle for the first time against one another since the Falcons won last year's grand final by 49 points to claim a memorable premiership thanks to a dominant second half performance.

The Falcons went on to lose the opening two games of the 2014 season to East Fremantle and Claremont, but bounced back impressively last Saturday at Arena Joondalup kicking four goals to one in the final quarter to beat Perth by 18 points.

West Perth will now look to continue that momentum this Saturday on its first trip to Leederville for the season up against the unbeaten East Perth.

East Perth has opened up its 2014 campaign with a 19-point win over Peel Thunder, 18-point win over Swan Districts and then a 75-point thumping of South Fremantle last Friday night at Fremantle Oval.

That now sets up a tantalising contest between not only the two teams that played off in last year's grand final, but who are expected to be right there fighting off for the 2014 premiership as well.

On top of last year's grand final, the Falcons and Royals clashed on three occasions with West Perth winning in Round 1 by 75 points at Arena Joondalup and by 30 in Round 19 at home while East Perth recorded just the one win by 19 points at Medibank Stadium on WA (Foundation) Day.

West Perth's team is strengthened as well with Kody Manning set for his first game of the season after a suspension stemming from the grand final and Marc Crisp also back after copping a two-week suspension in the Round 1 loss to East Fremantle.

Max Alexander and Matthew Spencer are also in the mix to come in for the Falcons with Joe Morrow the only out at this stage.

Meanwhile, East Perth has plenty of changes coinciding with the changes happening with West Coast in the AFL.

Josh Hill, Scott Lycett, Sam Butler and Dom Sheed have all been called up from the Royals team that smashed South Fremantle last week to the Eagles team to face Geelong on Saturday night.

Jeremy McGovern has also travelled to Geelong for the game as a back-up, but there is still a chance he will return in time to line up for the Royals against the Falcons.

With Lycett called up by the Eagles, Callum Sinclair drops back to play his first game for East Perth while the Royals also welcome back Eagle Simon Tunbridge after he missed the win over the Bulldogs.

Mark Hutchings will also play just his second game of the season and it just happens to be up against the team he led to last year's premiership and was awarded the Simpson Medal for his best afield showing for the Falcons.

SWAN DISTRICTS (1-1, 4th) v SOUTH FREMANTLE (0-3, 9th) – STEEL BLUE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.05PM
Selected teams

South Fremantle hits the road again after two straight Friday night matches at Fremantle Oval to take on Swan Districts this Saturday at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval.

The Bulldogs have opened the 2014 season with losses to Subiaco, Perth and East Perth so head to the Bassendean venue desperate to open their account with a victory.

Swan Districts, on the other hand, have opened its season with an 18-point loss to East Perth and then last week a 35-point victory over Peel Thunder at home.

South Fremantle also needs to get over a seven-game losing run against Swan Districts with the Bulldogs last win over the black-and-whites coming back in Round 5, 2011 at Steel Blue Oval by 24 points.

Swans have won the seven matches between the two sides since then by an average of over 27 points a game.

South Fremantle is still without AFL-experienced big man James Sellar due to a knee injury with Alistair Gillespie out suspended and Paul Mugambwa still on the sidelines with an injury as well.

The Bulldogs will need Brock Higgins to continue to step up in the ruck as he did up against Paul Johnson and Scott Lycett last Friday night for East Perth.

Josh Pullman and Ben Saunders will also need to make an impact up forward. The two key forwards have only kicked eight goals between them over the first three rounds, but are both capable of kicking big bags on their day.

The match will also be noteworthy as it will be Pullman's first game back at Steel Blue Oval against Swan Districts since he returned to the WAFL this year to play with South Fremantle after previously captaining Swans' colts to a premiership, and playing 23 league matches.

South Fremantle's key defenders such as Dylan Ross, Nick Borovac, Steve Mills and the recalled Zac Strom will also have their work cut out against Tony Notte, Tim Geappen and last week's eight-goal hero Ricky Cary.

However, if South Fremantle's midfield led by Ashton Hams, Ryan Cook, Haiden Schloithe, Tim Kelly, Jacob Martinez, Kris Miller, Shaun Bewick, Brendan Verrier and Steven Verrier, suddenly that becomes much less of a problem.

Adam McIntosh is also out of the Bulldogs team to take on Swan Districts with Toby Bairstow, James Laurino, Ben Sokol, Strom and Traye Bennell all in the mix to come in.

There is little reason for change for a Swan Districts team who has surprised many with its start to the season.

Many predicted Swan Districts to be the big sliders in 2014 with a host of key players leaving, but somebody forgot to tell the leaders remaining at Steel Blue Oval, and a strong band of youngsters coming through.

Swans opened their season leading East Perth for three quarters in Round 2 before losing by 18 points, and then after trailing Peel Thunder by 34 points early in the third quarter on Saturday, turned on some inspired and exciting football.

Swan Districts went on to kick 11 of the last 12 goals of the game to win by 35 points.

With Justin Simpson, Matt Riggio and Ryan Davis leading the way, Adam Faulkner, Kirk Ugle, Matt Rogers, Blaine Boekhorst and Nathan Blakely standing up, and Ricky Cary a surprise packet up forward, there is plenty of excitement around Bassendean for Swan Districts looking to the rest of 2014.

EAST FREMANTLE (1-1, 6th) v CLAREMONT (1-2, 7th) – EAST FREMANLTE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.05PM
Selected teams

East Fremantle and Claremont played off in the 2012 grand final, but 18 months later neither has won a finals match since and both come into Saturday's clash at East Fremantle desperate to bounce back after thrashings at the hands of Subiaco.

Claremont not only won that 2012 grand final against East Fremantle but has finished as the minor premiers the last four WAFL seasons for two premierships, a losing grand final and then losing preliminary final along the way.

However, the Tigers have lost a host of key premiership players coming into 2014 and that has taken its toll early in the campaign under first-year coach Michael Broadbridge.

Claremont started its season in disappointing fashion with a 65-point thrashing at the hands of Perth but the Tigers then showed they were still capable of strong football with a hard fought 12-point win over West Perth at Arena Joondalup in Round 2.

However, that form was short-lived with the Tigers thrashed by 80 points by Subiaco at East Fremantle Oval last Saturday.

The only positive for the Tigers to take from that is that at least they had a practice run on East Fremantle Oval before returning to face the Sharks this Saturday.

Meanwhile, East Fremantle also got its season off to a good start holding on for a thrilling win over West Perth in Round 1 but were then thrashed by 56 points by Subiaco in Geraldton in Round 2 before the bye last weekend.

So with a thrashing at the hands of Subiaco and close win over West Perth each so far this season, it will be a fascinating contest come Saturday between East Fremantle and Claremont.

From the team that lost to Subiaco a fortnight ago in Geraldton, the Sharks are set to unveil recruit Tim Bristow after two games in the reserves after arriving from Sale in Victoria. In those games, he had a combined 39 possessions to begin finding his feet in the WAFL.

Perhaps the defender best at reading the ball coming inside-50 in the competition Tom Howlett is also back for East Fremantle after missing the loss to Subiaco with Jayden Schofield a chance for his first league game of 2014, and Richard Bourne a chance to make his debut as well.

Tyler Chalwell is the only out for East Fremantle at this stage.

There are plenty of changes at Claremont coming off two big losses in the first three rounds.

Captain Jake Murphy is out injured while Steven Edwards and Henry Roberts also go out of the Tigers line-up.

Mathew Aitchison was outstanding in his one and only appearance to date for Claremont keeping West Perth's Matt Guadagnin quiet in the Tigers' win over the Falcons in Round 2.

Ben Daniher has been in outstanding form in the reserves for Claremont with 86 possessions over the first three weeks so looks set to come into the league line-up and will be the ideal replacement in the midfield for Murphy.

Sam Fong and Keifer Yu are also in line to return to the Claremont team with Luke Cameron a chance to make his debut and Jordan McAllister could play his second league game, and first since 2010.

PEEL THUNDER (0-2, 8th) v SUBIACO (3-0, 1st) – BENDIGO BANK STADIUM, SATURDAY 2.05PM
Selected teams
 
Peel might be winless and Subiaco unbeaten heading into Saturday's clash at Mandurah's Bendigo Bank Stadium, but it would be no surprise to see the Thunder pull off the victory.

Peel has lost its opening two games of the season to East Perth and Swan Districts, but had chances to win on both occasions before being overrun in the last quarter.

If the Thunder can perform better in the last quarter on Saturday at home to the Lions, they could very well get their first win of the season.

However, Subiaco is sitting on top of the ladder after a hot start to 2014.

The Lions have beaten South Fremantle by 38 points, East Fremantle by 56 and then Claremont by 80 to have started the season in the best possible way.

Clancee Pearce, Zac Clarke, Matt Taberner and Josh Simpson were all among Peel's best players last Saturday against Swan Districts, but those four have been called up into the Fremantle team to take on Essendon at Patersons Stadium on Sunday.

Peel also loses Fremantle pair Sam Menegola and Michael Wood to injury with former Sydney Swans player Kristin Thornton also out of the Thunder line-up.

However, Jack Hannath and Tom Sheridan have been dropped by the Dockers so should line up for the Thunder against the Lions with Colin Sylvia expected to as well after being overlooked for his Fremantle debut again following 157 matches for Melbourne to begin his AFL career.

Fellow Dockers Alex Silvagni and Craig Moller also return for the Thunder with Toby Gianatti, Liam McKenna, Ben Hancock, Kelvin Lawrence, Aiden Field and Cruize Garlett also in the mix to play for Peel on Saturday.

McKenna is one player who has continued to bang down the door and he had another X34 possessions, six tackles and three goals in the reserves last week against Swan Districts.

There are much fewer changes at Subiaco and why would there be much need for Jarrad Schofield with his team unbeaten after three big wins to open the season.

Veteran full-back Darren Rumble goes out of the Lions line-up with Clancy Wheeler a like-for-like replacement for him after a solid showing in the reserves last week against Claremont.

New captain Kyal Horsley is also back for Subiaco to play his first league game of the season and first for Subiaco since the 2011 grand final loss to Claremont having spent the past two years in the AFL with the Gold Coast Suns where he played 14 matches.