WAFL Round 7 PreviewFriday, May 2, 2014 - 1:41 PM - by Chris Pike

ALL four Round 7 WAFL matches take place on Saturday afternoon with each game having plenty riding on the result.

East Fremantle will play East Perth at East Fremantle Oval, South Fremantle takes on Claremont at Fremantle Oval and Peel Thunder hosts Perth at Mandurah's Bendigo Bank Stadium.

Those three matches all bounce down at 2.05pm and then at 4.05pm at Leederville's Medibank Stadium will be the top-of-the-table clash between Subiaco and Swan Districts.

Reigning premiers West Perth has the bye ahead of a Foxtel Cup match against the Box Hill Hawks at Etihad Stadium on Tuesday night.

EAST FREMANTLE (3-2, 4th) v EAST PERTH (4-2, 3rd) – EAST FREMANTLE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.05PM
Selected teams

East Fremantle and East Perth have played out some cracking contests in recent years and that is set to continue this Saturday at East Fremantle Oval with both needing to win to make sure of remaining inside the top-four.

East Fremantle comes into the game sitting on a 3-2 record in fourth spot having beaten West Perth, Claremont and Peel so far this year, but losing to Subiaco and then last week South Fremantle by 17 points in the Anzac Day derby.

Meanwhile, East Perth returned to the winner's list last Saturday with a 22-point win over Perth after starting the season with three strong victories, and then suffering losses to West Perth and Subiaco.

Little has separated the Sharks and Royals in recent years as well starting back in 2010 when they met in a cracking first semi-final with East Perth running out 14-point winners in front of almost 7000 fans at East Fremantle Oval.

East Fremantle then won both games against East Perth in 2011 by 30 and four points respectively with the two teams then again doing battle in a first semi-final at East Fremantle Oval in 2012 this time with the Sharks prevailing by 37 points on the way to a grand final berth.

Then last year, East Perth beat East Fremantle by 10 points in Round 6 at East Fremantle Oval before winning a three-point thriller at Leederville in Round 14.

East Fremantle's forward-line again hasn’t been producing both the goals the Sharks were hoping or the pressure on to keep the ball in their attacking zone, and for this week at least against the Royals it is Jack Perham who goes out of the side.

Former Royal Danny Chartres is an obvious choice for the East Fremantle selectors to help match up on East Perth's bevy of tall players while Michael Edwards, Tom Hooker and Jayden Schofield have all been in solid reserves form to push for selection.

Last week in the reserves' win over South Fremantle, Edwards had 26 possessions, Hooker 29 disposals and Schofield 24 touches to go with seven entries inside the forward 50.

East Perth has some big inclusions to take on East Fremantle and none more important that Brendan Lee and Kyle Anderson.

Lee, the Royals' co-captain and reigning fairest and best winner, will play his first game of the season after a finger injury that required surgery on the eve of the season, and the clearance machine will be a welcome addition to the East Perth midfield.

Anderson will also return to the Royals line-up for the first time since Round 3 and as one of the best lockdown defenders in the competition, coach Brian Dawson will be delighted to have him back.

West Coast's Patrick McGinnity, Dom Sheed and Jacob Brennan will all return to the East Perth side as well with Mitch Howlett, Steven Wityk and Julian Ameduri performing well in the reserves to put themselves in the hunt.

Even though Simon Tunbridge, Blayne Wilson and Sam Butler have been named in West Coast's extended squad for Sunday's western derby, all are expected to sill play with East Perth.

Mitchell Fraser and Malcolm Karpany do go out of the Royals team, though, with full-forward Josh Smith set to miss his third straight game with an ankle injury.

PEEL THUNDER (0-5, 9th) v PERTH (2-3, 6th) – BENDIGO BANK STADIUM, SATURDAY 2.05PM
Selected teams

Peel Thunder has lost its first five games of 2014 and Perth has now lost its last three so the winner of Saturday's clash at Bendigo Bank Stadium will be relieved to return to the winner's list while the loser will continue to feel the strain.

Peel hasn’t been blown away at any stage this season losing to East Perth by 19 points, Swan Districts by 35, Subiaco by 17, East Fremantle by 18 and Claremont by 28, but the fact remains the Thunder are yet to record four points while every other team has at least eight of them already.

Perth started the season impressively with a thumping win of Claremont and then a stunning come-from-behind win over South Fremantle, but the Demons have since gone down to West Perth, Swan Districts and East Perth to have slipped to a 2-3 record.

Peel could very well be fielding its strong team of the season this Saturday as it desperately searches for a first victory.

The Thunder got some good news at the WAFL tribunal this week with Fremantle trio Anthony Morabito, Jack Hannath and Tom Vandeleur all cleared to remain in the side to face Perth.

Tall brigade Kepler Bradley, Craig Moller, Griffin, Hannath, Alex Silvagni and Matt Taberner will all be again part of Peel's team giving it plenty of size that it couldn’t take advantage of in the wet conditions last Saturday against Claremont.

On top of that, Fremantle's Garrick Ibbotson, Josh Simpson, Matt de Boer, Sam Menegola and Colin Sylvia all return to the line-up.

Peel is likely to have 14 Fremantle players in its line-up and its WAFL-listed players will include Brendon Jones, Cruize Garlett and the returning Kristin Thornton who will play his first match since Round 3.

That gives the Thunder a tremendous line-up on paper, but the key now is to turn that into a strong four-quarter performance on the park that they have been unable to do so far in 2014.

On paper at least, Perth looks to be up against it coming into the clash in Mandurah on Saturday, but the Demons will like their chances of returning to the winner's list.

Joel Houghton, Chris Billings and Cameron Manuel are all chances to come into the Perth line-up from the side that lost to East Perth last Saturday.

SOUTH FREMANTLE (2-4, 7th) v CLAREMONT (2-3, 8th) – FREMANTLE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.05PM
Selected teams

South Fremantle and Claremont both enter Saturday's clash at Fremantle Oval in winning form and looking to record another victory to move a step closer to a top-four position.

The match will be South Fremantle's first home game during the day this season at Fremantle Oval following night fixtures against Perth and East Perth in Rounds 2 and 3.

The Bulldogs started the season slowly losing four straight matches, but have now since won two games on the trot impressively against West Perth and East Fremantle to begin to build some momentum into their 2014 campaign.

Not only is South Fremantle searching for a third straight victory, but to also snap a nine-game losing run against Claremont since the Bulldogs' last premiership year of 2009.

Claremont returned to the winner's list last Saturday beating Peel Thunder at the Showgrounds and despite the Tigers suffering heavy losses to Perth, East Fremantle and Subiaco so far in 2014, a win over South Fremantle on Saturday will have them sit on a 3-3 record to be putting pressure on for a spot in the four.

South Fremantle now has some winning form heading into Saturday's clash and as a result there is little reason for coach Paul Hasleby to look to make too many changes to his line-up.

However, versatile big man James Sellar does look set to return from a knee injury and play his first game since Round 2. With Brock Higgins doing well holding down the ruck, it gives Hasleby's the chance to use Sellar forward, back and in the ruck as well.

Paul Mugambwa is out of the South Fremantle team to face Claremont with Kris Miller, Jason Maskos and Ben Sokol on standby should the Bulldogs look to make any other changes.

Claremont got back on the winner's list last week to see the Tigers head to Fremantle Oval with confidence searching for a 10th straight win over the Bulldogs.

Nobody is out of the Claremont side yet with youngster Dean Blackwell, former Perth midfielder Bernard Sneeuwjagt and experienced key defender Brandon Franz all pressing claims for selection after good form in the reserves.

SUBIACO (5-0, 1st) v SWAN DISTRICTS (4-1, 2nd) – MEDIBANK STADIUM, SATURDAY 4.05PM
Selected teams

Subiaco and Swan Districts take part in the undoubted game of the round and possibly the match of the season to date when the WAFL's top-two teams do battle on Saturday in a twilight fixture at Leederville's Medibank Stadium.

Subiaco has won its first five games of the season and now Swan Districts its last four setting up a tantalising match-up between the two.

If the Lions are able to win for a sixth straight time this season, they open up a healthy gap on the rest of the competition even though it's just Round 7, while a win for Swans will leave positions at the top tight while also showing that they are genuine finals, and perhaps premiership, contenders in 2014.

There is also added interest in the contest with Swan Districts captain Tallan Ames to play his 200th game for the club and Ryan Davis his 100th.

Both are premiership players from Swan Districts in 2010 and two of their most important players with Ames cementing himself as the best full-back in the WAFL and now likely the best captain as well, while Davis is a true barometer for the black-and-whites with his ability to kick goals, win the hard ball, drive the ball inside-50 and deliver in the big moments making him a true star of the WAFL.

There will also be plenty of interest to see how Wayde Twomey goes in his first game for Subiaco for Swan Districts after playing 98 matches with the black-and-whites including the 2010 premiership.

Shaun Hildebrandt has also returned to Subiaco this season after playing the last two years with Swan Districts where he won the fairest and best award in 2012.

Subiaco has had a bye to reflect on its remarkable 5-0 start to the season and the Lions will be fresh and raring to go to try and maintain their advantage of top of the WAFL ladder.

Four-time premiership full-back and 196-game veteran Darren Rumble goes out of the Subiaco side with Daniel Leishman set to return to help take his place in the back-line.

Reece Blechynden, Ray Daniels and Simon Moore are other Subiaco players trying to break into the last unbeaten team left in the WAFL this season.

Swan Districts has had the most settled line-up in the competition so far this season with coach Greg Harding having made precious little changes to a group that has won four out of five games, and who has had a good run with injuries.

As a result, Nathan Broad, Josh Kirkup and Laurence Grescos are again added to the squad for the Swan Districts, but will likely remain emergencies unless something changes between now and game time