WAFL Round 9 PreviewFriday, May 16, 2014 - 12:21 PM - by Chris Pike

ROUND 9 of the 2014 WAFL season will feature four games all on Saturday afternoon with players not only looking to secure spots in the WAFL team to play the NEAFL, but clubs desperate to head into the break with some winning form.

Subiaco hosts West Perth at Leederville's Medibank Stadium with Perth taking on East Fremantle at Lathlain Park, Peel Thunder battling South Fremantle at Mandurah's Bendigo Bank Stadium and Swan Districts facing Claremont at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval.

All matches begin at 2.05pm on Saturday afternoon. The 6-2 East Perth, who sits in third position, has the bye.

SUBIACO (6-1, 1st) v WEST PERTH (3-4, 4th) – MEDIBANK STADIUM, SATURDAY 2.05PM
Selected teams

Subiaco and West Perth meet for the first time in 2014 and first time in almost 12 full months with plenty at stake for both clubs.

The Lions lost that game by a point back in Round 14 last year at Arena Joondalup after being in control of the contest. From that point, Subiaco struggled for the rest of 2013 and West Perth went on to win the premiership, but things have been decidedly different so far in 2014.

Subiaco still sits on top of the ladder heading into Round 9 with a 6-1 record on the season to date with the only blemish a loss to the second-placed Swan Districts.

However, the Lions bounced back impressively last week with a 34-point win over Perth to maintain top position.

West Perth, meanwhile, looked set to slip to a 2-5 record in its premiership defence last Sunday against Peel. The Falcons were 42 points down at half-time, 30 at three quarter-time and 18 heading into time-on in the fourth quarter, but they found a way to win by a point.

That result means that the Falcons improved to a 3-4 record to move back into fourth position on the ladder and they can further consolidate that spot with a win on Saturday.

Both teams feature a bevy of players currently in the State squad and who are looking to represent the WAFL next Saturday against the best of the NEAFL at Sydney's Spotless Stadium.

Lachlan Delahunty, Chris Deluca, George Hampson, Chris Phelan and Wayde Twomey are all in the squad from Subiaco with Delahunty a good chance to play as a forward and back up ruckman, Deluca as a small forward and Hampson as a half-forward who can go through the midfield.

Then there is Phelan who has turned himself into a midfielder but can still play off half-back and the versatile Twomey coming off winning the State game Simpson Medal last year against Victoria in Northam.

West Perth is the reigning premiers with its coach Bill Monaghan in charge of the WA squad and as a result Jay van Berlo, Jordan Jones, Chris Keunen, Kody Manning, Shane Nelson and Laine Rasmussen are in the squad.

Rasmussen looks set to play for WA as a small defender with Keunen now looming to be the likely ruckman following the withdrawal of Paul Johnson.

Keunen's battle against his former teammate Frank Stockley will be fascinating on Saturday and not only potentially could decide the winner between West Perth and Subiaco, but also have a big say in who gets to be the ruckman for WA a week later.

Van Berlo could again play as a versatile midfielder with Manning a chance because of his enormous tackling pressure and Jones could play also as he returns to West Perth's line-up after missing the win over Peel following a best on ground performance in the Foxtel Cup against Box Hill.

Josh Deluca and Dylan Elliott are out of the Subiaco line-up that beat Perth by 34 points last week with Ray Daniels, Kyle Halligan, Aaron Heal, Joe Scafidi and Nathan Stewart all in the mix to come into the line-up.

Ray Bartholomew is out of the West Perth team after having surgery to repair fractures to his cheekbone and eye socket that he bravely soldiered through last Sunday to keep playing and ensure that the Falcons weren’t down a man against the Thunder as they tried to fight back.

Jordan Jones should be right to return for West Perth after missing the win over Peel with a minor ankle complaint.

Mitch McPhee, Kris Shannon and Jack Thrum are also in the mix to play with potentially one of the key defenders Shaun Marusic and Matt Spencer making way after having to play last week because of the Thunder's bevy of tall forwards and ruckmen.

PERTH (3-4, 5th) v EAST FREMANTLE (3-4, 7th) – LATHLAIN PARK, SATURDAY 2.05PM
Selected teams

Perth and East Fremantle both need to return to the winner's list this Saturday to avoid heading into the State game break on a losing slide and down on confidence.

The winner between the Demons and Sharks will improve to a 4-4 record on the season and be right back in the hunt for a top-four position while the loser will slip to 3-5 and from there face a big ask to remain in contention for a finals berth.

Perth started the season impressively with a 65-point win over Claremont and then coming from 44 points down to beat South Fremantle, but the Demons then lost three straight matches to West Perth, Swan Districts and East Perth.

Perth did respond with a 29-point win over Peel in Mandurah, but again were disappointing at home last Saturday going down to Subiaco by 34 points to have now lost four of its last five matches.

If Perth's form of late has been disappointing, East Fremantle's has been outright poor particularly in the first three quarters of their last three matches.

The Sharks started 2014 with a win over West Perth, big loss to Subiaco and then thumping win over Claremont before sitting on 3-1 after a Round 5 18-point win over Peel in Mandurah on Good Friday.

However, since then things have turned decidedly sour for East Fremantle.

It started with a 17-point loss to South Fremantle on Anzac Day after trailing by 46 points before a 10-point loss to East Perth after being 50 points down and then a 60-point defeat at the hands of Swan Districts last Saturday at Steel Blue Oval.

The only Perth player in the WAFL squad to take on the NEAFL next Saturday in Sydney is captain Paul Bevan and he will be looking for another strong performance for the Demons to gear up for a return to the state where he played 129 AFL matches and won a premiership with the Sydney Swans.

East Fremantle, on the other hand, has plenty of players in the State squad with Andrew Stephen, Tom Howlett, Steven Dodd, Brock O'Brien, Rory O'Brien, Bradd Dalziell and Jamie McNamara all named at this stage.

Dodd, Stephen and Howlett look to be locks in the defence if they get through the game against Perth unscathed while Rory O'Brien and McNamara are in the mix in the midfield along with Bradd Dalziell potentially if they play well. Brock O'Brien is a chance to play as a damaging half-back.

Saturday's game against Perth is also a big day for vice-captain and fairest and best winner from last year Stephen who will play his 100th game for East Fremantle.

At this stage nobody is out of the Perth team that lost to Subiaco by 34 points last Saturday but Joel Kalajzic, Rowan Brookes and Joel Houghton in the mix to play.

If Brookes is selected, it will be his league debut with Perth after having previously played 18 matches between 2011 and 2013 with East Perth. He has had 42 possessions, 18 marks and two goals over the past two weeks in the reserves for the Demons.

Richard Bourne and Sean Henson are the two players who at this stage are out of East Fremantle's team that was once again disappointing last Saturday against Swan Districts.

Mitch Boyle, Jason Bristow, Tim Bristow, Jordan Dorotich and Tom Hooker are the players looking to earn a recall into the Sharks' side to try and help them back on to the winner's list heading into the state game break.

PEEL THUNDER (0-7, 9th) v SOUTH FREMANTLE (3-4, 6th) – BENDIGO BANK STADIUM, SATURDAY 2.05PM
Selected teams

A team not having won in 12 months up against one fresh and on a three-game winning streak might not ordinarily be a clash to look forward to, but Saturday's contest in Mandurah between Peel Thunder and South Fremantle looms as a fascinating one.

Peel has not won a game yet in seven attempts this season but has not been thrashed in any game with its biggest loss being by 35 points against Swan Districts and that was a game that it actually led by 34 points early in the third quarter.

The Thunder's average losing margin is only 21 points so they are competitive without being able to get over the line and that was never more evident than last Sunday.

Peel was terrific for most of the day at Arena Joondalup against West Perth, particularly in the second quarter, and led by 42 points at half-time.

The Thunder were still 30 points in front at three quarter-time and 17 points to the good heading into time-on in the final quarter, but somehow the Falcons kicked three goals to win by a point.

Peel has now not won since beating East Perth at Bendigo Bank Stadium in Round 10 last year. It is a streak stretching 18 matches.

South Fremantle, on the other hand, started 2014 slowly losing its first four matches but then turned things around with the Bulldogs scoring impressive wins over West Perth, East Fremantle and Claremont.

That saw the Bulldogs improve to a 3-4 record before the bye last weekend and now they could head into the State game on 4-4 and potentially even be in the top-four depending on other results.

Peel doesn’t have any players in the WAFL's squad to play the NEAFL next Saturday in Sydney, but South Fremantle does with Haiden Schloithe, Ashton Hams, Ryan Cook and Ben Saunders all looking to continue their strong form to book a place in the WA team.

Schloithe has been in outstanding form in the midfield and is also a goalkicker, Hams has controlled the games he has played across half-back recently, Cook is a hard-running ball magnet leading the way for the Bulldogs and Saunders has kicked 13 goals in his last three games.

Key defender Dylan Ross could consider himself unlucky to not be in the squad so far and another strong showing against a tall Peel key forward such as Matt Taberner, Jack Hannath, Craig Moller or Michael Apeness might rocket him into calculations.

The Thunder will lose Tom Sheridan to Fremantle from last Sunday's team that went down to West Perth by a point, but Peel should once again have a strong line-up at its disposal.

Dylan Winton also goes out of Peel's team but while Garrick Ibbotson and Matt Taberner have been named as outs, both are expected to play with the Thunder and not the Dockers again this week.

Peel should also be strengthened by the return from Fremantle of Clancee Pearce and Hayden Crozier with Toby Gianatti, Aiden Field, Brennan Gillam and Tom Vandeleur all in the mix to play after solid form in the reserves.

Captain James Flaherty is likely to return after missing the game against West Perth and his reward likely is the defensive job on 2012 Bernie Naylor Medal winner Ben Saunders.

South Fremantle was in outstanding form prior to the bye last week having won three straight matches and as a result coach Paul Hasleby has little need for changes.

Paul Mugambwa remains out of the line-up while James Sellar should be better for the run against Claremont prior to the bye coming back from a knee injury and now with an extra two weeks of training.

Kris Miller and Alistair Gillespie are both fighting to come back into the South Fremantle league team and Mitch Banks is a chance to make his debut, but it looks most likely that the Bulldogs will take on Peel with an unchanged line-up from the side that beat the Tigers by 64 points.

SWAN DISTRICTS (6-1, 2nd) v CLAREMONT (2-5, 8th) – STEEL BLUE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.05PM
Selected teams
 
Swan Districts is the form team of the competition and Claremont has been the poorest performing team of 2014 for the most so on paper it looks a mismatch, but the Tigers will be desperate to show some fight.

Claremont has won the last four WAFL minor premierships winning two flags and making another grand final in that time, but things have quickly turned bad in 2014.

New coach Michael Broadbridge is tasked with a huge job of making Claremont competitive again with the Tigers now having lost five matches in 2014 by an average of 73 points.

Claremont's smallest loss has been by 64 points and last Saturday's defeat to East Perth by 80 points was probably even flattering to the Tigers in the finish.

Claremont has beaten West Perth and Peel this season and the Tigers desperately need to show some form again this season.

However, Swan Districts will not be making that easy with the black-and-whites sitting on a 6-1 record having now won six straight matches.

A win on Saturday for Swans could even see them enter the State game break on top of the ladder if West Perth happens to beat Subiaco at the same time.

Swans, though, will be playing their eighth straight match since the Round 1 bye and will be hoping no fatigue or complacency kicks in against the Tigers.

Swan Districts has five players in the State squad as well to face the NEAFL next Saturday with Tallan Ames, Justin Simpson, Blaine Boekhorst, Tony Notte and Ryan Davis looking to continue their form to book their place.

One would suggest that if half-forward Matt Rogers continues his form that has seen him amass 81 possessions and kick six goals over the past three weeks that he would come into calculation for the WAFL team as well.

Meanwhile, Claremont's lone member of the WA squad is Luke Blackwell and he will be looking to lead the way again for the Tigers in the midfield alongside Jake Murphy, Sam Fong, Ryan Neates, Tom Ledger, Matt Orzel and the returning Ben Daniher.

Swan Districts has been lucky enough to make very few changes so far this season particularly over the first six games with only 23 players used with only one change made in that time when Nathan Broad was replaced by Jarrad Blight.

Swans were forced into a couple of changes last week with Graham and Brandon Jetta going out of the team with Josh Kirkup and Laurence Grescos getting the call up to make their league debuts.

For the first time this year, though, Swan Districts has some changes to make with midfielder Adam Faulkner, and the versatile Aidan Anderson and Connor Blakely going out of the team to face Claremont.

Graham and Brandon Jetta both naturally return for the black-and-whites with Jacob Burnham, Jesse Manton, Levi Ridley and Rudy Riddoch others to be in the mix of coming into the form WAFL side of the competition.

Claremont has now struggled to be competitive the last two weeks and as a result Mathew Aitchison, Darcy Cameron, Aaron Holt and Bernard Sneeuwjagt go out of the team.

Daniher returns for another crack at the midfield while Mitch Andrews replaces Cameron in the ruck with Brenden Abbott, Jordan Aitken and Steven Edwards a chance to get another opportunity.

Lachlan Davey had 18 possessions last week in the reserves and Aaron Hayes 13, and both are a chance to make their league debuts this Saturday.