WAFL Round 22 PreviewFriday, August 22, 2014 - 4:50 PM - by Chris Pike

ROUND 22 of the 2014 WAFL season begins on Friday night at Fremantle Oval before continuing on Saturday with the East Fremantle-Swan Districts clash the undoubted highlight.

The action begins on Friday night at Fremantle Oval with South Fremantle taking on Subiaco.

Then on Saturday afternoon, East Fremantle hosts Swan Districts at ATOM Stadium with Peel Thunder also playing East Perth at Mandurah's Bendigo Bank Stadium and Claremont battling West Perth at the Claremont Showground.

The bottom-placed Perth has the bye with the Demons now having lost 13 consecutive matches.

SOUTH FREMANTLE (7-11, 7th) v SUBIACO (13-5, 2nd) – FREMANTLE OVAL, FRIDAY 7.00PM
Selected teams

South Fremantle looks to continue its winning streak this Friday night against Subiaco at Fremantle Oval with the Bulldogs looking to beat a finals bound opponent for the third time in a month.

South Fremantle might not be in the running to play finals in 2014, but the Bulldogs have now won three straight matches and even more impressively is the fact that two of those have come against the fourth-placed East Fremantle and third-placed Swan Districts.

That means that the Bulldogs enter Friday night's clash with the second-placed Subiaco full of confidence, but the Lions are guaranteed of a top-two finish this season and will be desperate to return to the winner's list ahead of the finals.

Up until last week, Subiaco had won six straight matches including beating East Perth for the second time this season to book in a top-two finish and a guaranteed second semi-final appearance against its Medibank Stadium co-tenants East Perth.

The Lions lost by eight points to Claremont last Saturday at the Showground, but had won seven of their last eight matches prior that to understandably be a genuine premiership threat in 2014.

South Fremantle and Subiaco have already met twice this season with the Lions winning on both occasions, but the Bulldogs had their opportunity to win each clash also.

Subiaco beat South Fremantle by 38 points in Round 1 at Medibank Stadium but the Lions only kicked away in the final quarter on that occasion.

South Fremantle then led for much of the day at Fremantle Oval in Round 18 in tough conditions before Subiaco finished the better to end up winning by nine points.

Over the course of the season, both teams have been free-scoring outfits with Subiaco averaging 102 points a game to be the best in the league at scoring while South Fremantle averages 85 points a game to be the best at scoring outside the top-three, and the fourth best in the WAFL.

However, South Fremantle's defence leaks the second most points in the league this season and Subiaco's back-line is steady conceding just 79 points at the game to be third best in that area.

Also, both teams have been strong starting teams right throughout 2014 with Subiaco outscoring its opponents by 172 points in first quarter and South Fremantle by 97.

However, Subiaco is also the best finishing team in the WAFL with a 201-point advantage over its opposition during the year while South Fremantle has been outscored by its opponents by 196 points in second halves throughout 2014.

South Fremantle could very well go into the contest with the same 22 that beat Swan Districts so emphatically last Saturday out at Steel Blue Oval.

There have been no outs named to the side for the Bulldogs with only Paul Mugambwa, Steven Verrier and Adam McIntosh added to the squad.

Mugambwa played reserves last week against Swan Districts and did well with 18 possessions, nine marks and three goals to put himself in the mix again to add to his 136 league games with the Bulldogs.

Verrier has had a good season off half-back returning to South Fremantle this season from Richmond and now is in line to return this Friday night after missing last week's win over Swan Districts.

McIntosh, meanwhile, has been working hard in the reserves over the past month and had another strong game last week with 37 possessions and 10 marks to get himself in the mix to add to his 47-game league career.

Meanwhile, pressure is really heating up for spots in the Subiaco team heading towards the finals with precious few positions up for grabs in the Lions side.

Exciting forward Shane Yarran is one player certain to return to the line-up and to be there come finals time unless he is injured.

He missed last week's loss for Subiaco to Claremont and now is back to face South Fremantle this Friday night having previously 

Kyle Halligan is the half-forward who loses his place in the Subiaco team as a result of Yarran's return.

Dylan Clarke continues to kick goals in the reserves to put himself in the mix to come in to the Lions team as well with defender Aaron Heal and midfielder Will Fetherstonhaugh also in the mix to take part in Friday night football at Fremantle Oval.

EAST FREMANTLE (11-7, 4th) v SWAN DISTRICTS (12-7, 3rd) – ATOM STADIUM, SATURDAY 2.05PM
Selected teams

East Fremantle and Swan Districts are set to do battle with one another in two weeks time in the first semi-final making Saturday's clash at ATOM Stadium (formerly East Fremantle Oval ) a crucial one for a number of reasons.

Not only will East Fremantle and Swan Districts want to have a win under their belt over the other heading into that first semi-final, but home ground advantage for that clash is still yet to be decided and could play a massive factor.

Swan Districts currently sits in third position on the ladder with a 12-7 win-loss record and a percentage of 104.4 while East Fremantle is fourth with an 11-7 record and 98.8 percentage.

That means that Swans can guarantee that the first semi-final will be played at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval with a win on Saturday, but a win for the Sharks would put them in prime position to end up hosting that contest.

In fact, a hefty loss for East Fremantle could still even keep the Sharks slightly vulnerable of missing the finals altogether if they then also lose to Subiaco in the final round and if Claremont is able to record thumping wins over West Perth and East Perth in its final two contests.

Swan Districts and East Fremantle have played just the once so far in 2014 and that was back in Round 8 with the black-and-whites recording a thumping 20.15 (135) to 10.15 (75) win over the Sharks at Steel Blue Oval.

East Fremantle hasn’t named anyone out of its team that beat West Perth two weeks ago but has some handy potential inclusions.

Bradd Dalziell, Danny Chartres and James Bayliss have all been added to East Fremantle's squad to take on Swan Districts.

Dalziell injured a knee in East Fremantle's Round 19 loss to South Fremantle before missing the 17-point win over West Perth and now the former Brisbane Lions and West Coast Eagles midfielder appears ready to return this Saturday to take on Swans.

Chartres, meanwhile, found himself back in the reserves in that win over West Perth where he had 23 possessions and now the 28-year-old is vying to return to the Sharks' line-up to take on Swans.

Bayliss became a permanent member of the East Fremantle team in the 2012 and 2013 seasons running off half-back, but had a slow start to 2014. He played in the reserves in Round 1 but was then sidelined until Round 10 and then didn’t play again until Round 15.

However, he has now managed to play six straight matches to be back in the mix to make his first league appearance of the season, and to add to his 56 career matches.

Making changes isn’t going to be the answer to Swan Districts trying to regain some form in time for the finals with no players named out of the side at this point from the one that went down to South Fremantle at home last Saturday.

However, Brandon Jetta, Travis Casserly and Connor Blakely are three players vying for selection.

Jetta played the first seven games of the season with the league team before now having played seven straight matches in the reserves, but he had 28 possessions last week to put himself back in the mix in time for a chance to play in the finals.

Casserly also played the first eight games of the season for Swans before going down injured. He has now played two reserves matches back including a 26-disposal showing last week against South Fremantle.

Blakely, meanwhile, has had a big year playing 12 games in the league team for Swans as well as playing with the WA State 18s team, and now after missing the loss to the Bulldogs he could return to take on the Sharks.

CLAREMONT (9-9, 5th) v WEST PERTH (8-10, 6th) – CLAREMONT SHOWGROUND, SATURDAY 2.05PM
Selected teams

Claremont remains the slimmest of slim chances of still qualifying for the WAFL finals of 2014 meaning the Tigers have everything to play for when hosting the out of contention reigning premiers West Perth at the Showground on Saturday.

The Tigers made a horror start to the 2014 season losing six of their first eight matches by an average of 65 points, but they have done a tremendous job since winning their last four matches on the trot, and seven of their last 10 overall.

That sees Claremont now sit on a 9-9 record on the season but to be able to sneak into the top four the Tigers will need a remarkable last fortnight. Not only will Claremont need to beat both West Perth and East Perth, but also hope that East Fremantle loses to both Swan Districts and Subiaco.

However, those results on their own won't be enough with Claremont also needing to make up a near 250-point gap between itself and East Fremantle.

It's highly unlikely that will eventuate, but either way Claremont must be commended for the job it has done to finish the season in such outstanding form and the Tigers will be looking to win a fifth straight match against West Perth this Saturday.

West Perth might not be a chance of making the finals coming off winning last year's premiership, but a win on Saturday and the Falcons will not only end Claremont's finals hopes, but also replace the Tigers in fifth position on the ladder.

Without question, West Perth will be wanting to finish the 2014 season off on a high note and having won a tight battle with Peel last Saturday in Mandurah, another win over Claremont on Saturday with Perth to come in the final round could see the Falcons do that.

West Perth will also want to play well to see off retiring stars Dan Hunt and Anthony Tsalikis in the final two matches of their decorated careers with youngsters Kris Shannon, Luke Meadows, Max Alexander, Mitch van Berlo, Ben King and Brayden Antonio all looking to continue to impress.

Claremont and West Perth have already met twice in the 2014 season with a win apiece.

The Tigers scored a 12-point win at Joondalup's HBF Arena back in Round 2 with the Tigers kicking the only two goals of the final quarter before torrential rain poured down.

The Falcons then hit back with a nine-point victory over the Tigers at the Showground in Round 11.

Claremont has some key players set to return to take on West Perth most notably young forward Brenden Abbott and Andrew Foster.

Abbott missed last week's clash with Subiaco but is set to return for his 14th league appearance of the season and the potential draftee will be looking to add to his 17 goals so far in 2014.

Dual premiership player Foster has had another good season for Claremont and the 140-game star looks set to return after missing the win over Subiaco last week as well.

Veteran Matt Orzel is also a chance to earn a call up after responding to being dropped last week with 20 possessions and 10 tackles in the reserves.

Dean Blackwell is a chance to make his league debut as well after consistently solid form in the reserves in 2014 with Timm House also a possible debutant for the Tigers.

Sam Fong and Jack Richardson are the two players named out of the Claremont team that beat Subiaco so far with Fong having just 15 possessions last week, and Richardson five.

Steve Potente goes out of the West Perth side that beat Peel Thunder in Mandurah last Saturday after his second game back in the league team following a knee injury.

Corey Chalmers, Ben McNamara, Joe Morrow and Drew Rohde are the four players fighting to come into the West Perth line-up to take on Claremont.

Last week in West Perth's big reserves win over Peel, Chalmers collected 13 possessions, McNamara had 14, Morrow 15 and Rohde 16.

PEEL THUNDER (4-14, 8th) v EAST PERTH (15-3, 1st) – BENDIGO BANK STADIUM, SATURDAY 2.05PM
Selected teams
 
There will be plenty of interest in Peel Thunder's clash with East Perth at Bendigo Bank Stadium despite the fact that no matter the result the Thunder will remain in eighth position on the ladder and the Royals on top.

Peel and East Perth have already met twice this season with the Royals winning on both occasions.

East Perth won a tight contest in Round 1 over Peel by just 19 points at Bendigo Bank Stadium before a much more emphatic result in Round 15 at Medibank Stadium when the Royals prevailed by 63 points.

Peel did originally named ruckman Jack Hannath and the versatile Matt de Boer out of its side that lost to West Perth at home last Saturday.

Both are named as emergencies for Fremantle's clash with the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba on Sunday as is small forward Max Duffy but two of Duffy, Hannath and de Boer are still likely to play for the Thunder on Saturday against the Royals.

Josh Mathers is also out of the Peel side to face East Perth while Aiden Field, Corey Morris, Mitch Green, Kelvin Lawrence, Kieran May and Toby Gianatti are all players vying to break into the Thunder's league side before the end of the season.

Much of the focus for the contest between the two AFL-partnered clubs will be on their Fremantle and West Coast-listed players respectively.

Peel will have a good contingent of Fremantle players lining up including Anthony Morabito, Jacob Ballard, Clancee Pearce, Michael Apeness, Kepler Bradley, Jonathon Griffin, Sam Menegola, Garrick Ibbotson and two of de Boer, Hannath and Duffy.

East Perth, meanwhile, will have the likes of Ashley Smith, Fraser McInnes, Callum Sinclair, Simon Tunbridge, Adam Carter, Jacob Brennan and Brant Colledge from West Coast in its side as well.

From the Royals' team that thumped Perth by 92 points last Saturday, Garry Moss, Will Maginness and Blayne Wilson are out with Smith, Tunbridge and Sinclair certain to return.

Then there is Julian Ameduri, Beau Chatley, Jackson Slater, Steven Wityk and Callum Sinclair all pressing for selection with the Royals.