WAFL Round 3 PreviewFriday, April 3, 2015 - 11:04 AM - by Chris Pike

IT IS the Easter Round of 2015 McDonald's WAFL Premiership season with two enthralling contests on Good Friday to kick things off and then two more important battles on Saturday afternoon.

The action gets underway on Good Friday with the now traditional meeting of the Medibank Stadium co-tenants with Subiaco and East Perth doing battle in a grand final rematch. Bounce down is 3.10pm and the game is also to be broadcast on Channel 7.

The other Good Friday clash is at Fremantle Oval between South Fremantle and Claremont with bounce down at 6pm.

Then on Saturday, Peel Thunder takes on East Fremantle at Mandurah's Bendigo Bank Stadium and West Perth hosts Perth at Joondalup's HBF Arena.

SUBIACO (2-0, 1st) v EAST PERTH (1-1, 6th) – MEDIBANK STADIUM, FRIDAY 3.10PM
Selected teams
Broadcast – Channel 7

Subiaco and East Perth have made Good Friday clashes their own in recent years at Medibank Stadium and now it should be a tremendous battle this time around in the first meeting between the two since last year's grand final.

East Perth were the raging favourites for the second straight year heading into the grand final last season having beaten Subiaco comfortably in the second semi-final, however, the Lions played the near perfect decider in tough conditions to claim the 2014 premiership.

And now since then Subiaco has won its first two games of the 2015 season in style against Claremont and East Fremantle to head into the clash with East Perth full of confidence.

East Perth had a disappointing start to the season losing to East Fremantle by 55 points at Domain Stadium, but the Royals bounced back impressively with a 13-point win over Swan Districts last Saturday at Medibank Stadium.

The Lions and Royals first played one another on Good Friday in 2011 with a tremendous crowd of 4757 turning out to watch Subiaco win by 16 points.

After not playing one another on the day in 2012, they have resumed the last two seasons with the Lions winning by 15 points in front of 3406 people in 2013 and then last year, Subiaco again won by 24 points with 3440 fans in attendance.

Subiaco has made the perfect start to its premiership defence with wins over Claremont and East Fremantle so there is little need for Jarrod Schofield to be looking to make changes despite the Lions reserves having plenty of players lining up for a league opportunity.

Two-time WAFL premiership player and Simpson Medal winner Wayde Twomey is out of the Subiaco side to face East Perth from the one that beat East Fremantle last Saturday.

James Garcia is also out for the Lions after copping a two-week suspension by the WAFL tribunal during the week.

Ray Daniels, Will Fetherstonhaugh, Braden Fimmano and Aaron Heal are all in the mix to get a call up for Subiaco to face East Perth.

Daniels has shown some good signs in his 22 games of league football as a lively half-forward and he has started 2015 in the reserves with a combined 45 possessions and six goals in the first two games to press for a recall.

Fetherstonhaugh has managed six league appearances in each of the last two years and found some strong form last week in the reserves with 23 possessions to make a case for his first game in the league side of 2015.

Fimmano has joined Subiaco from South Fremantle this season where he played 34 colts matches between 2012-14 and then also 12 reserves games last year. However, he didn’t breakthrough for a league debut with the Bulldogs but did in Round 1 with Subiaco in the win against Claremont.

The strength of the Subiaco team meant he had to go back to the reserves last week where he had 22 possessions and four goals against East Fremantle to now be back in the mix for his second league match.

Heal is an emerging defender with Subiaco who played eight league matches in 2014, the last of which was in Round 22, before he unluckily missed out on the eventual premiership. He has again started the new season solidly and could make his first league appearance this Good Friday.

There are plenty of changes at East Perth coming out of last week's win over Swan Districts.

Gun ruckman Paul Johnson goes out of the team for the Royals but if there's one area that the Lions aren’t that strong with on paper, it's the ruck division with the retirement of Andrew McDougall and injury to Frank Stockley.

David Madut has done a tremendous job so far this season but he still has only played seven games of league football so East Perth will be comfortable in being able replace Johnson up against him with Fraser McInnes to lead in the way in doing that with help from debutant Agid Gardoud.

The best news at selection for the Royals is the return of co-captain Brendan Lee now that the Essendon saga is behind him, and he has been given the all clear to play.

The 27-year-old averaged 26 possessions in his 16 games last year so is a welcome addition to East Perth's midfield to take on the Lions and the likes of Leigh Kitchin, Kyal Horsley, Chris Phelan, Brett Robinson and Brett Mahoney.

Will Schofield comes into the East Perth side after being overlooked for the West Coast Eagles team in Round 1 while Alec Waterman, Kane Lucas, Simon Tunbridge and Jamie Bennell have been named out for the Royals but could still line-up if they don’t make the final Eagles team to play the Western Bulldogs.

On top of Lee, Gardoud and Schofield coming into the East Perth line-up, Callum Hart, Scott Jones, Mitch Howlett, Tom Shanahan and Clayton Giblett are all in the mix to hit the field during the league match on Good Friday.

SOUTH FREMANTLE (2-0, 2nd) v CLAREMONT (0-1, 8th) – FREMANTLE OVAL, FRIDAY 6.00PM
Selected teams
Broadcast – KIX Perth Digital

South Fremantle and Claremont meet on Good Friday evening at Fremantle Oval in what should be a tremendous occasion with the prospect of a strong turn out to take advantage of the action under lights at the port.

Up until South Fremantle's thumping 64-point win over Claremont in Round 7 last year at Fremantle Oval, the Tigers had dominated the recent history with the Bulldogs.

Since South Fremantle won the 2009 premiership, Claremont won the next nine meetings between the two teams during which time the Tigers claimed four minor premierships and won two flags in both 2011 and 2012 while also making the grand final in 2010.

South Fremantle, meanwhile, has only played finals once since winning the flag in 2009, and that was in 2011, but now the Bulldogs have started the new season in impressive fashion.

South Fremantle has beaten West Perth and Perth to open the season to have now won its first two games of a year for the first time since winning the opening six of 2006 as reigning premiers.

Taking into account last year as well, and the Bulldogs are now on a seven-game winning streak after recording wins in the final five matches of 2014.

Claremont had the bye last weekend following an opening round loss to the reigning premiers Subiaco, but will now be fresh and desperate to try and avoid the sort of start to the season the Tigers had last year losing eight of their first 11 matches.

Both South Fremantle and Claremont have some strong inclusions as well for the Good Friday evening contest making sure of an even more fascinating contest at Fremantle Oval.

The biggest news at South Fremantle is the return of premiership small forward Cory Dell'Olio who will play his first game with the Bulldogs since the losing first semi-final to Subiaco in 2011.

Up to that point, Dell'Olio had played 58 games and kicked 109 goals for the Bulldogs while also representing Western Australia. That saw him drafted by Essendon where he has spent the last three years managing to play 16 AFL matches.

He has returned to the Bulldogs now in 2015 and after being forced to sit out the opening two rounds of the season, he will play on Good Friday against Claremont.

And with South Fremantle's forward-line also looking strong led by Ben Saunders, James Sellar and Josh Pullman, and with Craig White at their feet, the presence of Dell'Olio will only serve to provide the Bulldogs with another goalkicking option.

Two-time premiership player and 135-game veteran Ashton Hams is also set to return after being a late withdrawal against Perth last week.

Another former AFL player, Adam Carter, is also a chance to come in for his first league game of 2015 after racking up 25 possessions in the reserves last Saturday against Perth.

Jarrod Parry could also come in for his first league game of the year after missing Round 1 through injury and then playing against the Demons in the reserves last Saturday where he racked up 30 possessions and kicked a goal.

Chris Luff could come in to play his first game with South Fremantle to help combat Claremont's tall forwards while Jacob Dragovich is in the mix for a league debut as well.

With such strong options at the selection table in terms of inclusion, someone will always have to make room and at this stage the unlucky trio at South Fremantle are Toby Bairstow, Jacob Martinez, and Bailey Matera.

There are also some important inclusions at Claremont led by the return of captain Jake Murphy.

The 25-year-old was one of the best midfielders in the competition during a tremendous and dominant season for the Tigers in 2013 and following that year, he was appointed captain.

However, he had an injury-interrupted start to his captaincy in 2014 playing just 11 league matches and now after an interrupted pre-season and playing Round 1 in the reserves against Subiaco, Murphy is back to lead the Tigers into battle against the Bulldogs on Good Friday.

Anton Hamp is also back for Claremont to play either as a key forward or defender while Maximillian Bentley, Jack Beeck and Sam Petrevski-Seton are also in the mix.

Petrevski-Seton is one of the more exciting young players coming through and after a strong game in the colts to open the season with 24 disposals and a goal, he could make his league debut.

WEST PERTH (1-1, 5th) v PERTH (0-2, 9th) – HBF ARENA, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Selected teams

West Perth and Perth do battle at Joondalup's HBF Arena on Saturday afternoon with the Demons looking to snap a 16-game losing streak and trying to beat the Falcons for the first time since 2011.

West Perth has won its last six matches against Perth with the Demons last win coming back in Round 18, 2011 when they put in a terrific showing to beat the Falcons by 29 points at HBF Arena.

However, that Perth team consisted of the likes of Andrew McDougall, Ross Young, Brett Hodge, Scott Siekierka, Drew Robinson, Jarrod Kayler-Thomson, Matthew Moody, Aaron Zucconi, Matthew Rogers, Nick Kane, Matt Tedesco and Joel Leeson.

All those were quality players and the only remaining player from that side likely to play on Saturday is Chris Billings. Hodge and Michael Florio are the other two still at the club, but Hodge remains sidelined with his arm injury and Florio is in the reserves.

Perth has now lost 16 straight matches after losing its last 14 of 2014 and then its first two of 2015 under new coach Earl Spalding against Swan Districts and South Fremantle.

The opening round loss to Swan Districts was by an emphatic 96 points and last week against South Fremantle looked capable of being something similar with the Bulldogs leading by 42 points during the third quarter, but the Demons finished strongly to only lose by 10 points.

West Perth, meanwhile, started its season in disappointing fashion as well with a 35-point defeat at the hands of South Fremantle at Fremantle Oval, but the Falcons bounced back strongly last Saturday with a strong seven-point win over Peel Thunder at HBF Arena.

The Falcons will also be celebrating another milestone with Andrew Strijk playing his 150th match with the club.

Strijk made his league debut with the Falcons in 2006 and immediately made his mark as a dangerous, long-kicking wingman and half-forward. He then started to make his mark setting up play across half-back with his kicking always a highlight.

He was drafted by the West Coast Eagles playing 13 AFL games before returning to the Falcons full-time in 2013 and starring right throughout the premiership year, ending up with the Breckler Medal as joint fairest and best alongside Shane Nelson.

Along the way, he has represented Western Australia three times and now coming off a best on ground display against Peel, will earn his life membership this Saturday.

West Perth is coming off a strong showing to record its first win of the season last Saturday against Perth with the Falcons only forced into making the one change with emerging key position player Max Alexander out of the side with an ankle injury.

Key position players isn’t one thing that the Falcons have an abundance of and Alexander has been playing well in defence in the first two games of the season, so the coaching staff will have a decision to make if that means that both Marcus Adams and Nick Rodda need to hold down the key defensive posts for the time being.

The loss of Alexander could open the door for Tim Sutherland to make his league debut, though, and he has the ability to both play as a key defender and provide Chris Keunen with some support in the ruck.

However, after Michael Lourey kicked four goals last week as a key forward he might be able to provide the main target in attack for West Perth with the support of the likes of Matt Fowler, Kody Manning, Luke Meadows, Matt Johnson and Steve Potente around him.

Corey Chalmers, Aidan Lynch and Blake Wilhelm are three other West Perth who are in the mix to come into the league side to take on Perth on Saturday after strong form in the reserves.

Perth's side does look to have less strength in it from last week to this week on paper with former AFL players Chance Bateman and Jarryd Morton going out of the line-up.

However, both players went down injured during the first half last Saturday against South Fremantle and the Demons were able to storm back from 39 points down with five goals in 10 minutes during the last quarter without that pair.

So that should give Perth confidence of going into the clash with West Perth without that important duo and the Demons have every reason to have taken plenty of belief out of the way they finished the game with the Bulldogs.

Christian Eyres is a chance to come into the Perth line-up to offer some more height and to partner with Ben Power in the ruck after he did a solid job last week against South Fremantle.

Callum Collard kicked 33 goals in 16 games last year for Perth and now is in line to play his first game of 2015 and will provide another strong goalkicking option for the Demons alongside Mitch Morton and the emerging Cody Leggett.

Rowan Brookes, Kieran Hug and Kurtis Chester are also in the mix to play for the Demons against the Falcons on Saturday at HBF Arena in the league match.

PEEL THUNDER (0-1, 7th) v EAST FREMANTLE (1-1, 4th) – BENDIGO BANK STADIUM, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Selected teams
Broadcast – 91.3 SportFM

Peel Thunder and East Fremantle have now made it a tradition in recent years to meet over Easter and that is again the case this weekend with the two teams doing battle on Saturday at Bendigo Bank Stadium.

Peel has hosted East Fremantle the last two years on Good Friday and while the Sharks have won both encounters, the crowds of 2653 and 2235 have been impressive for the Thunder.

And despite this year's contest being on Easter Saturday, there is every reason to suggest another good crowd will attend and it's an important match for both teams as well.

Peel had the bye in the opening round before then losing to West Perth by seven points last Saturday while East Fremantle started its season so impressively beating East Perth by 55 points, but the Sharks then lost last Saturday to Subiaco by 47 points at ATOM Stadium.

Peel Thunder captain Brendon Jones is also set to play his 200th WAFL match and the 28-year-old continues to be the most unheralded WAFL player of the last decade.

Jones made his debut with Perth in 2004 and went on to play 101 games with the Demons up until the end of 2009 during which time he won the 2008 fairest and best.

Life meant that living in Mandurah was on the cards so it made sense to continue his WAFL career with Peel and ever since, Jones has become one of the Thunder's finest servants having now played 98 games with the club and winning the 2012 and 2014 fairest and best awards while finishing as runner-up in 2010 and 2011 as well.

He has averaged over 20 possessions a game over the course of 199 matches and it's a great reward for his dedication to now be set to notch his 200th appearance in the league.

Peel's team does lose Connor Blakely and Paul Duffield to Fremantle duties this weekend in the AFL, but it's still a strong looking line-up with some more than handy inclusions to take on the Sharks in their first home match of 2015.

Leroy Jetta is someone Peel was able to recruit to add some quality and experience to their WAFL playing stocks in 2015, and he looks set to play his first league games with the Thunder on Saturday.

Jetta was originally drafted from South Fremantle and has spent the past eight years in the AFL with Essendon where he played 93 games and kicked 80 goals.

He has spent the summer playing tremendous football in the Northern Territory Football League, and now after being forced to sit out last week's game against West Perth, he is available to play against East Fremantle on Saturday and looks set to have a significant impact both in the midfield and across half-forward.

Peel will also be significantly taller to face East Fremantle on Saturday with Jack Hannath and Matt Taberner from Fremantle both to play to add to the talls Jonathon Griffin and Michael Apeness who also played last week against West Perth.

Colin Sylvia is another Fremantle-listed player to come in for Peel after missing the game against West Perth while Cruize Garlett did everything he possibly could in the reserves last week to earn a call up with 43 possessions.

East Fremantle had a disappointing showing at home last Saturday against Subiaco coming off the impressive opening round victory over East Perth.

The only player to lose his place in the Sharks side at this stage to take on Peel on Saturday is Conor Regan following the first two matches of his league career to open the new season.

Liam Anthony's presence was sorely missed last week against Subiaco following his 28 possessions and two goals in the opening round against East Perth.

He is right to return this week against Peel with Dion Anthony, Jack Fletcher and Miles Franklin all the mix to come in for the Sharks against the Thunder as well.