McDonald's WAFL Round 9 PreviewFriday, May 15, 2015 - 10:28 PM - by Chris Pike

THE last WAFL Round prior to next Saturday's State match with South Australia takes place this Saturday afternoon with all four matches throwing up some tantalising clashes with none better than West Perth and East Fremantle fighting over second spot.

Three of the four matches all begin at 2.15pm with West Perth taking on East Fremantle at Joondalup's HBF Arena, Subiaco playing Swan Districts at Leederville's Medibank Stadium, and Claremont facing East Perth at the Claremont Showground.

Then at 2.40pm, Subiaco and Swan Districts will face off at Leederville's Medibank Stadium with that match broadcast live on 7mate.

WEST PERTH (4-3, 3rd) v EAST FREMANTLE (5-2, 2nd) – HBF ARENA, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Selected teams 
Broadcast – 91.3 SportFM 

With the winner set to sit in second position heading into the State game break, there is plenty at stake heading into Saturday's clash between West Perth and East Fremantle with both coming off performances that were both disappointing and scintillating at different times.

Perhaps the simplest way to describe why the match should be fascinating is the fact that East Fremantle kicked 10 goals in the first quarter last Sunday while West Perth booted 10 majors in its last quarter on Saturday.

That shows that both teams are capable of piling on goals in a hurry and in exciting fashion when they are up and going.

However, East Fremantle was outscored by Perth for the rest of the day on Sunday at ATOM Stadium to only end up winning by 24 points after leading by 43, while West Perth came back from 42 points down against East Perth late in the third quarter to end up winning by 38.

The Sharks' win over the Demons saw them win a fourth straight match to improve to a 5-2 record to be a game clear in second position, but the Falcons sit just behind on 4-3 and with a superior percentage they will move into second spot with a win on Saturday.

East Fremantle has now won the last four games against West Perth coming into Saturday's clash at HBF Arena as well with the Sharks beating the Falcons by 73 points in Round 22, 2013 just over a month before West Perth went on to win the premiership.

Then last year the Sharks won all three meetings over the Falcons by three points in Round 1, nine points in Round 12 and 17 points in Round 20. 

West Perth will make at least one change from the team that beat East Perth last Saturday with speedy small forward Kris Shannon going out of the side meaning that either Marc Crisp or Steve Potente loom as the natural replacement for him.

Both Crisp and Potente are 2013 premiership players with the Falcons, but Crisp has been in the reserves now for the last six games and Potente for the last three. However, they have continued to work hard to keep their names in the mix for a league recall.

Tyler Keitel could be in line to make his WAFL league debut as well having now played three matches in the reserves with West Perth since being cleared to join the Falcons from East Perth.

Particularly with East Fremantle possessing a forward-line that will include James Bristow, Rob Young, Jack Perham, Brandon Ellis and Ryan Lester-Smith, his height might be required to help out in West Perth's defensive unit.

Blake Wilhelm is another West Perth player who has been working hard in the reserves and the 22-year-old continues to press to get the chance to make his league debut.

East Fremantle will still be without experienced and quality midfielders Jamie McNamara and Bradd Dalziell for the clash with West Perth, and then State defender Andrew Stephen joins them after he strained his hamstring during the first half of last Sunday's win over Perth.

However, the Sharks' defence will be strengthened with the return of Matthew Jupp who will play his first game since having his jaw broken against Claremont back in Round 4.

Jake Schleicher should also return to further strengthen East Fremantle's midfield after he was a late withdrawal from last Sunday's win over Perth. Aaron Holmes and Jack Fletcher have continued to perform solidly in the reserves as well to put themselves in the mix for a spot in the league team.

SUBIACO (6-1, 1st) v SWAN DISTRICTS (3-4, 6th) – MEDIBANK STADIUM, SATURDAY 2.40PM
Selected teams 
Broadcast – 7mate

Subiaco has a chance to continue to extend its lead atop the WAFL ladder heading into the State game break but Swan Districts' best football has been outstanding this year and the black-and-whites will be confident of taking it right up to the Lions at Medibank Stadium.

Subiaco is coming off winning last year's premiership and has now won six of seven matches this season to be a game and percentage clear on top of the ladder.

If East Fremantle loses to West Perth on Saturday with Subiaco beating Swan Districts, the Lions could move two games clear on top of the ladder heading into the State game break and with the prospect of still getting better in the second half of year.

That means that it is a big task for Swans to knock them off but the black-and-whites' best football this season has been as good as any teams.

Swans thumped Perth by 96 points, handed South Fremantle its first loss of the season and then beat Peel by 47 points after the Thunder were on a four-game winning streak.

However, consistency has been the problem for Swans and now following a loss last week to Claremont in Mt Barker, they will be looking to bounce back this Saturday against Subiaco at Medibank Stadium.

Subiaco did lose by 64 points to East Perth on Good Friday, but outside of that has beaten Claremont, East Fremantle, West Perth, South Fremantle, Perth and Peel by an average of 49 points to be putting together some ominous form.

Also of interest in the game will be the fact that Brett Robinson will be playing against Swan Districts for the first time since joining Subiaco this season.

Robinson played 83 matches with Swans and was a key player in the 2010 premiership team after crossing to the black-and-whites from VFL club Werribee.

He joined Swan Districts at the same time and from the same club as Wayde Twomey with the pair playing in that 2010 premiership together, but now being Subiaco teammates as they prepare to face their old side on Saturday.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Subiaco's dominant form so far this season has been the fact that the Lions are yet to come all that close to fielding what they would consider their best 22.

And again on Saturday captain Kyal Horsley, premiership full-forward Matt Boland and former Fremantle-listed utility Sam Menegola will remain sidelined.
 
However, another premiership player will return with centre half-forward Lachlan Delahunty to come back into the line-up after missing the last three games through injury. Prior to that, though, he was in outstanding form both in the forward-line and pinch hitting in the ruck.

Ray Daniels and Tom Smith are two more Subiaco players who are continually playing well in the reserves and making a case for themselves to be recalled into the Lions' league side.

There are plenty of changes at Swan Districts coming out of last Saturday's loss to Claremont in Mt Barker.

Steven Wityk goes out of the black-and-whites side through injury but key forwards is one area that Swans are strengthened with this Saturday with 154-game premiership veteran Tim Geappen and full-forward Ricky Cary both set to return despite Joel Houghton remaining sidelined through injury as well.

Hard working midfielder Adam Faulkner will also return to the league side for Swans after 23 possessions in the reserves last week on the back of missing the Round 7 win over Peel Thunder through injury.

Jacob Burnham, Albert Dean and Jesse Turner are other players for Swan Districts who are in the mix to take on Subiaco on Saturday after some consistent form in the reserves.

Coach Greg Harding has been blooding plenty of youngsters this season with Swans and backing them in, but three of those go out of the team to face the Lions with Levi Ridley, Warrick Wilson and Dylan Nelson all losing their place in the team following the loss to Claremont.

CLAREMONT (2-5, 8th) v EAST PERTH (3-4, 7th) – CLAREMONT SHOWGROUND, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Selected teams 
Broadcast – 720 ABC Perth

Claremont has now won two games on the trot and East Perth lost its last two leading into what looms as an intriguing battle between the Tigers and Royals at the Claremont Showground on Saturday.

Claremont lost its opening five matches of the season with the Tigers unable to play their best football or get their best team out on the park, but both have started to turn the last fortnight and the result has been victories over West Perth and Swan Districts.

That puts the Tigers right back in the hunt for a spot in the top five again and if they can beat East Perth on Saturday they will just be one game outside of a finals position, but the Royals will be desperate to make up for what happened in the last 40 minutes last Saturday.

Coming off a loss to South Fremantle the previous Saturday where East Perth kicked the last three goals of the game to close to within 13 points, the Royals looked home and hosed leading West Perth by 42 points late in the third quarter HBF Arena.

However, East Perth conceded the last 12 goals of the game to end up losing by 38 points and to leave them also looking up at the top five from below with a 3-4 record from seven matches so far this season.

With one team looking to continue its improved winning form and the other out to rediscover their winning formula, it should be a terrific contest.

There will be fascinating match ups all over the field as well but none more worth watching than the best WAFL ruckmen in recent years going head to head as East Perth's Paul Johnson tackles Claremont's Mark Seaby.

Claremont has now strung two wins together and is getting closer to fielding its strongest side for 2015 as well for the first time.

Despite captain Jake Murphy and premiership midfielder Tom Swift still being out of the line-up, Anton Hamp, Mark Seaby and Corey Yeo are all back now playing well after injury-interrupted starts to the season.

And now Simpson Medal-winning forward Beau Maister has served his four-week suspension suffered in his only game of the season so far back in Round 4 against East Fremantle.

He will come straight back into the team this Saturday to take on East Perth and add some further potency to a Claremont forward-line already including Jack Bradshaw, Ian Richardson, Kepler Bradley and Darcy Cameron.

Mitch Andrews did a terrific job holding down the ruck for Claremont in the first six games of the season before missing last Saturday's win over Swan Districts in Mt Barker, and he could now come back in to take on East Perth this Saturday.

Matthew Goyder had done good stopping jobs over the first six games of the season for Claremont before finding himself back in the reserves last week. He picked up 24 possessions and that could be enough to see him come straight back into the league side for the Tigers.

East Perth co-captain Brendan Lee should be right to return after missing last Saturday's loss to West Perth with a hamstring injury. He was dearly missed in the midfield particularly when things turned against the Royals in the last 40 minutes so his leadership will be a welcome return.

Brant Colledge has also been in outstanding ball-winning and goalkicking form so far this season with East Perth and he is set to return after missing the game against West Perth.

West Coast's Jackson Nelson is set to make his WAFL debut after being dropped by the Eagles following last Sunday's win over Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval.

Malcolm Karpany had one game back in the reserves from injury last week with East Perth and was solid so could come straight back into the league team.

Clayton Giblett, Tom Hodgson, Zachary Dent and Brandon Hughes are all a chance to earn a call up for the Royals to take on the Tigers on Saturday as well.

Freddie Clutterbuck was due to play his 100th game with the Royals this Saturday but that milestone will have to wait due to a calf injury suffered in the defeat to West Perth.

Mark Hutchings worked hard in the midfield for the Royals last week against the Falcons and that has been enough to see him earn a call up to play his first AFL game of the season with West Coast on Saturday night against the Gold Coast Suns at Domain Stadium.

Scott Lycett hasn’t been named in either East Perth or West Coast's squad for Saturday so time will tell if he ends up playing anywhere after a strong game last week for the Royals.

Patrick McGinnity and Kane Lucas should still play with East Perth after being named as emergencies for the Eagles.

SOUTH FREMANTLE (4-3, 5th) v PEEL THUNDER (4-3, 4th) – FREMANTLE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Selected teams 
Broadcast – KIX Digital

South Fremantle returned to the winner's list prior to last week's bye ending a three-game losing slide and now the Bulldogs will be looking to make it two straight heading into the State game break while handing Peel Thunder a third successive loss as well at Fremantle Oval on Saturday.

Both South Fremantle and Peel currently occupy positions inside the WAFL's top five heading into the round, but the loser on Saturday could find themselves slipping outside if either Swan Districts or East Perth are able to record victories at the same time.

Meanwhile, the winner will improve to an impressive 5-3 record heading into the State game and consolidate a position inside the top five and likely finish the round in third position on the ladder.

South Fremantle started its season in tremendous fashion recording wins over West Perth, Perth and Claremont but then the Bulldogs suffered three straight losses to Swan Districts, Subiaco and East Fremantle before bouncing back prior to the bye with a strong 13-point win over East Perth.

Peel, meanwhile, started the season with a narrow defeat at the hands of West Perth before putting together the club's first ever four-match winning streak with victories against East Fremantle, East Perth, Perth and Claremont.

However, the Thunder have since suffered a 47-point loss to Swan Districts and 60-point loss to Subiaco and they will be looking to stop that losing slide and get back to the form they were in only three weeks ago.

South Fremantle and Peel played out some fascinating battles last year with the Thunder winning by 24 points in Round 9 before the Bulldogs stormed home from 17 points behind in the final quarter to win by a point in Round 20, and then again winning by 30 points in Round 23.

South Fremantle has had the bye to freshen up since the Round 7 win over East Perth, but that break hasn’t helped two key forwards get up to play with Ben Saunders and Josh Pullman both going out of the Bulldogs team that will play Peel this Saturday.

That will require a reshuffle of the forward-line from coach Todd Curley and the first one likely will be 138-game veteran Paul Mugambwa coming in to play his first league match of the season following seven games and 10 goals in the reserves so far in 2015.

Fellow forward John Sgherza will likely return for his second league game of the season for the Bulldogs having also kicked 21 goals in six matches in the reserves so far in 2015.

Dual premiership veteran and 182-game league player Craig White could also make a return after two games in the reserves. He had 24 possessions, 11 inside-50 entries, 10 marks and a goal last up against East Perth prior to the bye.

Brendan Verrier racked up 38 possessions in the reserves against East Perth as well to make sure he comes into calculations to return to take on Peel while former Thunder defender Chris Luff is a chance to get the call up from South Fremantle as well to play his old side for the first time.

Peel will regain Fremantle midfielder Connor Blakely to take on South Fremantle and he has been terrific in the WAFL so far this season averaging over 25 disposals a game. He returns after missing last Saturday's loss to Subiaco.

Ruckman Jonathon Griffin also returns for Peel after missing the game against Subiaco and he will team up with fellow Dockers big man Jack Hannath to make sure that South Fremantle's Brock Higgins will have a long afternoon to compete with two men significantly bigger than him.

Laine Wilkins, Ben Hancock, Stephen Kane and Kieran May are then all a chance to get a call up into the Peel line-up from the reserves.

Tom Sheridan has been named to play with Fremantle against the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium on Sunday so he is out of the Peel team to take on the Bulldogs.

Hayden Crozier should still play with the Thunder after being named as an emergency for the Dockers and another Fremantle player Josh Deluca has lost his place in the Peel team take on South Fremantle.