McDonald's WAFL Round 13 PreviewFriday, June 19, 2015 - 4:32 PM - by Chris Pike

IT IS Men's Health Round in the WAFL with four crucial matches on Saturday afternoon including a battle between the two teams on big winning runs, a clash for the Garlic Munchers Cup and then East Perth, East Fremantle and Swan Districts all needing to win to keep in touch for the finals.

Claremont hosts Subiaco in the earlier starting match on Saturday with the Tigers coming into the clash on a five-game winning run while the Lions have won seven straight setting up a tantalising match up at the Claremont Showground.

West Perth and South Fremantle are then both trying to consolidate their places in the top five when they battle over the Garlic Munchers Cup at HBF Arena with East Perth taking on East Fremantle at Medibank Stadium and Perth hosting Swan Districts at Lathlain Park.

CLAREMONT (5-5, 5th) v SUBIACO (9-1, 1st) – CLAREMONT SHOWGROUND, SATURDAY 1.40PM
Selected teams 
Broadcast – 7mate

Claremont and Subiaco are without question the two form teams of the WAFL right now and that sets up a tantalising match up between the two teams on Saturday at the Claremont Showground.

Both teams were expected to be strong forces coming into 2015, but nobody could have predicted just how dominant the Lions have been and how poor of a start the Tigers would have before now having turned things around to currently sit in fifth position.

Subiaco deserves to be the raging premiership favourites entering Round 13 having only lost one game this season and now having won seven straight matches coming off the 2014 premiership, but Claremont do look to be capable of really testing them on Saturday.

The Lions have certainly had challenges right throughout the season with injuries to key players, but nothing has been able to halt their dominance before and after a loss on Good Friday to East Perth.

The Tigers started the season disastrously with five straight losses and things looked decidedly bleak following a loss to Perth, but they have turned things around since in stunning fashion scoring wins over West Perth, Swan Districts, East Perth, Peel Thunder and then Perth last Sunday by 44 points.

That has seen Claremont move into the top five for the first time this season and the Tigers do look capable of being genuine contenders this year, but taking it up to the Lions is the biggest test in the WAFL by far right now.

The two teams met earlier this season back in Round 1 but that was with the Tigers well short of their best team. While the Lions were missing some players as well, Subiaco was able to dominate the second half after a tight first half.

The Lions led by just 12 points at half-time, but then kicked eight goals to three after the long break to end up winning by 45 points.

Despite having won seven straight games and losing once so far this season to be three games clear on top of the ladder entering Round 13, Subiaco has never been able to field its strongest team this year and that will again be the case on Saturday against Claremont at the Showground.

The Lions were down to one man on the bench last week against South Fremantle before half-time with Darren Rumble (calf), Hayden Kennedy (concussion) and Brett Robinson (foot) suffering an early end to their afternoons.

Five-time premiership and state player Darren Rumble is a confirmed out to face the Tigers with his calf injury, and Robinson and Kennedy have been named in the side but must remain in some doubt to take their place on Saturday.

While Subiaco has adequate cover for Robinson in the midfield and for Kennedy as a small defender, the loss of Rumble might be tough to make up for particularly against Claremont who possess a forward-line including Beau Maister, Kepler Bradley, Darcy Cameron and at times, Mark Seaby and Haydn Busher.

Will Fetherstonhaugh and Rhys Waters also go out of the Subiaco team as well, but the reigning premiers have some handy reinforcements to come back in.

Premiership captain Kyal Horsley will make his return and play his first league game since Round 3 having recovered from a calf injury and making a strong return in the reserves last Saturday with 28 possessions in the reserves against South Fremantle.

Another premiership midfielder, Brett Mahoney, is also set to return from injury for the Lions with Dylan Elliott, Braden Fimmano, Craig Hoskins and Declan Jackson also continuing their strong form in the reserves to put themselves in the mix to return to the dominant league side as well.

There's little reason for Claremont to look to make changes to a side that has now won five straight matches following Sunday's 44-point win over Perth.

However, there are some quality players looking to break into the Tigers line-up and dual premiership midfielder Tom Swift is leading that charge after returning in the reserves last Sunday against the Demons and picking up 24 disposals.

Another premiership player, ruckman Mitch Andrews continues to dominate in the reserves for Claremont and had another 24 touches, 10 marks, 29 hit outs and five goals against Perth but with Seaby, Cameron, Busher, Bradley and Master in the league side, it's not easy to find room for him.

Key defender Jordan McAllister is also ready to return from injury for the Tigers as well and his reward for coming back very well could be the challenge of trying to stop Subiaco's Bernie Naylor Medal leader Shane Yarran.

WEST PERTH (6-4, 2nd) v SOUTH FREMANTLE (6-5, 4th) – HBF ARENA, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Selected teams 
Broadcast – 91.3 SportFM 

West Perth and South Fremantle meet on Saturday for the annual Garlic Munchers Cup at HBF Arena with plenty at stake with the winner to further consolidate their position inside the top five while the loser will be in danger of fall outside of a finals position altogether.

The Falcons enter the clash in second position with a 6-4 record and the Bulldogs are fourth at 6-5 so the winner will occupy second position come Saturday night, while the loser will be in danger of being leapfrogged on the ladder by either Claremont, East Perth, Swan Districts or East Fremantle.

The clash at HBF Arena will also have the Garlic Munchers Cup at stake with the two clubs striking the clash to pay tribute to the contribution of European migrants to both football clubs.

South Fremantle won the inaugural Garlic Munchers Cup battle at HBF Arena in 2013 before West Perth got even last year with a dominant victory at Fremantle Oval meaning the Falcons currently hold the trophy, but the honours are 1-1 in the battles over the first two years.

West Perth and South Fremantle have both played a mixture of outstanding and disappointing football in 2015 so far, but they are now looking to string together consistently good performances.

West Perth has looked good in wins over East Fremantle, East Perth, Peel (twice), Perth and Swan Districts this season, but then not so good in losses to Claremont, East Perth, South Fremantle and Swan Districts.

South Fremantle has been similar, looking good beating Claremont, East Fremantle, East Perth, Perth (twice) and West Perth, but being disappointing against East Fremantle, Peel, Subiaco (twice) and Swan Districts.

The stakes are high, both teams play an exciting and attacking brand of football when allowed to and are looking to cement their finals position, so the third Garlic Munchers Cup battle looms as a beauty.

South Fremantle and West Perth met in Round 1 on a Friday night at Fremantle Oval to open the 2015 season, and the Bulldogs controlled the contest for much of the evening to end up convincing 14.6 (90) to 8.7 (55) winners.

The Bulldogs have also enjoyed their time playing at the Joondalup venue winning 15 of their 23 visits to the ground since West Perth moved there in 1994.

That has included South Fremantle winning at HBF Arena by 23 points in Round 5 last year while also winning by 39 points in 2013, nine points in 2012 and 25 points in 2011 so heading north will hold no fears for the Bulldogs having won their last four visits.

West Perth is coming off the bye following the impressive win over Peel, but that hasn’t given hard winning ball winner Rohan Kerr enough time to recover from a back injury, and he goes out of the team to play the Bulldogs on Saturday at HBF Arena.

Premiership player and hard man Kody Manning is right to come into the West Perth line-up, though, after missing the win over Peel.

Another premiership star, Ray Bartholomew, could return to the side after some solid form in the reserves as well with defender Joe Morrow continuing to make a strong inclusion for his first league game of the season with good form in the reserves.

Brent Fotheringham is also playing his best football since joining West Perth with the former East Perth and Peel Thunder left footer having kicked nine goals in his last three games of the reserves and having a good impact around the ground both with the ball and his physical approach.

That puts the 25-year-old in with a chance of making his first league appearance for West Perth and to add to the six games he played at both the Royals and Thunder.

South Fremantle's forward-line will still be missing dual Bernie Naylor Medallist Ben Saunders with a hamstring injury and premiership-winning state player Cory Dell'Olio with a calf complaint.

That leaves Josh Pullman, James Sellar and Paul Mugambwa with the responsibility to provide the targets in attack and to hit the scoreboard, with Brock Higgins potentially spending time in the forward-line as well if fellow ruckman Josh Branchi returns to the line-up for the Bulldogs.

Craig White, Jacob Dragovich, the returning Jacob Martinez and potentially captain Ryan Cook will also be called on to not only provide plenty of pressure in the forward-line for South Fremantle, but to kick goals as well if the Bulldogs are going to win.

Key defender Zac Strom, prolific ball winner Brendan Verrier and small defender Jason Maskos are also in the mix to make a return to the South Fremantle line-up to take on West Perth at HBF Arena on Saturday.

Experienced pair Shaun Bewick and Toby Bairstow are out of the South Fremantle side to make way for those returning and taking 187 games of league experience back to the reserves with them. Bairstow will be particularly disappointed to miss the 100th game of good friend Adam Guglielmana.

EAST PERTH (5-6, 6th) v EAST FREMANTLE (5-6, 8th) – MEDIBANK STADIUM, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Selected teams 
Broadcast - KIX Digital

East Perth and East Fremantle both come into Saturday's clash at Medibank Stadium outside of the top five and neither can afford to lose and potentially fall further out of a finals position with just eight games of their season to go.

The Royals are coming off a grand final appearance last year while the Sharks had every excuse to consider themselves unlucky for losing the preliminary final as well, so they had good reason to expect to be finals teams again in 2015.

However, coming into the Round 13 clash at Medibank Stadium both teams sit on 5-6 records and are only separated by percentage, and the difference between a win and a loss come Saturday night will be significant.

The winner of the Royals and Sharks clash will likely move into the top five and put themselves in with a good chance of playing finals come the end of the season while the loser will slip to a 5-7 record and then face a tough challenge to keep their finals hopes alive in coming weeks.

East Perth had been in impressive form leading into Sunday's clash with Peel with two straight wins on the back of losing three consecutive games, but the Royals came up 22 points short of the Thunder.

East Fremantle, meanwhile, has now lost four straight games to go from looking strong in second spot at 5-2 to now be struggling in second last spot at 5-6 and desperate for a win on Saturday.

East Fremantle and East Perth met back in Round 1 on Saturday night at Domain Stadium in the first game broadcast by Channel 7, and in front of over 5000 people the Sharks turned on a dominant and outstanding performance to beat the Royals by 55 points.

East Perth played well for most of last Sunday's game with Peel but in the finish the absence of Tom Barrass in the defence, and not having any of Scott Lycett, Fraser McInnes and Jack Darling hurt in the eventual 22-point loss.

Lycett has again not been named in the Royals team to take on East Fremantle on Saturday at Medibank Stadium and Darling likely won't be seen at WAFL level again this year now that he's back in the Eagles line-up.

However, McInnes has been named as an emergency for West Coast for the Friday night clash with Richmond at the MCG meaning he remains a chance to still line-up for the Royals on Saturday.

His presence could be crucial to provide East Perth with a key forward target to kick to and to also provide some support for Paul Johnson in the ruck.

Barrass has also been named to return for East Perth after missing Sunday's clash with Peel while another Eagle, Corey Adamson could make his league debut with the former baseball star developing nicely so far in 2015 with some impressive form in the reserves.

Shayne Hille, Agid Gardoud, Damian Cavka and Scott Jones are also in the mix to get a call up into the East Perth side.

Small defender Jamie Bennell has also been named as an emergency for the Eagles but still should play with the Royals on Saturday against the Sharks but Malcolm Karpany hasn’t been able to keep his place in the team.

New East Fremantle coach Brad Dodd has made some big calls heading into his second game in charge of the Sharks since replacing Steve Malaxos dropping former captain Mark McGough and underperforming forward Ryan Lester-Smith for the clash with the Royals.

Fraser Perry will also miss the game for East Fremantle following an impressive league debut on Sunday against Swan Districts where he kicked three goals.

Jake Schleicher has been banging down the door to return to the East Fremantle team for three weeks in the reserves now since an injury, and he should get the call up to play on Saturday following 36 possessions on Sunday against Swan Districts.

Brandon Ellis should also return to the side to replace Perry and Lester-Smith in the forward-line after kicking six goals in the reserves on Sunday while Jack Perham also returns to offer a target but he will need to start doing better than the eight goals in 10 games he's delivered so far in 2015.

Sam Read is another important inclusion for East Fremantle and will strengthen the defence after he missed the game against Swans.

Andrew Holmes could also come into the Sharks team with Josef Hebiton a chance to become the fourth debutant in six days having played 10 colts games so far in 2015.

PERTH (1-10, 9th) v SWAN DISTRICTS (5-6, 7th) – LATHLAIN PARK, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Selected teams 

Perth and Swan Districts do battle for the third time already this season, and second time in three weeks, when they clash on Saturday at Lathlain Park.

The Demons will also be hoping their improved performance from Round 1 to Round 10 against Swans will continue as well as they search for a second win of the year, but the black-and-whites need to win to avoid remaining on the outside of the top five looking in.

Swan Districts scored a crucial win over East Fremantle last Sunday to improve to a 5-6 record to now only be percentage outside of the top five, but they do need to start stringing some wins together if they want to play finals in 2015.

Meanwhile, Perth might have won just the once so far this season but have been competitive and a chance to win plenty more games than that with only some lapses during matches letting them down.

But they are making themselves tough to beat and that's a good trait for new coach Earl Spalding to be developing within his young side.

Perth and Swan Districts have already met twice this season with Swans scoring a thumping 96-point victory at Steel Blue Oval back in Round 1 to open the season, but it was a much tighter affair just three weeks ago also at the Bassendean venue.

Swans ended up again winning by seven points but not without a spirited fourth quarter comeback from the Demons that saw them close to within a point at one stage.

Perth's hopes of getting its second win of the season haven't been helped with the two-week suspension to Jarryd Morton.

He was outstanding last Sunday against Claremont kicking seven goals and almost single-handedly keeping the Demons in the contest, but he will now be sorely missed this Saturday against Swans with the answer as to where the goals now come from not an obvious one.

The added bonus to his stunning performance at full-forward was that it allowed his older brother Mitch to spend more time up the ground and he had 24 possessions, a host of clearances and still two goals.

That was his first chance to move out of full-forward virtually all season and it worked well for the Demons but now with Jarryd's suspension, Mitch again becomes Perth's best goalkickng option so he will likely have to spend more time deep inside the forward 50 again on Saturday.

Brennan Stack and Callum Collard are also in the mix to return to the Perth side to provide some attacking options, but neither have been able to find their best form so far in 2015 either in the league or reserves teams.

Blake Borrett will also come back into the Demons side to replace ruckman Christian Eyres while tagger Kieran Hug is a chance and experienced utility Daniel O'Sullivan should be right to return after missing Sunday's loss to Claremont.

Premiership veteran forward Tim Geappen should return for Swan Districts after he injured his hamstring back in the Round 10 victory over Perth at Steel Blue Oval.

Jason Daniels, Dylan Nelson, Lindsay Murray and Warrick Wilson are all in the mix to return to the black-and-whites team as well after playing well in the reserves last Sunday against East Fremantle.

Daniels had 25 possessions and 12 tackles, Nelson eight goals from 20 disposals and eight marks, Murray 25 touches and Wilson 25 possessions to all make a strong case for a league recall this Saturday against Perth at Lathlain Park.

Former Perth leading goalkicker Simon Donovan goes out of the Swan Districts team from the one that beat East Fremantle on Sunday with Jackson Slater also out of the line-up.