WAFL RD 12 PREVIEW

RD 12 WAFL PREVIEW | v PERTH

South Fremantle got back to the WAFL winner’s list last Saturday and now will look to start to build some momentum into their premiership defence against a Perth team they are on a six-game winning streak against.

Coming off the bye and losing three straight matches, South Fremantle put in a strong showing last Saturday at Fremantle Community Bank Oval to beat West Perth by 39 points.

The Bulldogs will now head to Mineral Resources Park this Saturday to take on a Perth team coming off the bye and prior to that beat Subiaco and Claremont.

That leaves South Fremantle coming into the Round 12 match up that gets underway at the Lathlain venue at 2:10pm in third position with a 6-4 record while the Demons hold the same record to be just a small percentage behind them.

South Fremantle now come into Saturday’s game having won the last six matches against Perth with the last time the Demons beat the Bulldogs was back in Round 7, 2023 at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

South Fremantle have now won those past six matches by an average of 21.6 points including earlier this season in Round 2 at Fremantle Community Bank Oval by 46 points.

On that day, Trey Ruscoe kicked four goals and Aaron Drage two with Matthew Parker racking up 30 possessions, Isiah Winder 28, Jake Florenca 23, Ethan Hughes 23, Glenn Byron 23, Chad Pearson 22, Tom Blechynden 21 and Toby Dodds 21.

The Bulldogs have now also won on their past four visits to Mineral Resources Park to play Perth having not lost to the Demons on their home turf since Round 9, 2020, which was the famous game where the home team booked in their return to the finals for the first time since 1997.

South Fremantle premiership coach Craig White is fully aware of the importance of Saturday’s game and the challenge that Perth present.

“I think there’s just so many eight-point games that there’s going to be in this back end of the season and no more so than our game against Perth on the weekend,” White told 91.3 SportFM.

“They’ve had two great wins against Subiaco and then obviously against Claremont at Claremont which is obviously really tough to do so we’re going to be up against it.

“It’s going to be a big challenge and the weather will probably play a part in it as well whether or not it sets in or not, but either way Mineral Resources is probably the best game to play at in that weather given how well it dries out and that the ground is so good.

“There’s a few factors that will go into play this weekend and which team can play the hardest and smartest will probably be the one that comes out on top.”

South Fremantle are attempting to back up that win over West Perth with Ed Graham and Matthew Parker into the team to take on Perth this Saturday.

Going out for the Bulldogs are Jordan Boullineau and Noah Strom.

From the Perth team that beat Claremont two weeks ago, there’s just the one change to host South Fremantle this week with Corey Byrne coming in and Elijah Scoble going out.

It’s the Colts contest that gets the big day at Mineral Resources Park underway on Saturday with it beginning at 8:55am.

Coming into the game and South Fremantle are fresh off beating West Perth last Saturday morning by 44 points at Fremantle Community Bank Oval which sees them improve to an 8-1 record on the season to remain in top spot in the Colts.

Perth, meanwhile, had the bye last weekend and before that lost to Claremont by 10 points to mean that the Demons sit in last place in the Colts with a 2-7 record so far this season.

That leads into the Reserves match up that will begin at 11:25am between South Fremantle and Perth at Lathlain.

The Bulldogs went down to West Perth last Saturday at home by 59 points with them now sitting in sixth position on the Reserves ladder with a 4-5 record.

The Demons had that bye last weekend in the Reserves as well and prior to that did score a big win against Claremont by 50 points at Revo Fitness Stadium which has them sitting in fifth place with a 5-4 record.