WAFL RD 3 PREVIEW

RD 3 WAFL PREVIEW | v CLAREMONT

South Fremantle have the chance to make history on Saturday when hosting Claremont at Fremantle Community Bank Oval in Round 3 of the 2026 WAFL season.

The Bulldogs won 15 straight matches to close 2025 capped off with the grand final triumph to win the premiership and now have backed that up with the opening two victories of 2026.

That means South Fremantle have currently won 17 games in-a-row and that equals the mark set by the team of 1953 who won 17 straight matches as well.

That means should the Bulldogs win on Saturday at Fremantle Community Bank Oval then the 18-game winning streak that will be the result will be the longest in the rich and storied history of the club.

The game will get underway on Saturday afternoon at 2:40pm and while South Fremantle is attempting to make history, it’s not going to be an easy task against a Claremont team also unbeaten so far in 2026.

South Fremantle have started their premiership defence with wins against Swan Districts and Perth to open the season while Claremont have also scored victories against West Perth and Peel Thunder.

So it shapes as a good early season test for both teams who have opened up well with the two wins apiece as they resume hostilities of a rivalry that has been strong in recent years including a host of fascinating match ups at Fremantle Community Bank Oval highlighted by the 2020 grand final.

South Fremantle premiership defender Ethan Hughes is now in a second season with the Bulldogs coming off his 107-game AFL career with Fremantle and is looking forward to the challenge against Claremont but isn’t too concerned about the potential winning streak record.

“Clearly they’ve had a couple of good games to start the season and they have some fast ball movement where on turnover they really like to go quick and direct to goals,” Hughes told 91.3 SportFM.

“I think that’s something that we’re going to have to look at, but if we can get the game on our terms clearly that’s going to help us so we’ll prepare well and see what we can do.

“It would be impressive if we do manage to get that (winning streak) but it’s certainly not the front of mind focus. As cliché as it is, it’s week to week and we’re putting our preparation into Claremont this week and we’ll see what we can do.

“Then come Saturday, we’ll give it our best crack and we’ll see what the result stands on.”

The day’s action at Fremantle Community Bank Oval will get underway with the Reserves match up between South Fremantle and Claremont getting underway at 11:55am.

South Fremantle have split their opening two matches of the 2026 season in the Reserves while Claremont is yet to taste a victory coming into the Saturday match up.

The Colts contest will then wrap up proceedings on Saturday night starting at 5:30pm with South Fremantle having made an impressive start to the season winning both their first two matches as have Claremont setting up a tantalising contest in Round 3.