WAFL RD 14 PREVIEW

RD 14 WAFL PREVIEW | v CLAREMONT

South Fremantle and Claremont were the two clubs to start the whole NAIDOC Round celebration in the WAFL and they will again honour the occasion this Saturday in what is also a crucial game in the context of the season for both teams.

The Bulldogs and Tigers will meet for the Jimmy Melbourne Cup which was started back in 2007 before the NAIDOC Week was a celebration right around the country.

Both clubs were the innovators to the concept and it’s an annual tradition that continues and this year’s clash will take place at Revo Fitness Stadium with the game getting underway at 2:10pm.

It’s a big game for both teams too with South Fremantle fresh off beating Subiaco by a point last Saturday and sitting in third position at 7-5 while Claremont is just ahead at 8-4 and coming off a three-point defeat last week to Peel Thunder.

The two teams played out a remarkable thriller earlier this season in Round 13 at Fremantle Community Bank Oval with Claremont ending up snatching the five-point victory from South Fremantle.

It was yet another chapter in the recent rivalry between the two teams and coming into Saturday’s match it’s South Fremantle who have won seven of the 13 meetings since they played the classic grand final at Fremantle Community Bank Oval back in 2020.

South Fremantle captain Chad Pearson has been through the whole rivalry over much of the last decade with Claremont so is fully aware of what the battles are always like, and is expecting no different this Saturday.

“They did beat us earlier on and they’ve been awesome to start the year, and obviously put a big block in at the start winning six or seven games in-a-row to start off the year,” Pearson told 91.3 SportFM.

“It’s always a tough contest against Claremont and always has been over the years, and I don’t think there’s been too many games that have been blown out and it feels like it’s always within a couple of points.

“That reflected in the first game this year as well when they really took their moments and put it to us, and we took a lot of lessons out of that one and are looking forward to this game.

“We’ve got some big games to finish the year and none more than this one and with them second and us third, we’re looking forward to the chance to get some points back on them and to test ourselves against one of the best teams in the comp.”

South Fremantle got back to winning by holding out Subiaco last Saturday and from that team, Cooper Clarke-Dehring, Toby Dodds and Ashton Ferreira are into the line-up to take on Claremont this Saturday.

Going out for the Bulldogs are West Love, Jamaine Jones and Max Thomas.

Claremont had that narrow loss to Peel last Saturday and from that team, Rory Luscombe and Sandover Medallist Bailey Rogers come in to take on the Bulldogs.

Going out for the Tigers are Max Spyvee and Joel Western.

First up at Revo Fitness Stadium on Saturday morning will be the Colts contest between Claremont and South Fremantle starting at 9am.

Both teams come into the contest in winning form too with South Fremantle beating Subiaco by 15 points last Saturday at Fremantle Community Bank Oval while Claremont went down to Mandurah on Friday night and defeated Peel Thunder by nine points.

Coming into Round 14 and the two sides occupy the top positions in the Colts too to set the stage for a fascinating battle with South Fremantle currently in first place and Claremont second but it’s only percentage separating them.

So the winner of the clash between the Bulldogs and Tigers on Saturday morning will be clear in top spot by the end of Round 14.

That leads into the Reserves match up at Revo Fitness Stadium getting underway at 11:30am with South Fremantle currently sitting in seventh position with a 5-6 record while Claremont are the same and just percentage ahead in sixth place.

So that sets up another terrific contest with the winner a chance to finish the round inside the top five with South Fremantle fresh off beating Subiaco by five points last Saturday while Claremont beat Peel Thunder in Mandurah by nine points.