WAFL RD 20 PREVIEW

RD 20 WAFL PREVIEW | v PEEL

South Fremantle can keep destiny in their hands to play finals as the defending WAFL premiers this year by beating Peel Thunder at home on Saturday afternoon.

A thrilling finish to the WAFL season has been set up and coming into the final round with positions between second and seventh all up for grabs.

But all South Fremantle have to worry about is playing Peel Thunder at Fremantle Community Bank Oval and a win for the Bulldogs will guarantee they play finals and are a chance still to defend their premiership.

Coming into the last round and Peel are locked into the minor premiership so no matter what happens they stay in top spot, but with players fighting for spots at AFL level with the Fremantle Dockers, they sure won’t be taking their foot off the gas.

But with Peel locked into top spot and then Swan Districts, East Fremantle and West Perth out of the finals race, that’s when things really get interesting coming into the last round.

Claremont are just about guaranteed to stay second at 11-6 just because of their healthy percentage, but even with a big loss for the Tigers against the West Coast Eagles, and they could slide down.

Then there is Perth, East Perth, South Fremantle and West Coast all on identical 10-7 records, and Subiaco are still alive at 9-8.

Not only do South Fremantle play Peel on Saturday, but East Perth takes on Subiaco in an elimination final while it’s a must-win game for the Eagles against the Tigers, and Perth need to beat West Perth to book in their finals spot.

There’s going to be plenty to play out and it still could be any of the Demons, Royals, Bulldogs, Eagles and Lions who are the two teams that miss out on finals altogether, and whose season will be over come Saturday night.

But the equation is simple for South Fremantle and a win against Peel and they are in. Lose against the Thunder and the Bulldogs are going to be in for a nervous wait to watch how the other matches unfold to learn their fate.

South Fremantle premiership ruckman and Simpson Medal winner Hamish Free isn’t getting too caught up on how tight things are, and is just focusing on the job at hand for the Bulldogs.

“Obviously it’s a very even comp and we obviously we knew going into last weekend that we needed to win, and we need to keep winning basically,” Free told 91.3 SportFM.

“Some of the other results unfortunately didn’t go the way we wanted them to in terms of helping our season, but it all comes down to this round for us.

“Beat Peel and we know we’re in, but if we don’t it’s going to be a pretty anxious wait to see what happens when the other games finish.”

South Fremantle will be looking to keep the momentum going from last Saturday’s 34-point derby win against East Fremantle and welcome back premiership pair Brandon Donaldson and Ethan Hughes.

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

Peel lost to West Coast by nine points last Saturday but are still guaranteed of top spot with Toby Cossor, Sean Hunter, Leon Kickett, Jaeger O’Meara, Aiden Riddle, Corey Wagner and Brandon Walker into the side to take on South Fremantle.

Going out for the Thunder are Judd McVee, Sam Sturt, Tobyn Murray, Toby Whan, Bailey Banfield, Hugh Davies and Charlie Nicholls.

The Colts contest at Fremantle Community Bank Oval gets underway at 8:55am on Saturday morning with South Fremantle currently sitting in second position at 12-3 to be just percentage behind the top placed East Fremantle but also only just ahead of Claremont.

They take on a Peel team who are in eighth position with a 4-11 record.

The Reserves is then next up at 11:25am with South Fremantle out of finals contention with a 6-9 record but they could make life tricky for Peel Thunder who are currently fourth at 9-6 but not quite having locked in their place.