RD 18 PREVIEW | v EAST PERTH

It’s another milestone day on Saturday for South Fremantle with premiership and WJ Hughes Medal winning midfielder Tom Blechynden reaching 100 games in the clash with East Perth.

The Bulldogs take on the third placed Royals on Saturday afternoon at Leederville’s Sullivan Logistics Stadium with the game presenting the chance for South Fremantle to wrap up the minor premiership for 2025.

The two teams come into the match up in impressive form with South Fremantle now on a 10-game winning streak following last week’s derby win against East Fremantle to sit clear in top position with a 14-1 record.

East Perth, meanwhile, come into the game also on a five-game winning streak to be sitting in fourth position on the WAFL ladder with an 11-4 record with a win for the Royals to potentially move them into second position by the end of the round.

The two teams have already played once this season which was back in Round 10 at Fremantle Community Bank Oval with South Fremantle scoring the 10-point victory against the fast finishing East Perth.

Prior to that and the Royals had won the previous three encounters with the Bulldogs and before that it was South Fremantle who had scored three consecutive victories against East Perth.

On the back of South Fremantle celebrating the 200th game of Zac Strom last Saturday in the 44-point win against East Fremantle, it’s another big milestone for the Bulldogs this week with Tom Blechynden reaching 100 games.

Blechynden already is a premiership player, state representative and WJ Hughes Medal winner as fairest and best with South Fremantle, and has crammed plenty into his WAFL career with the Bulldogs since coming from Pingelly.

He is proud to now reach the 100-game mark, but is more focused on the challenge that East Perth present on Saturday at Sullivan Logistics Stadium.

“When I first got to the club I was just happy to play one game so to be able to tick a few of those things off has been a great achievement and honour, and to now play 100 games for this great club,” Blechynden told 91.3 SportFM.

“East Perth are having a really good year so we’re going to have to bring our A-game on the weekend to compete with them, but hopefully we can bring it and have a good game.

“We just have to bring our contest work and our effort, and hopefully everyone cracks in and brings the right mindset because it is a massive game, and we if we can win this weekend it will help us get top spot which is what we want.”

From the South Fremantle team that beat East Fremantle in dominant fashion last Saturday, there are three changes with Toby Dodds, Aaron Drage and Nick Stuhldreier coming into the Bulldogs’ line-up.

It’s a WAFL debut for Stuhldreier who has joined South Fremantle this season from Port Melbourne in the VFL and has been banging down the door for an opportunity in the reserves averaging 22.4 possessions a game including 35 disposals last week against the Sharks.

Going out for the Bulldogs for the clash with the Royals are Isiah Winder, Jacob Sax and Brandon Donaldson.

East Perth come into the game trying to break into the top two having won five straight matches with the Royals making two changes from the team that beat Peel Thunder with Tom Graham and Stan Wright into the team.

Going out from the East Perth side that will face South Fremantle are Ben Middleton and Xavier Milner.

The colts contest at Sullivan Logistics Stadium between South Fremantle and East Perth gets underway at 8:55am on Saturday morning while the reserves match up follows at 11:25am.