RD 12 PREVIEW | v PERTH

South Fremantle put top spot in the WAFL league, reserves and colts on the line on Saturday at Fremantle Community Bank Oval when playing host to Perth.

The Bulldogs consolidated first place in all three grades with wins last Saturday in Mandurah against Peel Thunder ahead of returning home this Saturday to take on the Demons.

The games at Fremantle Community Bank Oval begin with the colts match up that starts at 8:55am with the reserves clash to follow at 11:25am before the league match begins at 2:10pm.

It shapes as a terrific league contest on Saturday afternoon with South Fremantle sitting in top spot with a 9-1 record having won their past five matches while Perth are sitting fourth at 7-3 and having won their past couple.

The Bulldogs do currently sit a game and-a-half clear in top position of the second placed Claremont but need to keep winning to maintain that gap while Perth has a chance to potentially finish the weekend in second place with a victory.

The two teams played in a tight contest back in Round 1 of this season where South Fremantle ended up prevailing by 13 points at Lathlain’s Mineral Resources Park.

South Fremantle’s defence has been nothing short of miserly so far this season with them only giving up 52.7 games a season and not having given up more than 12 goals in a game to date, and conceding less 10 on seven other occasions.

A big part of that is 133-game premiership defender Noah Strom who is fully aware as well as things are going for South Fremantle, now is not the time to take the foot off the gas.

“It’s a nice position to be in but there’s a fair bit of footy to go still and you try not to think too far ahead, but I feel like we’ve got a pretty good our mix,” Strom told 91.3 SportFM.

“Our reserves are going really well too and I think they’re on top of the ladder so I think it has to be a whole squad mentality, and that squad has been strong so far.

“Touchwood everybody stays healthy and we keep performing, and hopefully it ends up with that ultimate result but there’s a lot footy to go before we get to that point.”

South Fremantle are fresh off beating Peel by 35 points last Saturday in Mandurah and from that team, Cooper Clarke-Dehring, Toby Dodds, Ashton Ferreira, Hudson Pivac and Nick Stuhldreier have been added to the squad.

The only out at this stage is hard running wingman Glenn Byron.

Perth had the bye last week but the week before defeated Swan Districts by 15 points, and from that game Jack Bodle, Tarkyn Brogan-Henry, Brodie Gray, Daniel Hill, James Preston-Coates and Jacob Roberts all are added to the squad.

Going out for the Demons are Michael Randall and Jack Poole.

The colts match up at Fremantle Community Bank Oval will get proceedings underway on Saturday morning with the game beginning at 8:55am.

South Fremantle come into the game in top spot in the colts with a 7-2 record but needing to keep winning just sitting percentage ahead of East Fremantle in second spot and a game in front of the third placed West Perth.

The Bulldogs are fresh off beating Peel Thunder by 67 points last Saturday in Mandurah to maintain top spot in the colts while the Demons had the bye last weekend and prior to that suffered an eight-point defeat to Swan Districts.

Coming into Saturday morning’s clash with the Bulldogs and Perth are currently in sixth position with a 4-4 record and looking for a win to enhance their finals prospects.

The reserves clash between South Fremantle and Perth will then get underway at Fremantle Community Bank Oval 11:25am.

The Bulldogs also sit in top spot in the reserves with a 7-2 record to be percentage ahead of both Claremont and Swan Districts who are holding the same record.

The Demons are then only one game behind in fourth position with a 6-2 record so there’s plenty on the line for Saturday’s match up for both teams.

South Fremantle maintained top spot in the reserves by beating Peel Thunder in Mandurah by 30 points last Saturday while Perth had the bye, and prior to that scored the 35-point win against Swan Districts to be currently sitting in fourth position.