RD 14 PREVIEW | v PERTH

SOUTH Fremantle will be desperate to return to the WAFL winner’s list this Sunday when taking on Perth at Lathlain’s Mineral Resources Park.

The Round 14 match up between South Fremantle and Perth will begin on Sunday at 11.40am and will be shown live on Channel 7.

The Reserves contest starts the day at Mineral Resources Park at 9.10am before the Colts match will wrap things up starting at 2.30pm.

Not only have both teams played plenty of tight contests with one another in recent seasons including the first meeting of this year, but they are both coming off playing in nail-biters last week.

South Fremantle once again did so much right for three quarters to be in control of the contest for a lot of the day against the league-leading Claremont at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

However, Bailey Rogers kicked the last goal of the game to break the hearts of South Fremantle once more with the Bulldogs now slipping behind the Demons to second last spot on the ladder as a result with a 4-8 record yet only two of those wins have officially counted.

Perth only just managed to escape with a draw against the winless West Coast Eagles thanks to a kick after the siren from Kristian Cary last week.

Perth is now in seventh position on the WAFL table with two wins, nine losses and a draw so far under new coach Peter German.

The two teams did battle earlier this season at Fremantle Community Bank Oval in Round 7 and the Demons were able to beat the Bulldogs in a thriller by four points.

On that day, Zac Strom kicked four goals in the narrow loss for South Fremantle with Caleb Datson, Brandon Donaldson and Jordan Gallucci adding two apiece.

Jake Florenca racked up 28 possessions for the Bulldogs, Tom Blechynden 24, Glenn Byron 22, Matthew Parker 22 and Chad Pearson 21.

Jaiden Hunter starred for Perth kicking five goals just before being picked up by Essendon while Charlie Thompson kicked two goals to go with 30 possessions and 12 tackles.

Jack Cooley also had 30 touches for the Demons, Jack Avery 25 and Corey Byrne 21.

Prior to that and South Fremantle had won the last three meetings with Perth including both clashes in 2022 but surprisingly despite how strong the Bulldogs have been in recent years, the Demons had beaten them in four straight matches.

South Fremantle has now suffered four straight losses to have slipped beneath Perth on the WAFL ladder with the Bulldogs getting back captain Dylan Main importantly for Sunday’s clash with Perth at Lathlain.

Jack Blechynden, Jaren Carr, Solomon James, Mackenzie Nield, Roan O’Hehir and Jarrod Salmeri are the other players to receive the call up for South Fremantle to face Perth.

Going out from the Bulldogs team that lost another heartbreaker to Claremont last week are Brendon Ah Chee, Brock Higgins and Jaxon Bellchambers.

Perth will have been left feeling it missed a golden opportunity last week for a third win of the season last week with the draw against West Coast, but the Demons have the chance for that victory now this Sunday against a team they’ve already beaten in 2023.

The Demons have made two changes for Sunday’s match up with South Fremantle with Deklyn Grocott coming into the team to make his debut with Christian Martin also receiving a call up.

Going out of the side from the one that draw with West Coast last week are captain Michael Sinclair and Jack Evans.