RD 19 PREVIEW | v WEST PERTH

South Fremantle have locked away the WAFL minor premiership coming into the last two rounds but there’ll be no complacency to finish the home and away season starting on Saturday at home to West Perth.

The Bulldogs will host the Falcons at Fremantle Community Bank Oval with the game getting underway at 2:30pm with the weather looking like being fine after some tough conditions in recent weeks.

South Fremantle have now won 11 straight matches this season to sit clear in top spot with a 15-1 record to have the minor premiership locked away with a two and-a-half game on the second placed Claremont with just two games to play.

The Bulldogs won’t be interested in flirting with form, though, heading into the finals and the pressure that there is on for spots within the team will mean that the playing group will remain as hungry as ever.

The Falcons arrive at Fremantle Community Bank Oval out of finals contention with a 6-10 record after last week’s loss to Subiaco amidst the giant puddles at Joondalup.

It’s the second time the two teams have met this season with South Fremantle winning by 27 points back in Round 4 at Joondalup with the Bulldogs also having won the two meetings between the sides in 2024.

At Fremantle Community Bank Oval, South Fremantle have also won four of the last six games against West Perth with the Falcons winning one of those others and the other being a draw back in 2022.

South Fremantle midfielder Matt Ward has returned to the Bulldogs this season and had a significant impact on their success, and is looking forward to a strong finish to the home and away season.

“These two games are really important for us and there’s still bits of our game that we want to sharpen up before finals hit,” Ward told The Kennel on 91.3 SportFM.

“It looks like it’s going to be some really good weather on the weekend too so we want to get our ball movement really going and getting it out into space because we’ve got some exciting players on the outside that have probably been just watching the contest work the last couple of weeks.

“So we’re excited to get our ball movement going again, and tightening up a couple of areas that we want to get going.”

South Fremantle is coming off last Saturday’s 47-point win against East Perth at Leederville and from that team, Brandon Donaldson, Jacob Sax and Isiah Winder return to the line-up.

Going out for the Bulldogs are Nick Stuhldreier, Jamaine Jones and Zac Strom.

West Perth lost to Subiaco by two points last Saturday with just the one change from that team with Matt Galjaardt into the side at the expense of Sandon Page.

The colts contest gets the action underway on Saturday morning at Fremantle Community Bank Oval starting at 9:15am between South Fremantle and West Perth.

The Bulldogs come into the game sitting in top spot in the colts with an 11-4 record and they are guaranteed of a top two finish, but they do need to win on Saturday morning to remain a chance of the minor premiership given the last round bye.

They take on a West Perth team sitting in fourth position but needing to win one of their last two games this season to guarantee a finals position.

The reserves match up then gets underway at 11:45am with South Fremantle sitting in second position at 12-3 to also be guaranteed of a top two finish.

The Bulldogs take on a Falcons team sitting in last place in the reserves with just three wins so far the season but with a chance to still avoid the wooden spoon with a win in the last two rounds