RD 7 PREVIEW | v PERTH

SOUTH Fremantle will be out to make it four straight wins against Perth and to win consecutive games for the first time in the 2023 WAFL season when the Bulldogs host the Demons on Saturday afternoon.

The WAFL season resumes on Saturday afternoon with South Fremantle hosting Perth at Fremantle Community Bank Oval with the Bulldogs fresh off a win against East Perth two weeks ago which they will be now looking to build on.

The day at Fremantle Community Bank Oval begins with the colts match up between South Fremantle and Perth at 9.10am. The reserves contest will follow at 11.40am before the Bulldogs and Demons clash in the league match up from 2.10pm.

The WAFL season resumes this weekend on the back of the break last week for the State Game which saw Western Australia lose to the SANFL by 13 points at Adelaide Oval on Friday afternoon.

South Fremantle had three representatives in the WAFL team with Toby McQuilkin finishing with 23 possessions, Chad Pearson 13 and Tom Blechynden 10.

Perth had one representative in the WA team with captain Michael Sinclair playing in the forward-line and finishing with 10 disposals and four marks fresh off reaching 150 games for the Demons the previous week.

South Fremantle comes into Saturday’s clash having won the last three meetings against Perth including winning the two matches in 2022 by a combined 103 points, including the 64-point victory last up in Round 20 at Mineral Resources Park.

Fascinatingly, prior to the current three-game winning streak for South Fremantle, Perth won four in-a-row against the Bulldogs including a stunning comeback victory in the last round of 2020 which saw the Demons play their one and only final this century on the back of it.

Then going back further and before those four consecutive wins for Perth, South Fremantle had won nine of the previous 10 matches against the Demons so it’s been quite the rollercoaster ride between the two sides over the past decade.

At Fremantle Community Bank Oval, South Fremantle has won the last two clashes with Perth and five of the previous six. Those five wins have come at an average winning margin of 59.8 points with the lone win for the Demons at the port in that stretch coming in 2019.

After the opening seven rounds, South Fremantle might only be ranked eighth in attack scoring 68.3 points a game but they are fourth best defensively conceding only 62.0 points. Perth, meanwhile, is only ranked ahead of West Coast with points for (63.3) and against (86.5).

Perth is the most prolific ball winning team in the competition averaging 373 possessions a game while South Fremantle averages just 329 to be ranked seventh. The Demons average 22.5 more disposals than their opponents and the Bulldogs 11.5 more than theirs.

South Fremantle has generally got better as games have gone on this season being outscored by five points in first quarters but then outscoring their opponents by two points in second quarters, 30 in the third and 24 in the fourth.

Perth, however, is ranked seventh in both the first and second quarters across the opening six rounds, and then eighth in both the third and fourth terms.

Jake Florenca has been named to return for South Fremantle for what would be his first league appearance since Round 8 last year as he attempts to resume his 60-game WAFL career to boost the Bulldogs’ midfield.

Chase Bourne, Riley Colborne, Jacob Sax and Robbie Turnbull have also been added to the South Fremantle squad to face Perth at Fremantle Community Bank Oval on Saturday.

The only out at this stage for the Bulldogs from the team that beat East Perth two weeks ago is Brendon Ah Chee.

Perth has made just the one change from the team that lost to West Perth by 49 points two weeks ago with Regan Hill coming into the team for the expense of key forward target Harry Quartermaine.