RD 8 PREVIEW | v PEEL THUNDER

TOP spot in the WAFL potentially goes on the line in Mandurah on Saturday with South Fremantle looking to leap over Peel Thunder and to make it six straight victories.

Coming into last week’s State game bye and South Fremantle had won five straight matches this WAFL season since a Round 1 loss at home to East Perth.

The Bulldogs’ form has been building impressively ever since with the wins against West Coast, Claremont, West Perth, Perth and Subiaco leading into this Saturday’s match up with Peel Thunder at Lane Group Stadium.

It’s a Peel opponent who come into Round 8 of the WAFL season sitting on top of the ladder with a 5-1 record as well and having won three straight matches.

Peel and South Fremantle are two of the three teams currently sitting on 5-1 records this season so depending on how East Perth goes against Subiaco, the winner could be a game clear between the Thunder and Bulldogs in first place by Saturday night.

Saturday’s game will be the first time the two teams have met this season and the first time since Round 12 last year.

So it’s been almost 12 months since the teams have met in the WAFL and it was Peel winning that contest also in Mandurah by 12 points with them on the way to a grand final appearance while the Bulldogs missed the finals for the first time since 2015.

South Fremantle did win the first meeting between the two teams last year by 44 points at Fremantle Community Bank Oval and the Bulldogs have won seven of the past 10 contests between the two outfits.

South Fremantle made it five straight wins before the State game bye with a win against Subiaco by seven points and from that side there are two changes for the Bulldogs.

Jason Carter and Dylan Main come into the Bulldogs team to take on the Thunder with Carter to make his South Fremantle debut while former captain Main returns after missing that emotional game against Subiaco.

Going out for the Bulldogs from that line-up that beat the Lions a fortnight ago are Lachlan Turley and Luke Polson.

From the Peel team that beat Swan Districts in a hard fought affair two weeks ago, Sam Sturt, Patrick Voss and David Yaccob come into the line-up to take on South Fremantle at home this Saturday afternoon.

Going out for the Thunder are Tyler Nesbitt, Corey Wagner and dual premiership player Blair Bell.

South Fremantle coach Todd Curley is looking forward to finding out a lot more about his Bulldogs group with the way they will be challenged against the Thunder.

“They’re really even across the board and they’ve got some real scoring power, their defence is really solid and they have some pretty high quality and experienced mids,” Curley said.

“They also have a big lump of a ruckman who tends to dominate his area of the game so they will be a real challenge for us. It’s one we’re probably ready for and we’re looking forward to seeing where we’re at every week really but this is a game which can give us a really good idea where we’re sit.

“We’re really confident we can get the job done if we continue in the manner that we have been. We’re trying to keep getting better and this is another chance for us to do that.”

The action on Saturday gets underway with the colts contest between South Fremantle and Peel in the morning starting at 9.25am.

The Bulldogs went down by 75 points to Subiaco two weeks ago to now sit with a 1-4 record on the season but the Thunder are also 1-4 with only percentage separating the two teams.

That means Saturday morning’s game presents the opportunity for South Fremantle to not only get a second win on the board of the season, but also to get off bottom spot on the ladder.

The reserves match up between South Fremantle and Peel will then take place after the league game starting at 4.50pm.

Two weeks ago saw the Bulldogs reserves lose to Subiaco by 15 points to now be sitting in fourth position on the reserves ladder with a 3-2 record.

They come up against a Thunder team with just one win from five matches so far this season but they did get their first victory of 2024 two weeks ago before the bye with a 25-point win against Swan Districts at Steel Blue Oval.