ROUND 10 PREVIEW V WEST COAST EAGLES

SOUTH Fremantle will be out keep its winning form going taking on the West Coast Eagles at Lathlain on Saturday evening in Round 10 of the 2022 WAFL season.

The last game of Round 10 on Saturday will take place in the evening at Mineral Resources Park in the second half of the double-header at Lathlain with the West Coast Eagles hosting South Fremantle on the heels of Perth taking on West Perth during the afternoon.

South Fremantle comes into the game on a three-game winning streak to be sitting in third position on the WAFL ladder with a 6-3 record.

A fourth straight win on Saturday night could potentially see the Bulldogs move up a spot or two as well if either or both of West Perth and Claremont lose during the afternoon.

The Bulldogs’ opponents, West Coast, are still chasing their first victory of the 2022 season having lost all nine matches so far by an average of 56 points while on a 13-game losing streak that is dating back to last year.

This will be the second time the two teams have played one another this season too with South Fremantle winning by 76 points back in Round 2 at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

On that afternoon Caleb Datson kicked three goals for South Fremantle as did Brandon Donaldson and Zac Strom while Haiden Schloithe had 25 disposals, Jake Florenca 24, Toby McQuilkin 23 and Chad Pearson 21.

Meanwhile for the Eagles, Greg Clark finished with 25 touches, Josh Rotham 20, Joey Deegan 20, Josh Browne 19 and Sam Petrevski-Seton 18.

That result meant that South Fremantle has won four of the five games the two teams have played with one another, but all five previous meetings have been held at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

West Coast’s lone win was back on Round 12, 2019 with South Fremantle winning on Round 5, 2019 along with both match ups in 2021, and then that 76-point win in Round 2 of this season.

There are two changes at South Fremantle with Aiden Hall and four-time premiership player Nick Suban coming back into the line-up.

The Bulldogs have lost two important defenders from the side that beat Perth last Saturday in the form Jordan Boullineau and Chad Pearson.

There are once again wholesale changes for West Coast as they chase that first victory of 2022 with Nic Naitanui making his return along with Jed Kemp, Jackson Nelson, Xavier O’Neill, Sam Petrevski-Seton and Luke Strnadica.

Going out for the Eagles are Harry Edwards, Lachlan Feeney, Luke Foley, Josh Rotham, Ambrose Ryan and Alex Witherden.

South Fremantle premiership utility Steve Verrier has settled back nicely into the Bulldogs team in 2022 after a year away in 2021, and is looking forward to trying to help keep the momentum going on Saturday night against the Eagles.

“We’ve had a couple of shorter breaks as of late so recovery is a lot more important at this time of the year but now we have a break next week after this game. We’ll just focus on what we need to do from our end and try to prepare for as much as we can for this Saturday,” Verrier told 91.3 SportFM.

“It’s such a tight competition this year which is a really good thing. You’ve got East Fremantle who were really impressive when we played them and then you’ve got Claremont and West Perth who are really good as well, but it just comes down to the day with teams.

“Swannies were really good on the day against us as well so it’s good for the competition and it’s going to be interesting now going into the tougher end of the year to see where everyone’s at.”

Verrier is now a 122-game WAFL veteran and has slotted back nicely into the South Fremantle team now in 2022, and he feels like he’s finding his groove.

“I decided to step away from playing at South Fremantle last year after getting an opportunity which I couldn’t resist to take,” Verrier said.

“But a few things changed and I’m pushing to get my life membership at South Fremantle so that is one of the main factors why I decided to come back. But I just had the year and it did take me a while to adjust I would say, but I’m pretty settled now back into the league side and am pretty happy to be back.”

ROUND 10 – 2022 WAFL PREMIERSHIP SEASON
SOUTH FREMANTLE v WEST COAST EAGLES – MINERAL RESOURCES PARK, SATURDAY 5.00PM

LEAGUE LIVE STATS