Round 15 Preview v Perth

PERTH returned to the winner’s list last week to consolidate fourth position on the ladder and the Demons head to Fremantle Oval to take on a South Fremantle team with plenty to play for despite sitting on the bottom of the WAFL ladder.

Perth started the 2013 season so impressively winning five of its first seven games the two losses against East Fremantle and Claremont by just a combined seven points.

However, since then the Demons went on a run of losing three straight games prior to last week’s strong 50-point victory over Peel Thunder at Mandurah’s Bendigo Bank Stadium.

That improved Perth’s record to 6-5 for the Demons to keep holding off the chasing pack to remain in fourth position on the WAFL ladder.

South Fremantle’s finals hopes might be long gone but the Bulldogs will not want to remain on the bottom of the ladder and will also want to win on Saturday to celebrate dual premiership defender Craig White’s 150th match with the club.

The Bulldogs looked to be finding some form with a dominant 67-point Foundation Derby win over East Fremantle but they haven’t been able to back it up and they have lost decisively to Subiaco and Swan Districts since.

The two teams met earlier this season at Lathlain’s Brownes Stadium with Perth winning a tight affair by just 13 points back in Round 3.

South Fremantle welcomes back Fremantle’s Haiden Schloithe from a calf injury for his first game since Round 10 when he put together his best game of the season with 32 possessions against Claremont at Claremont Oval.

Captain Ryan Cook is also back after missing last week’s loss to Swan Districts due to a family bereavement so instantly the Bulldogs midfield is greatly strengthened with the return of both Schloithe and Cook.

Tyler Hall has found some good form in the reserves including 19 disposals last week in the win over Swans while Brendan Verrier had another 30 touches to make a claim for his first league game of 2013 and Shannon Burnett could also be back after 23 possessions and six tackles in the reserves.

Jarrad Winter goes out of the South Fremantle team after playing every game of the season to date.

Perth returned to the winner’s list last week with a win over Peel to maintain fourth spot but loses West Coast’s Simon Tunbridge for the clash against South Fremantle after he made his AFL debut for the Eagles on Thursday night against Essendon at Patersons Stadium.

Versatile key position player Mark Deaves played his first game of the season last week in the league side and hasn’t been able to hold his spot to take on the Bulldogs.

There are some big names back for the Demons, though, with star forwards Brennan Stack and Kyle Reimers both back from a week off – Stack who was dropped to the reserves for discipline reasons and Reimers with a minor hamstring injury.

Prolific midfielder Julian Jacobs also comes back in after being dropped back to the reserves as well last week. Joel Leeson and Joel Houghton are both in the mix to play their first league games of 2013 as well.

By Chris Pike