Round 17 Preview v East Perth

SOUTH Fremantle returned to the WAFL winners list last Saturday and now looks to back it up on Saturday against East Perth at Leederville Oval in the 100th game of Zac Strom.

On the back of a run of four consecutive losses, South Fremantle got back to winning last Saturday with an 85-point victory against Swan Districts at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

That kept the Bulldogs in third position on the WAFL ladder and still in touch with a top two finish as they hit the road again on Saturday to take on an East Perth who is still trying to maintain their finals prospects for 2019 as well.

South Fremantle had won seven straight matches, including a win over Subiaco, before that run of four losses with defeats at the hands of the Lions, Claremont, West Coast and Perth.

But the Bulldogs bounced back with a dominant performance last Saturday including a run of kicking 13 unanswered goals in between the first and second that Swan Districts kicked for the afternoon.

That has South Fremantle sitting on a 9-5 record this season in third position and depending on how Claremont goes against Peel Thunder on Saturday, a win for the Bulldogs could potentially see them return to second position on the WAFL ladder.

East Perth is coming off a one goal loss to West Perth at HBF Arena two weeks ago but the Royals still remain a chance of reaching the finals in their first season back as a standalone club.

East Perth currently sit eighth with a 5-9 record but they are just two games outside of fifth position but they likely do need to win on Saturday against South Fremantle to keep those finals hopes alive.

It was a thriller when the two teams met earlier in the season in Round 7 when South Fremantle managed to prevail by a solitary point at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

That win made it four in-a-row for South Fremantle against East Perth since the Royals snatched a one-point win against the Bulldogs at the port back in Round 10, 2017.

South Fremantle do enjoy playing East Perth at Leederville Oval as well. In total, the Bulldogs have won 11 of 20 games at Leederville Oval against the Royals including the last three in-a-row, and 10 of the last 13.

South Fremantle coach Todd Curley is hoping now that the Bulldogs can build on their momentum coming off the big win against Swan Districts.

“It was pretty close against them last time but we have some sore boys and we’ll just recover and prepare like we always do,” Curley said.

“But we like playing at Leederville so it will be a good game I think.”

Saturday’s game will also double as a milestone occasion with South Fremantle’s versatile big man Zac Strom playing his 100th WAFL game.

Having spent parts of his early career as a key defender, Strom has now settled into a role at centre half-forward and back up ruckman and Curley couldn’t be happier with the way he has progress all the way now to 100 games.

“He is the type of teammate that you always want. He is super fit, he gives you his all and can play forward, back and in the ruck,” Curley said.

“But we were pretty keen a couple of years ago to settle him forward and thankfully his younger brother Noah, Chad Pearson and Blayne Wilson have allowed us to do that. In terms of work rate, the amount of ground he covers and the impact he has his for us, he has really stepped up this year.

“His first half of the year was outstanding but like all of the guys, over the last three or four weeks was a little bit inconsistent.

“But he did some really good things for us again this week and it will be a great effort for him to play 100 games. He should be proud of that but we just want to keep improving as a group.”

ROUND 17
SOUTH FREMANTLE v EAST PERTH – LEEDERVILLE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.15PM

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