Round 7 Preview | v East Perth

SOUTH Fremantle looks to continue its hot WAFL form when hosting East Perth back home at Fremantle Community Bank Oval on Saturday.

The Bulldogs are in tremendous form having now won five of their six matches this season with the lone loss being by just three points to Perth in a game that could have gone either way.

So it has been an outstanding start to the season for South Fremantle with the Bulldogs now hosting East Perth on Saturday afternoon at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

The league contest begins at 2.15pm while it will be preceded by the colts contest between the Bulldogs and Royals that begins at 11.30am. The reserves game will then follow the league match, beginning at approximately 5pm.

East Perth is also coming into the game following a win against the West Coast Eagles last Thursday night in what is the first season for the Royals back as a standalone club.

East Perth officially partnered up with the Eagles in 2014, but the alignment really began in their Grand Final year of 2013. So this is their first real season as a standalone club since 2012 as they come to the port to play the Bulldogs for the first time in 2019.

South Fremantle and East Perth both bring winning form into their contest also on Saturday at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

The Bulldogs are the form team in the WAFL having now won their past four matches including becoming the first team to beat Subiaco since the 2017 Grand Final when they prevailed by 22 points at Leederville Oval.

That has South Fremantle holding a 5-1 record coming into Saturday’s game against East Perth.

The Royals were impressive in their own right last Thursday night beating the West Coast Eagles by 34 points at Leederville Oval to improve to a 2-4 record on the season.

After the opening six rounds of the season, South Fremantle is the highest-scoring team in the competition averaging 90.7 points a game, while being third best defensively conceding 59.2. In contrast, East Perth is averaging 64.3 points and giving up 85.2.

Both teams are big ball-winning sides too with South Fremantle averaging 360 disposals a game and East Perth 346. That ranks them second and fourth respectively.

That included East Perth having 65 more possessions than West Coast last week while South Fremantle lost the possession count last week against Subiaco but had averaged 70 more disposals than their opponents in the five previous matches.

The start to the game will be fascinating with South Fremantle the second best first quarter team over the opening six rounds while East Perth are the worst starters, being outscored by 88 points so far in opening terms.

The Bulldogs are also the second best second quarter team in the WAFL this season. And the second best team in final quarters while the Royals are ranked fifth in second terms, eighth in third quarters and seventh in last terms.

From the South Fremantle team that beat Subiaco last Saturday, Tom Blechynden, Zac De San Miguel, Jonathon Frampton and Zane Sumich come into the squad. Blayne Wilson, fresh off his 150th WAFL appearance, is the only out at this stage.

There are plenty of changes at East Perth with Sharrod Wellingham, Jackson Ramsay, Jordan Busher, Matthew Johnson and Nathan Eaton coming into the squad.

There are some significant outs too for the Royals including Nathan Blee and Kyle Anderson.

ROUND 7
SOUTH FREMANTLE v EAST PERTH – FREMANTLE COMMUNITY BANK OVAL, SATURDAY 2.15PM

LEAGUE LIVE STATS
RESERVES LIVE STATS
COLTS LIVE STATS