ROUND 8 PREVIEW V EAST PERTH

ON the back of a 13th consecutive derby victory, South Fremantle will look to continue its recent good form against East Perth and string two wins together on Sunday at Leederville Oval.

South Fremantle returned to the WAFL winner’s list in style on Monday in the Fremantle Ports WA Day Derby with a two-point victory against East Fremantle.

That made it 13 straight wins for the Bulldogs against the Sharks, and now they will look to maintain the dominant run against the Royals in recent times.

Both East Perth and South Fremantle come into Sunday’s game at Leederville Oval on the back of playing in their traditional derby encounters on WA Day with East Perth losing to West Perth, and South Fremantle beating East Fremantle.

The Bulldogs now come into Sunday’s game in fourth position on the WAFL ladder with a 4-3 record while East Perth is in seventh position but only one game further back at 3-4.

A win on Sunday will further consolidate the Bulldogs inside the top five while a win could very well put East Perth inside the top five at the same time depending on how the results on Saturday pan out.

While East Perth did win the last meeting between the two teams with a spirited fightback in Round 10 last year, South Fremantle has had the better of recent history between the two teams.

Prior to that win 12 months ago for the Royals, the Bulldogs had defeated them seven consecutive times by an average of 26 points. Going back further, South Fremantle also won 16 in-a-row against East Perth between 2005 and 2011.

Overall since East Perth moved permanently to Leederville Oval in 2004, South Fremantle has won 27 of the 37 clashes between the two teams including 11 of the 16 meetings at Leederville.

Coming into Sunday’s game, South Fremantle is the second best defensive team in the WAFL conceding just 60.9 points a game. But they are seventh in attack with 72.9 points.

East Perth, meanwhile, is third for scoring with 84.1 points a game while fifth for points against, giving up 71.1 a game.

Both teams have been similar starting teams so far this season with South Fremantle ranked fifth in first quarters and East Perth sixth.

The Royals are then the best second quarter team across the competition having outscored their opponents by 93 points. The Bulldogs are ranked fourth in second terms.

The Bulldogs are then ranked third in the third quarters having won those by 57 points in total so far this season while the Royals have been outscored by 18 points in their third terms.

And in fourth quarters, East Perth is ranked third having won theirs by 39 points with South Fremantle fourth having outscored their opponents by 30 points.

South Fremantle coach Todd Curley is looking forward to helping the Bulldogs trying to build some momentum now with more players available, and on the back of the win on WA Day.

“We’ve got two six-day breaks in a row now but it’s a good opportunity and I don’t mind the short breaks sometimes. It lets you just play, freshen up, train well and then freshen up to go again. You get through games quick and the aim will be to get through some wins quick,” Curley said.

“The last couple of weeks haven’t been too bad, it was sort of around Rounds 2, 3 and 4 leading into the first bye when it was at its worst. We seemed to be making six or eight changes every week including a couple on the morning of the game, and we just couldn’t get any continuity.

“It’s about learning how they come back from COVID afterwards too and getting all that sorted. It’s been a learning period for everyone, but I’ve got huge confidence here in our coaching group and playing group that whilst I couldn’t be here I knew that everything would roll along.

“I’m really pleased we got through that period and now this was an important, and we get ready to go again on a six-day break.”

ROUND 8 – 2022 WAFL PREMIERSHIP SEASON
SOUTH FREMANTLE v EAST PERTH – LEEDERVILLE OVAL, SUNDAY 2.10PM

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