ROUND 9 PREVIEW V PERTH

SOUTH Fremantle looks to build on a two-game winning streak to attempt to move further up the WAFL ladder when hosting Perth at Fremantle Community Bank Oval on Saturday.

The Bulldogs will be hosting the Demons in Round 9 of the 2022 WAFL season with two teams bringing contrasting form into the contest.

South Fremantle is on the back of consecutive victories against East Fremantle and East Perth to have improved to a 5-3 record on the season in fourth position. A win on Saturday and the Bulldogs will likely finish the round at least in third spot on the WAFL ladder.

Perth, meanwhile, has now lost its past four matches this season to have slipped to a 2-6 record and desperately needing a win on Saturday to avoid losing further touch with the top five.

While South Fremantle has played in six straight preliminary finals and the last three WAFL Grand Finals, and Perth has played in just the one final in that stretch, the two teams have an interesting recent history against one another.

South Fremantle did win the most recent meeting by 34 points in Round 12 last year at Fremantle Community Bank Oval, but prior to that Perth had beaten the Bulldogs on four straight occasions.

It’s the first time the Demons had managed such a winning run against South Fremantle since over 2013 and 2014 seasons, and it included the dramatic last round comeback win of 2020 that saw Perth snap its finals drought even though the Bulldogs would go on to win the premiership.

Prior to Perth winning those four in-a-row, South Fremantle had won nine of the previous 10 against the Demons but what all that means is that history doesn’t tell us too much about what to expect on Saturday at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

South Fremantle captain Dylan Main is on track to make his return for the Bulldogs from a hamstring injury having got through his reserves comeback on Sunday against East Perth.

Should he play, he will celebrate his 100th game with South Fremantle but his focus is on the team and trying to build on the momentum from the last two wins against East Fremantle and East Perth.

“The competition’s really tight this year so really anyone can win on their day. The ladder shows that and if we had lost on Sunday we could be down the bottom half and by winning we stay in the top five and aren’t far off top spot,” Main said.

“It’s a really even comp this year which is great for WAFL and it’s really exciting. We’re not taking any games lightly that’s for sure so hopefully we can just keep plugging away. We’ve got two more games until the bye so it will be nice to put these two away and then go into the bye with a nice little platform for the rest of the year.”

ROUND 9 – 2022 WAFL PREMIERSHIP SEASON
SOUTH FREMANTLE v PERTH – FREMANTLE COMMUNITY BANK OVAL, SATURDAY 2.10PM

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