WAFL RD 7 PREVIEW

RD 7 WAFL PREVIEW | v THUNDER

South Fremantle welcomes back premiership star Matthew Parker and takes up the challenge of Peel Thunder in Mandurah on Saturday as the WAFL season for 2026 resumes.

The competition took a general break last weekend for the State game which saw Western Australia score a pair of thumping wins in both the men’s and women’s matches against South Australia.

The WAFL team beat the SANFL by 36 points in the men’s match up at Sullivan Logistics Stadium with South Fremantle’s Noah Strom, Chad Pearson, Ethan Hughes and Jamaine Jones all playing key roles in the triumph.

Those four will now return to wearing the Red V jumper this Saturday afternoon when South Fremantle takes on Peel at Lane Group Stadium with the League contest getting underway at 1:10pm.

South Fremantle improved to a 5-1 record to sit in second position two weeks ago with the 61-point win at home to the West Coast Eagles while Peel are now 3-3 in third place having beaten East Perth by six points at Leederville leading into the State game break.

The two teams played one another twice last year with South Fremantle winning both encounters by a combined 84 points on the way to winning the premiership.

But it was Peel who were the WAFL premiers the season before and that saw them also win both games against the Bulldogs along the way by a combined 54 points.

At Lane Group Stadium in Mandurah, South Fremantle has won 22 of the 30 games at the venue going back to when Peel joined the WAFL in 1997 including last year by 35 points in Round 11.

South Fremantle star Matthew Parker will make his return for the first time since Round 2 and he’s looking forward especially to taking on Peel’s Fremantle-listed AFL players.

“There’s a little bit more of a chip on the shoulder when we go and play AFL-listed boys and obviously they’re trying to get back, but personally for me I’ve always got a chip on the shoulder no matter who we’re against,” Parker told The Kennel on 91.3 SportFM.

“But especially I think when you’re against boys on a list you ramp it up a little bit and see how good they really are, that’s me personally.

“I think it’s a good thing to go into games like that with and a few of the boys come along with me so that’s probably it.”
Along with Parker returning for the game for South Fremantle on Saturday against Peel, Riley Colborne and Jamaine Jones area also into the line-up.

Going out for the Bulldogs from the team that beat West Coast two weeks ago are Mitch Geier, Tarkyn Etherington and West Love.

Peel have plenty of changes too from their team that beat East Perth a fortnight ago with Jaren Carr, Jacob Hewitt, Leon Kickett, Jaeger O’Meara and Darcy Petersen coming in.

Going out for the Thunder are Nathan O’Driscoll, Chris Scerri, Oscar McDonald, Brandon Walker and Archie Caldow.

The weekend’s action for South Fremantle gets underway on Friday night down in Mandurah with the Colts match up between the Bulldogs and Peel Thunder that gets underway from 6:15pm.

South Fremantle has had a perfect start to the season in the Colts with five straight victories so far as they come up against a Peel team that’s won two of six matches to date in 2026.

The Bulldogs haven’t played now since beating Subiaco by 33 points back on May 2 thanks to a bye in Round 6 and then the State game break while the Thunder won their last game by 27 points on the road to East Perth.

The Reserves clash then will wrap up the action on Saturday afternoon at Lane Group Stadium with the game getting underway at 4pm following the League clash.

Coming into the Round 7 clash, South Fremantle currently sits in fifth position in the Reserves with a 2-3 record while Peel are on top of the table having won all six of their matches to date.

The Bulldogs haven’t played in the Reserves over the past two weeks and their last appearance was a dominant 75-point victory against Subiaco while two weeks ago Peel improved to 6-0 with the 34-point win away from home to East Perth.