Round 2 Preview v Swan Districts

SOUTH Fremantle looks to back up its impressive start to the 2016 WAFL season last Saturday heading to Steel Blue Oval this Saturday to face Swan Districts for the John Todd Cup.

The Bulldogs made a strong start to the season with a win over West Perth at home last week and now backing that up against Swans at Bassendean to avoid suffering their first defeat at the venue like what happened in 2015.

South Fremantle began its season in impressive fashion last Saturday beating West Perth by 35 points at Fremantle Community Bank Oval while Swan Districts went down to East Fremantle at ATOM Stadium by 49 points.

Now the Bulldogs hit the road for the first time in 2016 and Swans gear up for their first home game of the new season.

Swans have a good recent run at home over the Bulldogs having won six of the last seven meetings between the two at Steel Blue Oval. The only South Fremantle win since Round 5, 2011 came in Round 21, 2014.

Swan Districts won the only meeting with South Fremantle at Bassendean last year in Round 4 by 21 points. That saw Swans hand the Bulldogs their first defeat of 2015 and now they will attempt to do the same again this Saturday.

Not only did South Fremantle win last week, the way the Bulldogs did it was most impressive.

Josh Pullman, Blayne Wilson and Marlion Pickett were all outstanding in key defensive roles with Zac Strom, Mason Shaw and Ben Saunders providing strong targets in attack.

The midfield then made up of Ashton Hams, Shane Hockey, Tim Kelly and Brendan Verrier were all prolific while Ryan Cook and Haiden Schloithe were dangerous in roaming roles.

And the Bulldogs came through that game unscathed as well but Shaun Bewick (21 possessions, eight marks) and Tom Vandeleur (16 touches, five marks, one goal) were impressive in the reserves to be in the mix to come into the team.

Bailey Matera missed last week through injury but is also a chance to come into the Bulldogs line-up on Saturday.

Swan Districts' cause wasn’t helped last week against East Fremantle with ruckman Nathan Blakely and Sean Fletcher all injured early in the piece.

Now those two are out of the team to take on South Fremantle this Saturday while the black-and-whites have suffered another significant loss with Justin Simpson out of the team.

He played his 150th game with Swans last Saturday to earn life membership and he played well with 26 possessions and six marks, but he won't be there for the clash with the Bulldogs.

Troy Yukich looks set to be the replacement in the ruck for Swans with Blakely out injured after he had 31 hit outs in the reserves last Saturday.

The back-line will be helped in the absence of Simpson with the inclusion of Alex Howard who put in a solid performance in the reserves coming off an interrupted pre-season.

Jacob Burnham, Ben Whitsed, Tyson Hodge and Rudy Riddoch are all in the mix to come into the league side for Swan Districts as well after playing in the reserves last week.

South Fremantle coach Todd Curley was pleased with the start to the season and with the health of the list he has to choose from at present with only Brock Higgins and Jarrod Parry sidelined through injury.

But he knows nothing short of 100 per cent in preparation and effort on game day is required to come away with another four points.

"Brock is still probably a month away and obviously Jarrod Parry is out for the year so they're the two big ones, but health wise we are in not too bad shape. Touchwood," Curley said.

"One of the big things we are trying to improve as a club is turning up to train consistently with the right preparation to get better, and turn up every week to play.

"That's regardless of how you went the week before, that means nothing. Swans did get us out there last year after we had a pretty good start to the year so it's a good challenge for us."

ROUND 2
SWAN DISTRICTS v SOUTH FREMANTLE – STEEL BLUE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Selected teams 
Broadcast – KIX Digital

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