Round 8 Preview v Claremont

SOUTH Fremantle heads to the Claremont Showground on Saturday to take on Claremont with the Bulldogs looking to bounce back from their first loss of the WAFL season.

South Fremantle will be hungry to bounce back from its first loss of the season last week as well suffered at the hands of Subiaco by 31 points at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

The Bulldogs had won their opening five matches of the season impressively up until that point and now they will be determined to show it was just a blip on the radar and not the start of a trend to kick off a losing slide like what happened in 2015.

Claremont and South Fremantle are both coming off tough losses heading into Saturday's clash which will be the Tigers' long-awaited opening home match of the season at the Claremont Showground.

Claremont was set to open its home season two weeks ago against Peel Thunder, but that game was moved to Medibank Stadium and now belatedly the Tigers will hit their temporary home deck for the first time in 2016 to host the Bulldogs.

The Tigers come into the clash needing to win as well to maintain touch with the top five having lost four of their last five matches. Claremont has started the past two years horribly slowly and while they have recovered, the Tigers put a great effort into turning that around in 2016.

That started impressively with a 76-point thumping of East Perth in Round 1 but a bye and then loss to Perth in Round 3 saw the Tigers' start to hit a speed bump. A shock loss to Swan Districts as well hurt and Claremont is the only team that both the Demons and Swans have beaten in 2016.

While Claremont bounced back impressively to beat East Fremantle, losses the past two weeks to Peel and West Perth see the Tigers hold a 2-4 record and it's important for their confidence they don't slip to 2-5.

Claremont will also be looking to stop a concerning trend that haunted them in the second half of last year as well.

The Tigers have been the best starting team in the WAFL this season outscoring their opponents by 94 points in six matches, but they have finished poorly being outscored by 33 points in last quarters and that has cost them several potential victories.

The game will also be noteworthy to see new South Fremantle forward Steven Edwards and returning Claremont defender Dylan Ross playing against their old sides for the first time in 2016 after being involved in a swap between the two clubs over summer.

South Fremantle's task of bouncing back from its first loss of the season will be made tougher with key defender Josh Pullman going out with an ankle injury.

He has done a tremendous job so far in 2016 in his first taste of playing as a defender, and his absence could be especially tough to cover considering Claremont's forward-line features Cameron, Maister and potentially Busher.

With Chris Luff still needing at least another week in the reserves to pick up form and fitness after missing the opening four games of the season, it could provide some big opportunities in the back-line for the Bulldogs.

Brad McPhail looks set to make his league debut and his reward will likely be a job on either Maister or Cameron with Wilson needing to play a closer checking role than the one he is best at when he reads the play to take marks from opposition entries, and set up play from defence.

South Fremantle coach Todd Curley might also have the option of throwing Zac Strom back into the defensive role he had mostly played in his league career up until moving to centre half-forward in 2016.

In doing so, Brock Higgins looks likely to play his first game of the season after building some strong form the last three weeks in the reserves following a calf injury.

Last week, Higgins had 21 possessions and 38 hit outs but he could be used up forward if Strom is needed down back and with Ben Saunders also under an injury cloud following hurting his knee during last week's loss to Subiaco at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

Jake Florenca, Tim Stewart and James Laurino have continued to be in strong form in the midfield in the reserves all season for the Bulldogs in a team that hadn’t lost a game in 2016 up until last Saturday against Subiaco. That trio is again in calculations for a call up on Saturday against Claremont.

Dylan Main is the only other player out of the South Fremantle side from the one that lost to Subiaco with Brendan Verrier still unavailable through selection after copping a knock to his upper thigh two weeks ago against East Fremantle.

Claremont continues to play some good football without getting over the line as coach Michael Broadbridge continues to search for the right mix to get the Tigers' third win of the season.

Hugo Breakey, Haydn Busher and Justin Speed have all come into calculations to be brought into the Claremont side from the one that lost narrowly to West Perth last Saturday in Kulin.

Breakey has been in solid form in the reserves after playing the first four games of 2016 in the league side. He worked hard for another 17 possessions in the midfield last week to keep his name in the mix at the selection table.

Busher returned to the league side in Round 6 kicking two goals but he didn’t play again last week in Kulin against West Perth. He looks set to return to the team to add another marking target in attack to Beau Maister and Darcy Cameron to stretch South Fremantle's defence in the absence of Josh Pullman and Chris Luff.

Speed could make his debut for Claremont following another 14 possessions, 13 tackles and a goal in the reserves last Sunday against West Perth at HBF Arena. 

ROUND 8
CLAREMONT (2-4, 7th) v SOUTH FREMANTLE (5-1, 2nd) – CLAREMONT SHOWGROUND, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Broadcast – 91.3 SportFM

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