Round 8 Preview v Claremont

SOUTH Fremantle is back to Fremantle Community Bank Oval this Saturday to take on the struggling Claremont with the Bulldogs looking to make it six straight wins this WAFL season and five on the trot against the Tigers.

South Fremantle is back home at Fremantle Community Bank Oval having won five straight matches and having not tasted defeat since its opening match of the 2018 season.

That sees the Bulldogs sitting pretty in second position on the WAFL ladder with a 5-1 record following the wins against West Perth, East Fremantle, Claremont, Swan Districts and East Perth.

That gives South Fremantle plenty of reasons to be back on home turf feeling good about things ahead of hosting the struggling Claremont on Saturday.

While South Fremantle sits second at 5-1, Claremont is second last at 1-5 and coming off losing to Perth at home by a point last Saturday on the last kick of the game. 

The Tigers haven’t won since winning with the last kick themselves against East Fremantle in Round 3 and the losses to Subiaco, South Fremantle, Peel Thunder and Perth leave their season precariously placed heading into the clash with the Bulldogs at the port on Saturday.

South Fremantle has enjoyed playing against Claremont in recent times having won the previous four meetings by an average of 37.3 points.

That included a solid 27-point victory back in Round 5 this season in Albany when South Fremantle proved too strong for Claremont at Centennial Stadium.

Further than that, the Bulldogs have won five of the past six meetings against the Tigers and seven of the previous 10.

Claremont's last win against South Fremantle came in Round 16, 2016 by 31 points. The good news for the Tigers is that was at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

The bad news is that Darren Harris is yet to beat South Fremantle as Claremont coach.

That means the man who he coached to a premiership at West Perth in 2003 and was his premiership teammate also at the Falcons in 1995, Todd Curley, holds a 4-0 record over him to date.

South Fremantle coach Todd Curley knows the Tigers can't be taken lightly though.

"He knows us really well too having spent some time with us as a club while he wasn’t coaching so he knows our guys pretty well. But it's a great challenge for us again," Curley said.

"If we want to be a good side in the comp, it doesn’t matter who you come up against you need to prepare to play well. We'll get back on the track, train well and work on a few more things we need to get better at."

Since losing to Subiaco in Round 2 by 58 points, South Fremantle has been building form nicely winning five straight matches and last week's 68-point victory against East Perth at Leederville Oval was likely the Bulldogs' best performance of 2018.

Over the five-game winning streak that's been by an average of 42 points, South Fremantle has averaged scoring 108.2 points a game while conceding just 66.2 points.

Claremont's season has certainly not gone to plan over the opening six matches. The Tigers hold a 1-5 record and that one victory came courtesy of the last kick of the game against East Fremantle in Round 3.

While they did lose in heartbreaking circumstances last week to Perth by a point after leading by 23 points during the last quarter, Claremont will have been disappointed to have let the Demons get that close after being in control of the game.

The Tigers might appear a better side than 1-5 suggests, but that's the reality and if they slip to 1-6 on Saturday it's going to tremendously difficult to claw their way back into finals contention.

South Fremantle is only the fourth best first quarter team in the competition but the Bulldogs are third best in second quarters, third best in third terms and second best in last quarters.

Claremont, meanwhile, sits seventh in terms of opening quarters this season, fourth in second quarters, sixth in third terms and eighth in last stanzas.

Coming off the team that beat East Perth by 68 points at Leederville Oval last Saturday, South Fremantle has added Kyle Russell, Steve Verrier, Glenn Byron and Zac Strom to the squad to take on Claremont this week at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

Byron, Strom and Verrier were the three players to make way for the returning Haiden Schloithe, Ashton Hams and Blayne Wilson to play in the impressive performance against the Royals.

Verrier was especially with how he responded to his demotion for the Bulldogs with 35 possessions and 10 tackles in the reserves last Saturday.

The only out at this stage for South Fremantle with triple Bernie Naylor Medal winner Ben Saunders who has been troubled with hamstring soreness in recent weeks.

Claremont's hopes of getting its second win on the season won't be helped with the loss of veteran forward Beau Maister. 

He has kicked eight goals the past two games for the Tigers but is now sidelined through concussion after copping a heavy knock late in last Saturday's one-point loss to Perth at Claremont Oval.

Claremont also loses Fraser Gilbert to a knee injury with young forward James Egan also going out of the line-up to face the Bulldogs.

Kaiden Gilbert, Lachlan Martinis, Ryan Murphy, Jacob Sideris, Eddie Murphy and Nick Winmar have all been added to the squad for the Tigers to play South Fremantle at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

ROUND 8
SOUTH FREMANTLE v CLAREMONT – FREMANTLE COMMUNITY BANK OVAL, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Broadcast – ABC Radio, KIX Digital, Footy Radio

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