Round 20 Preview v West Perth

SOUTH Fremantle can continue its momentum heading towards the finals when it heads to HBF Arena on Saturday to take on West Perth in the final round of the 2019 WAFL season.

The Bulldogs now look guaranteed of finishing the home and away season in second position on the ladder no matter the result on Saturday against the Falcons on the back of winning their past four matches.

The four-game winning run for South Fremantle has come on the back of losing four consecutive matches and prior to that the Bulldogs had been on an impressive seven-match winning streak before that was snapped by Subiaco.

Now South Fremantle holds a 12-5 record coming into Saturday's game with West Perth and while a loss to the Falcons and a win by Claremont over Swan Districts would see the Tigers join them on 12 wins, the Bulldogs superior percentage should still see them hold onto second position.

That would be the fourth consecutive season that South Fremantle has finished in second position on the ladder at the end of the regular season as they now set the sights on trying to advance past a preliminary final finish.

West Perth comes into the game with everything to play for as well with the Falcons still not having locked away a position in the finals.

West Perth made last year's Grand Final following a shock upset of South Fremantle in the preliminary final, but now the Falcons must win on Saturday against the Bulldogs to guarantee their place in finals action in 2019.

A win and West Perth will play finals but with a loss they have to hope that both Perth loses to Peel Thunder and that the West Coast Eagles lose to East Fremantle or else they will finish outside the top five.

The two teams met back in Round 3 at Fremantle Community Bank Oval and that proved a comfortable 16-point victory for South Fremantle on home turf.

Outside of that shock preliminary final result last year, South Fremantle has dominated clashes with West Perth in recent times having won 10 of the past 11 matches.

The Bulldogs have also enjoyed visiting HBF Arena over time having won 18 of their 27 trips to Joondalup including having won on their last three games at the venue and seven of the past eight.

But Saturday will be the first time the two teams have played at HBF Arena since South Fremantle won by eight points in Round 3 last year.

South Fremantle's versatile veteran Shaun Bewick will also be bringing up his 150th WAFL appearance when he runs out for the Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon.

The Bewick name is a famous one at West Perth and that's where he did begin his career, going on to play 30 matches before deciding to join South Fremantle from the urging of then coach Paul Hasleby and he has never looked back.

While most of his career was spent on the wing, over the past two years Bewick has shown his versatility by playing important roles both in defence and up forward, and he has now turned himself into an invaluable senior player with the Bulldogs.

It's only fitting that he now reaches his 150th WAFL game when South Fremantle takes on his former team on his old home ground this Saturday.

Saturday's clash in Joondalup bounces down at 1.45pm while the reserves game between West Perth and South Fremantle begins at 10.30am.

The colts game between the Falcons and Bulldogs also takes place on Saturday at 10.30am but will be held at Lathlain's Mineral Resources Park.

ROUND 20
SOUTH FREMANTLE v WEST PERTH – HBF ARENA, SATURDAY 1.45PM

LEAGUE LIVE STATS
RESERVES LIVE STATS
COLTS LIVE STATS