ROUND 1 PREVIEW V EAST FREMANTLE

THE time has finally arrived for the opening of the 2020 Optus WAFL Premiership Season and not only do South Fremantle host East Fremantle, but the day is going to be a Festival of Football at Fremantle Community Bank Oval on Saturday.

COVID-19 has played havoc with the 2020 WAFL season just like the pandemic has had such an impact on so much of the world, but now the time has come this Saturday for the action to return.

There's no better place for that to happen than at Fremantle Community Bank Oval and with the only Fremantle Derby that will take place in 2020 with South Fremantle hosting East Fremantle.

On top of the action on the field, there's going to be something for everyone off the field down at the port as well. 

The action all gets underway from 9.30am and with a crowd of up to 6000 people expected, we advise everyone to get down as early as possible and take in everything the Bulldogs will be providing to make it a memorable occasion.

South Fremantle coach Todd Curley can't wait to finally get the season underway and he hopes to see a big crowd turn out to enjoy the WAFL action, and then hopefully keep coming back for more.

"Hopefully we can recapture some of those lost fans who have drifted away in the last 15 or 20 years," Curley said.

"Hopefully they come back and give the WAFL a chance, and the majority of grounds are fantastic to go to where you can take your family and kids where they can have a kick and run around, and get up close to the game. 

"It's a pretty high quality brand of footy out on the field too with a lot of high standard players out there so hopefully a few people get along who haven’t been there for a while, get hooked and keep coming back."

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The Bulldogs are coming off having reached the past four preliminary finals and the Grand Final last year, but will be spurred on by that 96-point loss to Subiaco while the Sharks will be desperate to put themselves back in the finals hunt for the first time since 2014.

For two such long and strong rivals, it's remarkable to think this will be the first time they have played one another since Round 8 last year which was more than a year ago now on WA Day.

That game produced a ninth straight derby win for the Bulldogs over the Sharks. Those wins have come at an average of 73.7 points. East Fremantle's last win over South Fremantle came back in Round 12 of 2016 at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

Going back further and South Fremantle has won 12 of the past 14 games over East Fremantle on top of nine straight.

Coming off last year's Grand Final appearance, South Fremantle welcomes back key defender Chris Luff to open the 2020 season while Ben Rioli will make his debut as will Jimmy Miller and Travis Abbott.

As if it's needed, but South Fremantle will have some added motivation with Sandover Medallist and dual fairest and best winner Haiden Schloithe playing his 150th game for the Bulldogs which sees him earn life membership.

Curley knows what a big occasion it is for Schloithe, but he also knows like with any milestone that it won't quite mean as much unless it coincides with a victory on the day.

"It is a big day for him but it's a big day for everyone really. He'll have family and friends there, and he'll be proud because he loves his footy club and his footy, but these are the kind of things that you might savour even more when you finish playing," Curley said.

"Haiden is in really good shape, has been training really well and he's very well of becoming a life member, but he's more keen to become a leader for us and he just wants us to win. 

"He has been fantastic over the last couple of years at making his teammates better, and we think he will do that again this week."

It has been tough going over the past five years for East Fremantle but the signs were encouraging in Bill Monaghan's first season as coach in 2019 and now they will look to build on that.

They have some new faces for Round 1 too including Brodie Riach, Cody Leggett and Jordan Mills, but they will be looking for especially big things from their leaders like Ryan Lester-Smith, Blaine Boekhorst, Cam Eardley, Nick Kommer, Matthew Jupp, Morgan Davies, Kody Manning and captain Jonathon Griffin.

ROUND 1 TRADITIONAL DERBY
SOUTH FREMANTLE v EAST FREMANTLE – FREMANTLE COMMUNITY BANK OVAL, SATURDAY 2.35PM

LEAGUE LIVE STATS
RESERVES LIVE STATS
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