ROUND 10 PREVIEW V EAST PERTH

SIX days after continuing their dominance over East Fremantle in derbies, South Fremantle looks to keep its winning run going against East Perth on Sunday in premiership midfielder Jacob Dragovich's 100th game.

Not only is South Fremantle looking to back up Monday's 11th straight win against East Fremantle by beating East Perth for an eighth consecutive time this Sunday, but it's a significant milestone for a loyal Bulldog.

Dragovich came right through the ranks at South Fremantle and went on to play two outstanding colts seasons including in 2014 when he was runner-up in the fairest and best award, and also got his first taste of senior football late in the season.

By 2015 with Todd Curley coming on board as coach at South Fremantle, it didn’t take long for Dragovich to entrench himself as a player that would be backed in to help form the future of the Bulldogs in the rebuilding phase.

While a lot of his early football was spent playing as a half-forward to who could win the football and also apply plenty of pressure, he started to show what he could do further up the field on the wing and eventually earned a spot in the midfield.

He has become a tremendously consistent and versatile player ever since for the Bulldogs, thriving in whatever role asked of him and becoming a key member of those teams that played in three successive preliminary finals, and then reached the Grand Final in 2019.

Dragovich was then a pivotal part of the premiership team for South Fremantle in 2020 and this Sunday, he will book his name on the famous No. 2 locker by playing his 100th game. The last person to do so in that jumper was Adam Guglielmana so Dragovich is some good company.

Round 10 in the WAFL concludes on Sunday afternoon with the Royals hosting the Bulldogs in the second meeting between the two teams in the past five weeks.

That last meeting took place back in Round 5 at Fremantle Community Bank Oval and East Perth put in an impressively fighting performance before falling short of South Fremantle by seven points.

The Bulldogs led most of the day on their home turf, but the Royals produced a spirited final quarter fight back to get back within under a goal before Jimmy Miller kicked the sealing goal for the Bulldogs after receiving a 50m penalty on the wing late in the contest.

So based on that clash five weeks ago, South Fremantle will be looking to produce a better performance and to play better while East Perth will take heart from it that they can take the challenge right up to the reigning premiers.

Since that game, South Fremantle lost next up to Perth but has bounced back since with wins against the West Coast Eagles and East Fremantle to sit steady in third position on the ladder with a 6-2 record.

East Perth, meanwhile, broke through in its next game for a first win of the season beating the Eagles by 57 points but the Royals have since lost to Claremont and West Perth to sit down in second last place with a 1-7 record.

South Fremantle has enjoyed a recent dominance against East Perth as well with the Bulldogs having won their past seven matches against the Royals.

The last win for East Perth against South Fremantle came back in Round 10, 2017 at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

The Bulldogs have also won their last four visits to Leederville Oval against the Royals with their last loss at the venue to East Perth back in Round 12, 2014.

From the South Fremantle team that won an 11th straight derby against East Fremantle, the Bulldogs have added Hamish Free, Trent Newton, Regan Spooner, Seaton Thompson and Matthew Ward into their squad to take on the Royals.

Kye Barker goes out for South Fremantle after suffering a concussion in the early stages of Monday's derby win.

From the East Perth team that lost to West Perth back on WA Day, Adam Boules, Shaquille McKenzie, Nick Merritt, Josh Underwood and Corey Watts have been added to their extended squad.

The East Perth have suffered a blow, though, with the loss of powerful forward Mitch Dobson.

ROUND 10 – 2021 OPTUS WAFL PREMIERSHIP SEASON
SOUTH FREMANTLE v EAST PERTH – LEEDERVILLE OVAL, SUNDAY 2.10PM

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