ROUND 17 PREVIEW V PEEL THUNDER

MOTIVATION won't be lacking for South Fremantle to bounce back strongly in Mandurah against Peel Thunder on Saturday with the return of the captain and reigning fairest and best winner sure to help the cause.

Peel Thunder has one last chance to try and keep whatever slim finals hopes alive they have on Saturday but awaiting them is a reigning premier South Fremantle determined to bounce back from a poor last up showing.

That sets up a fascinating contest at Mandurah's David Grays Arena on Saturday between the Thunder and Bulldogs, but not helping Peel's cause is that the majority of the Fremantle-listed players will be unavailable to them for at least the next two weeks.

South Fremantle remains solid in terms of a finals position but the Bulldogs dropped out of the top three last Sunday as a result of a 44-point loss to Subiaco where they only managed to kick two goals the rest of the match after opening the game with the first two majors of the contest.

That result ended a three-game winning streak for the reigning premiers where the Bulldogs did appear to be building some momentum, but there's no doubt the disappointment they had in that performance against the Lions.

It's a critical game for South Fremantle in a number of ways. The Bulldogs must bounce back and respond swiftly to that loss to Subiaco but in the context of the season, it's crucial too.

South Fremantle can return to third, and potentially even second position with a win depending on other results to mean that finishing anywhere in the top three remains a strong probability.

However, a loss for the Bulldogs and they are going to have to play well over the last five weeks to still end up at least in a top three finish as reigning premiers.

Peel's percentage remains strong highlighting their competitiveness through the WAFL season so far but the Thunder have just been unable to string wins together and they have now lost their past two including a four-goal defeat to West Perth last Saturday.

It's going to be tough for Peel to keep themselves in any sort of chance to make the finals especially in the absence of most Fremantle-listed players with the Thunder also ready sitting on a 4-9 record to be four games outside of fifth place.

They will need other results to go their way and should Swan Districts also lose on Saturday and Peel wins, that three-game gap could be made up over the last five weeks especially considering Peel's strong percentage.

So a win on Saturday and Peel keeps its season alive somewhat, but a loss and finals do appear well and truly out of reach.

Peel Thunder did beat South Fremantle in the qualifying final of 2017 and preliminary final of 2016, but the Bulldogs have had the better of recent meeting between the two clubs.

South Fremantle has now won the last four games against Peel including back in Round 3 of this year in Pingelly by 18 points.

South Fremantle has made just the two changes from the team that lost to Subiaco with captain Dylan Main and reigning fairest and best winner Zac Strom both back to take on Peel.

Jarrod Salmeri and Matthew Ward go out for the Bulldogs but that means premiership pair Brock Higgins and Ben Rioli remain sidelined.

South Fremantle premiership forward Brandon Donaldson is confident of a swift bounce back from the Bulldogs on Saturday against the Thunder.

"Obviously it was a pretty tough loss. We weren’t really in it from start to finish. We weren’t too stoked with the result but we are a pretty resilient group and we've shown that over the last few years. I think we'll bounce back pretty well and pretty quickly," Donaldson said.

"Peel can be a bit of a tough team to match up against and you never really know what you are going to come up against with them. 

"Hopefully we'll give it a red hot crack, but really for us it's about trying to build a bit of consistency again. We just have to build on that, get the morale up and get the job done down in Mandurah."

There are a whole host of changes for Peel coming out of the loss to West Perth last week and most involve the loss of Fremantle-listed players.

The forced changes see Blake Acres, Taylin Duman, Stefan Giro, Stephen Hill, Ethan Hughes, Nathan O'Driscoll, Jarvis Pina and Tobe Watson all go out of the Peel line-up.

Blair Bell, Ryan Bennell, Jackson Broadbent, James Ewing, Jake Howes, Luke Polson, Zach Rankin and David Yaccob are the players to come in for the Thunder to face the Bulldogs in Mandurah on Saturday.

ROUND 17 – 2021 OPTUS WAFL PREMIERSHIP SEASON
SOUTH FREMANTLE v PEEL THUNDER – DAVID GRAYS ARENA, SATURDAY 2.10PM

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