ROUND 21 PREVIEW V SWAN DISTRICTS

SOUTH Fremantle is back home to Fremantle Community Bank Oval for the final two weeks of the WAFL season looking to ensure at least a top two finish heading into finals.

The Bulldogs made it 12 straight wins against East Fremantle in the last game they played at Fremantle Community Bank Oval back in Round 18 but couldn’t quite making it six straight against West Perth last Sunday at Joondalup, losing a thriller by six points.

That saw the Bulldogs miss out on a chance to sit in top position with two games of 2021 Optus WAFL Premiership Season remaining, but they do remain second and the chance to ensure they at least finish second with two home matches to finish off over the last two rounds.

The first of those takes place this Saturday with South Fremantle attempting to make it a ninth win in-a-row against Swan Districts. 

The Bulldogs haven't lost to Swans since Round 2, 2017 and not at Fremantle Community Bank Oval since Round 13, 2014, and if the reigning premiers can keep that run going then a top two finish is further locked away, and the minor premiership remains a possibility.

However, Saturday's game shapes as being the best battle between South Fremantle and Swan Districts in some time as both teams are gearing up for the finals, and both are still attempting to finish as high up as possible so have plenty to play for.

South Fremantle premiership coach Todd Curley has never lost to Swan Districts with Adam Pickering their coach, but having re-signed for another two years during the week, he's just focused on the team getting ready for the finals over these last two games.

"We will just continue to build. This week will be another tough game against Swannies and then we finish off next week against West Coast, and we really don’t know who we will be playing that week," Curley said. 

"We have just focused on getting back to training this week to prepare on a six-day break and we are just looking forward to getting home because we haven’t played there much over the last couple of months."

South Fremantle has enjoyed life in recent times against Swan Districts with the Bulldogs having won eight consecutive matches against the black-and-whites, including by 36 points at Steel Blue Oval back in Round 15 this season.

Those eight straight wins for South Fremantle have come at an average of 38.5 points as well including a couple of wins over 80 points along the way.

The last time Swan Districts played finals saw them eliminated by South Fremantle as well with the Bulldogs winning the first semi-final in 2017 by 80 points at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

The last win for Swans against the Bulldogs was Round 2, 2017 when they won by 21 points at Steel Blue Oval. Their last win at the port was way back on Round 13, 2014 with South Fremantle having won the last seven homes matches against them by an average of 39.3 points.

South Fremantle has made just the one change from the team that lost narrowly to West Perth last Sunday with Glenn Byron coming back into the team at the expense of Regan Spooner.

That means that premiership ruckman Brock Higgins will spend a second week back in the reserves along with the likes Kye Barker, Trent Newton, Matthew Ward, Jarrod Salmeri, Travis Abbott, Josh Collard, Jarrad Doney and Seaton Thompson who are all vying for selection come finals time.

From the Swan Districts team that beat East Perth two weeks ago, Lewis Jetta returns for the black-and-whites with Jacob Sideris, Jack O'Sullivan, Callum Garcia and Tom Edwards added to the squad while Matt Riggio is the only out from the squad at this stage.

ROUND 21 – 2021 OPTUS WAFL PREMIERSHIP SEASON
SOUTH FREMANTLE v SWAN DISTRICTS – FREMANTLE COMMUNITY BANK OVAL, SATURDAY 2.10PM

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