ROUND 13 PREVIEW V SWAN DISTRICTS

SOUTH Fremantle returns home to Fremantle Community Bank Oval on Saturday to host Swan Districts in what shapes as a crucial battle as the race for finals double chances heats up in the WAFL.

South Fremantle will host Swan Districts on Saturday afternoon with both teams coming into the game on identical 7-4 records with the Bulldogs in third spot and Swans in fifth just courtesy of percentage.

The Bulldogs come into the contest after what was likely their best performance of the season last Saturday to beat Claremont by 34 points at Revo Fitness Stadium in touch conditions.

That saw South Fremantle move back into third spot on the WAFL ladder and now a win on Saturday, which would be a ninth home victory in-a-row against Swan Districts, would set up a battle over second spot next Saturday against East Fremantle at the WACA Ground.

This will be the second meeting between the teams this season after back in Round 6 at Steel Blue Oval it was Swan Districts that beat South Fremantle by nine points.

That win for Swans ended a nine-game losing streak against the Bulldogs and it was an impressive showing with Ryan Kemp, Chris Jones and Jesse Palmer all kicking two goals for the winners.

Sam Fisher also racked up 31 possessions for Swans as did Jesse Palmer while Tobe Watson had 22 touches, Aidan Clarke 21 and Josh Cipro 21 to go with 10 tackles.

Meanwhile in the loss for South Fremantle, Haiden Schloithe finished with 19 touches and two goals while Jake Florenca racked up 32 touches, Tom Blechynden 25 and Toby McQuilkin 23 with Hamish Free racking up 55 hit outs in the ruck.

However, prior to that match up South Fremantle had dominated Swan Districts in recent times with the nine straight victories by an average of 34.8 points.

The last win for Swans against the Bulldogs had been Round 2, 2017 and that meant that the Round 6 win this year was the first time that Swan Districts had beaten South Fremantle with Adam Pickering as coach.

Fremantle Community Bank Oval hasn’t been a happy hunting ground either for Swan Districts with South Fremantle having now won their last eight home matches over them by an average of 35 points.

The last win for the black-and-whites at the port was Round 13, 2014. Zac Strom, Haiden Schloithe, Steve Verrier and Tony Notte are the only remaining players at either club who played on that day.

Following the first 12 rounds of the WAFL season, South Fremantle is comfortably the best defensive team in the competition conceding just 57.1 points a game including giving up just three goals again to Claremont last week.

The Bulldogs' attack hasn’t quite clicked this year, though, with them ranked seventh at 68.6 points a game.

Meanwhile, Swan Districts is ranked fourth in attack at 74.5 points a game and fifth defensively at 68.1 points.

Both teams do well limiting the amount of ball won by their opponents too with South Fremantle conceding just 309 possessions a game and Swan Districts 323.

The start to the game will be fascinating with Swans a good starting team this season having outscored their opponents by 35 points in first quarters while the Bulldogs have struggled to be outscored by 24 points.

That dramatically changes in second quarters where South Fremantle are ranked third and Swan Districts ninth, but then Swans are the best third quarter team in the competition with an average of outscoring their opposition by 13 points a game.

South Fremantle is fourth in third terms as well while in last quarters, Swans are ranked sixth and the Bulldogs come in fifth.

South Fremantle coach Todd Curley has never lost a home match to Swan Districts in his time in charge, but he knows it's a significant test for the Bulldogs on Saturday.

"They're all going to be big games from here on in. I think it's that patch of the season again where we sort of play everyone around us on the ladder, similar to the first month to five weeks of the year," Curley said. 

"But there's no easy games. Footy's a funny game and it's a mental battle, if you don't come prepared you can find yourselves in trouble. We'll look to be at our best to take on Swans this week because we know every game is so important at this stage."

Curley is also glad that the Bulldogs are getting closer to full strength with Mason Shaw returning in the reserves last week while Dylan Main should be right to return after being a late withdrawal last week with Jake Florenca getting closer.

"Those guys will do their rehab and be diligent," Curley said. 

"Jordan Boullineau is not far away either and there's definitely some boys there to come back in, but if the boys that played this week continue to play like they did then it's pretty hard to lose your spot if you play well. That's probably a good thing for the club and for the side."

ROUND 13 – 2022 WAFL PREMIERSHIP SEASON
SOUTH FREMANTLE v SWAN DISTRICTS – FREMANTLE COMMUNITY BANK OVAL, SATURDAY 2.10PM

LEAGUE LIVE STATS
RESERVES LIVE STATS ???????
COLTS LIVE STATS