RD 4 PREVIEW | v SWAN DISTRICTS

SOUTH Fremantle has put together two strong performances already this WAFL season to get back on even terms with the Bulldogs now looking to continue their good recent form against Swan Districts on Saturday.

The Bulldogs come into Saturday's clash at Fremantle Community Bank Oval having won 10 of the last 11 matches between the two teams including having won their last nine home games against Swan Districts dating back to 2014.

South Fremantle comes into this Saturday's clash fresh off a strong win at the same venue against Peel Thunder last Saturday which saw the Bulldogs bounce back from a Round 2 loss to Claremont following an opening round win against the West Coast Eagles.

The league clash gets underway at Fremantle Community Bank Oval at 2.10pm on Saturday after the reserves match up that begins at 11.40am.

South Fremantle's colts will be playing Swan Districts at Lathlain's Mineral Resources also on Saturday at 3pm.

South Fremantle has now won two games this season to get back to even pegging on the ladder, so the Bulldogs are also looking to open their account officially for 2023 with a win on Saturday against Swan Districts.

Bulldogs coach Todd Curley was pleased with the response from his team last week against Peel after the loss to Claremont, but knows the threat that Swan Districts pose this Saturday.

"Probably the way we played and the method with which we played with was the pleasing thing on the weekend. Obviously we were really poor the week before but bounced back and looked much more like us on the weekend. Hopefully we can keep that rolling," Curley said.

"They were fantastic against West Perth in a game where they lost their Sandover Medallist midfielder earlier in the game, and looked like they had a few other boys sore. 

"But they have some real spirit and continue to push, and with a bit of luck could have got over the top in all three of their games so far. It will be a good challenge for us and traditionally we've had some pretty good battles over the last three years."

Swan Districts did breakthrough for a rare recent win over South Fremantle in Round 6 last year in a tight contest by nine points at Steel Blue Oval.

However, the Bulldogs hit back with their own heart stopping one-point triumph in the return clash in 2022 at Fremantle Community Bank Oval in Round 13.

Going back beyond last year and South Fremantle has dominated proceedings with Swan Districts in recent times and were on a nine-game winning streak with an average winning margin of 34.8 points.

Prior to that win in Round 6 last year, Swans hadn’t beaten the Bulldogs since Round 2, 2017 which was also at Bassendean.

South Fremantle's dominance recently over Swans has been even more significant at Fremantle Community Bank Oval with the Bulldogs winning the previous nine clashes between the two teams at the venue.

Swans' last win down at the port came in Round 13, 2014 which actually continued a run of six straight wins at the ground for the black-and-whites.

However, since then South Fremantle has won nine straight by an average of 31.2 points but the last two have just been by a combined six points over the past two years.

South Fremantle was tremendous in last Saturday's win at home over Peel and the Bulldogs will be looking to back that up on Saturday back at Fremantle Community Bank Oval against Swans.

Coming into the squad for the Bulldogs for the clash with Swans are Toby Dodds, Kaiden Harbour, Jarrod Salmeri, Lachlan Taylor, Robbie Turnbull and George Wessels.

There are two significant outs for South Fremantle with off-season recruits Jordan Gallucci and Mackenzie Nield out from the side that beat the Thunder with both having become important parts in the forward-line in the first three games of the 2023 season.

There's further good news in the reserves for South Fremantle with Jake Florenca and Matthew Parker both coming in for their first appearances of the season with emerging ruckman Solomon James also returning.

From the Swan Districts team that lost narrowly to West Perth last Sunday, Mitch Bain, Max Chipper, Matthew Germs, Riley Hardeman, Jiah Reidy and Tobe Watson have been added to the squad to take on South Fremantle this Saturday.

Going out for the black-and-whites are the injured Sam Fisher and suspended Jehb O'Donohue.