RD 2 PREVIEW | v CLAREMONT

SOUTH Fremantle has been thrown right in the deep end to open the WAFLW season in 2024 up against last year's Grand Finalists in the opening two rounds with Ariana Hetherington back to face Claremont this Saturday.

On the back of a first finals appearance in the 2023 WAFLW season which ended up seeing South Fremantle play host to the preliminary final, the Bulldogs have been thrown the challenge to face the two Grand Final teams last year to now start the 2024 campaign.

To open proceedings it was a thrilling derby contest last Saturday which South Fremantle only narrowly lost and now this Saturday it's back again at home at Fremantle Community Bank Oval to play host to Claremont.

While the WAFLW match up between South Fremantle and Claremont will take place on Saturday from 2pm at Fremantle Community Bank Oval, the Rogers Cup Round 2 contest for the Bulldogs will be on Friday evening.

That will see South Fremantle play host to Perth with the game getting underway at 6pm as the Bulldogs look to bounce back from last week's loss to East Fremantle up against a Perth team who also lost to Peel Thunder.

That leads into a fascinating Round 2 WAFLW match up between South Fremantle and Claremont on Saturday afternoon featuring the two teams who finished the 2023 home and away season in the top two positions.

Both teams come into 2024 with plenty of motivation on the back of how the finals played out as well with the Bulldogs still hunting for that first finals win in the WAFLW competition.

Claremont, meanwhile, didn’t lose a game at all throughout the 2023 season until Grand Final day when East Fremantle scored the upset victory to win the premiership.

On the back of that, South Fremantle hosted East Fremantle last Saturday in a preliminary final rematch and a derby to open the 2024 season, and it was a narrow affair the whole way.

In the end, the Sharks managed to kick the game's last two goals to win by three points but there was plenty to like from a Bulldogs perspective to think that the 2024 season is going to be a strong one.

Claremont, meanwhile, opened its new season strongly with a 16-point victory at Revo Fitness Stadium at Revo Fitness Stadium to mean the Tigers have still not lost a home and away game in the WAFLW competition since the second last round of the 2022 season.

Given both teams finished the 2023 season in the top two positions in the WAFLW competition, the last time they met was last year's second semi-final which was a hard fought affair that saw Claremont end up prevailing by 16 points at Revo Fitness Stadium.

Last time the teams met at Fremantle Community Bank Oval was in Round 11 last year and that also ended up in a 29-point victory for the Tigers against the Bulldogs.

The two teams have played one another nine times in the WAFLW since South Fremantle joined the competition back in 2020 but it's the Tigers who have won all nine meetings so far.

Following last week's narrow loss to East Fremantle, South Fremantle receives a huge boost for this Saturday's match up with Claremont with the inclusion of Ariana Hetherington.

Having transitioned from basketball, she had a stunning 2023 season for the Bulldogs going on to win the team's fairest and best award, making the WAFLW Team of the Year and then ending up picked up by the Fremantle Dockers and playing in the AFLW competition.

She is now into the line-up to take on Claremont this Saturday with Alira Fotu and Hannah Young also added to the squad.

Claremont has added Amy Evans, Lauren Hutton, Jessica Low, Amalie Moe, Savannah Muir and Claudia Wright to its squad from the one that beat Swan Districts last Saturday.

Going out of the Tigers team that beat Swans are Emily Bonser and Matilda Husband.