Round 18 Preview v West Perth

SOUTH Fremantle and West Perth will meet for the first of what will become an annual Garlic Munchers Cup at Arena Joondalup this Saturday while the Falcons try to maintain second spot on the ladder and the Bulldogs look to fight their way off the bottom.

The Falcons and Bulldogs will honour their players of southern European heritage with the introduction of the Garlic Munchers Cup and in recognition of that, both teams have named their Garlic Munchers' all-time best teams

South Fremantle's Garlic Munchers team includes Stan Magro, Tom Grljusich, Jon Dorotich, Glen Jakovich, Darren Gaspar, Peter Matera, John Gerovich, Scott Watters, Wally Matera, Peter Sumich, Phil Matera, Paul Vasoli, Allen Jakovich and Brian Ciccotosto is the captain with Tony Micale the coach.

West Perth's line-up includes Don Marinko junior and senior, Ray Marinko, George Michalczyk, Geoff Hendricks, Paul Mifka, Bill Valli, Ray Boyanich, John Gastev, Dennis Cometti, Joe Fanchi and current captain Jason Salecic. Peter Menaglio is the captain.

Both West Perth and South Fremantle had the bye last weekend so have had similar preparations for Saturday's clash at Arena Joondalup.

Even though South Fremantle has won just the two games this season, the Bulldogs have been in winning positions in most of their losses including the last two before the bye and the first meeting with West Perth this season.

The Bulldogs only lost to the Falcons by three points under lights at Fremantle Oval back in Round 4 and then prior to the bye were in winning positions during the last quarter against top-four teams Perth and Claremont, but narrowly went down on both occasions by 10 and four points respectively.

South Fremantle also has an outstanding record at Arena Joondalup both in history and recently.

The Bulldogs have won their last two trips to Joondalup winning last year by nine points and by 25 back in 2011. While West Perth did win three straight games at home before that, even prior to that South Fremantle won on five straight trips to Joondalup between 2005 and 2008.

Overall since West Perth made the move north, South Fremantle has won 13 of 21 matches played against the Falcons at Arena Joondalup.

West Perth remains in second position on the WAFL ladder with a 10-4 record to be two games clear of the chasing Swan Districts, Perth and East Perth.

Prior to the bye last weekend, the Falcons had won four straight matches and will need to keep winning to make sure second spot on the ladder remains theirs and that crucial double chance come finals time.

Adam Carter goes out of the South Fremantle team that narrowly went down to Claremont a fortnight ago after making his AFL debut last week for West Coast in the western derby against Fremantle. Alex Grima is also out of the South Fremantle line-up.

However, the Bulldogs have some key players returning led by last year's Bernie Naylor Medal winner as the WAFL's leading goalkicker Ben Saunders.

He has played just two games this season due to two fractures to his collarbone, but kicked five goals in those and will be a big addition this week for South Fremantle to provide that spearhead target in the forward-line.

Star ruckman Sean Tighe also returns after being a late withdrawal a fortnight ago against Claremont with Jarrad Winter, Reece Adams and Warrick Andreoli also coming  back into the South Fremantle squad after good form in the reserves two weeks ago prior to last week's bye.

West Perth welcomes back Jordan Jones, Nick Rodda and Jason Salecic from the team that beat Peel Thunder a fortnight ago in Mandurah with Frank Stockley also a chance to come in to provide a back-up ruck option to Chris Keunen and also offer another tall forward target.

Joe Morrow slips out of the Falcons' line-up largely due to Jones returning and the similar role and position that they play.

While Ray Bartholomew, Laine Rasmussen and Matt Johnson won't immediately come back into the Falcons' league side this week, the trio should line up in the reserves on the comeback trail from injuries.

South Fremantle coach Paul Hasleby knows that West Perth is another big challenge but is confident of a win if the Bulldogs can put in the efforts of the last two games, and maintain it.

"It's a different challenge and they are second for a reason," Hasleby said.

"They have been terrific this season under the guidance of their coach, but we know that like in any game if we bring the right attitude and right pressure, and try to execute our game plan for as long as we can that we will be in the contest.

"Hopefully we get ourselves in that position again and we can win this one."

By Chris Pike