Round 13 Preview v Swan Districts

SOUTH Fremantle returns to Fremantle Oval on Saturday trying to snap a three-game WAFL losing run and also an eight-match losing streak against Swan Districts.

After losing the opening four matches of the season, South Fremantle had built some form with impressive wins over East Fremantle, West Perth and Claremont to suddenly be right back in the finals mix.

However, then the Bulldogs copped a run in the fixtures that robbed them off all momentum.

Following a 64-point thumping of Claremont, South Fremantle had a bye before then heading to Mandurah to take on Peel where the Bulldogs were the only team to lose to the Thunder so far this season.

It was then another break for the State game before South Fremantle came out and played East Fremantle in the Foundation Derby at Fremantle Oval and again went down.

It was then yet another bye for the Bulldogs leading into last Saturday's clash with East Perth which the Royals ended up winning by 61 points.

Now finally South Fremantle will play back-to-back matches again for the first time since wins over East Fremantle and West Perth, but the challenge is a significant one against the second-placed Swan Districts.

The problem is that Swan Districts is in the middle of a terrific season currently sitting on a 9-2 record to be only percentage off top spot on the ladder.

Swan Districts has also won its last eight matches against South Fremantle with the Bulldogs' last win over the black-and-whites coming at Steel Blue Oval in Round 5, 2011. The average losing margin in those eight games has been over 25 points.

Swans have also won on their last five trips to Fremantle Oval with South Fremantle's last win at home over them coming in the Round 1 of the premiership year of 2009 when the Bulldogs prevailed by 17 points in a Friday night fixture in front of 3354 people.

South Fremantle faces a big ask to try and get back on the winner's list in terms of both this season and against Swan Districts.

Mitch Carter is the only out of the Bulldogs team at this stage with midfielder Jarrod Parry, wingman/half-forward Ben Sokol, Jason Maskos and Alistair Gillespie pressing their claims for selection.

Parry has found himself back in the reserves the last two games and been terrific amassing 58 possessions, 13 marks and 11 tackles.

Sokol hasn’t managed a league game since Round 4 with the Bulldogs but has continued to work hard in the reserves averaging over 25 possessions a game in his last six matches.

Maskos also hasn’t played in the league team since Round 4 but has been in solid form in the reserves and could come back into the Bulldogs' side as a small defender to potentially free up Ashton Hams to play in the midfield again.

After playing all 20 matches last year, Gillespie has made just the one league appearance for South Fremantle so far in 2014 and that was back in Round 3, but he is again in the mix after some solid reserves form.

Swan Districts hasn’t named any outs at this stage from the team that beat Peel Thunder last Saturday but star premiership forward Tim Geappen remains in doubt with a hamstring injury suffered in the third quarter of that victory.

If he doesn’t get up to play then Rudy Riddoch appears the likely replacement in the forward-line for Swans with young star Connor Blakely to return from WA State 18s duties with young defender Josh Kirkup also in the mix to return for the black-and-whites.

RESERVES TEAM
M Banks, T Bennell, M Bolger, S Borovac, J Branchi, E Collard, A Collica, B Collier, J D'Vauz, B Fimmano, A Galiano, A Gillespie, M Gundry, J Hall, L Harvey, B Hill, J Maskos, K Matera, S Mills, M Nicholson, S Panizza, J Pantano, J Parry, M Pickett, M Russell, B Sokol, T Stewart, J Tartaglia

COLTS TEAM
M Ah Siu, D Cabassi, J Culleton, J Depane, B Donaldson, J Dragovich, J Florenca, J Foster, W Frampton, J Garlett, O Ham, B Hansson, J Hickey, B Kersten, C Loersch, J McComb, J Mcguire, G McLeod, J McMaster, B McPhail, J Mirco, D Moore, A Nodari, L Pearson, B Rhodes, K Stewart, N Strom, B Truss, S Williamson