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Round 23 v Peel Thunder

Friday, August 29, 2014 - 6:11 PM by Chris Pike

SOUTH Fremantle is out to make it five straight wins to finish off the 2014 WAFL season when hosting Peel Thunder at Fremantle Oval on Saturday.

South Fremantle's hopes of playing finals for the first time since 2011 might have ended with the Bulldogs losing 10 of the first 13 matches, but they have now finished the season in strong form.

The Bulldogs have now beaten East Fremantle, Peel, Swan Districts and Subiaco over the past month to now be on a four-game winning streak heading into the last match of the season this Saturday against the Thunder at Fremantle Oval.

Peel, meanwhile, has lost three straight matches since a dominant 65-point win over Perth back in Round 19 and now the Thunder will be desperate to finish the season with a win and to make up for what happened last time they visited Fremantle Oval.

Peel was in control of the contest all afternoon back in Round 20 before South Fremantle stole the victory when teenager Jarrod Pickett kicked the winning goal on the siren.

The Thunder also won the first meeting this season between the two teams recording a 24-point win at Bendigo Bank Stadium back in Round 9.

South Fremantle is in outstanding form having won four straight matches but does lose key defender Dylan Ross for the clash Peel on Saturday and that isn’t ideal timing given the Thunder will likely have Michael Apeness, Tanner Smith, Jack Hannath and Kepler Bradley up forward who he could have matched up on.

The match will be the first that Ross hasn’t played for South Fremantle's league side since Round 14, 2012 – a run of 47 straight matches.

Teenager Jarrod Garlett is also out of the South Fremantle side to take on Peel while Shaun Bewick, Mitch Carter, Marlon Pickett are vying to return, and Simon Panizza is a chance to make his league debut.

Peel has now lost three straight matches since its last win of the season and the Thunder will want to finish the season on a high, and they have some handy inclusions in their hopes of achieving that.

While midfielder Sam Menegola goes out injured and is a big loss, Peel has some more than handy players coming into the line-up.

Fremantle ruckman Jack Hannath as well as his Dockers teammates Matt de Boer, Garrick Ibbotson and Tom Sheridan are all likely to line-up against South Fremantle on Saturday at Fremantle Oval.

Tanner Smith will also return from a shoulder injury he suffered in the encounter at the same venue against the same opponent three weeks ago while Kieran May is a chance to play his second league match.

RESERVES TEAM
S Bewick, M Bolger, S Borovac, J Branchi, M Carter, E Collard, J D'Vauz, J Garlett, M Gundry, L Harvey, B Hill, J Maskos, K Matera, A McIntosh, S Mills, M Nicholson, N Olds, S Panizza, M Pickett, M Russell, J Sgherza, B Sokol, T Stewart, Z Strom, J Tartaglia

COLTS TEAM
C Ah Chee, M Ah Siu, S Bolton, D Brown, D Cabassi, B Collier, J Culleton, J Depane, B Donaldson, J Doubikin, J Dragovich, B Fimmano, J Florenca, J Foster, W Frampton, J Garlett, O Ham, C Loersch, B Matera, J McComb, G McLeod, J McMaster, B McPhail, J Mirco, D Moore, L Pearson, A Robinson, C Salmon, K Stewart