Round 4 Preview v Swan Districts

SWAN Districts and South Fremantle have both made encouraging starts to the 2015 WAFL season and that should lead to what looms as a fascinating battle at Steel Blue Oval on Saturday.

Swans started their season with a thumping 96-point win over Perth at home and then stormed home against East Perth in Round 2 before coming up 13 points short prior to the bye last week.

South Fremantle, meanwhile, has beaten West Perth, Perth and Claremont to start the season to remain the only unbeaten team left in the competition and to sit on top of the ladder.

The Bulldogs have now won eight straight matches dating back to winning the last five in 2014 as well, but there seems little doubt that the clash with Swans on Saturday at Bassendean is their biggest test of the new season to date.

The two teams played out some fascinating battles in 2014 with Swan Districts winning a tight affair by 13 points at Steel Blue Oval in Round 4 with the Bulldogs being made to pay for wasting plenty of goal scoring chances early.

South Fremantle was then on track for what could have been a season-saving win in Round 13 at Fremantle Oval leading by 35 points in terribly wet conditions during the second quarter and still by five goals at the last change, but then Swans stormed home.

The black-and-whites kicked the only six goals of the final quarter to win by five points after Ryan Davis kicked the match-winner in the dying seconds.

South Fremantle got a measure of revenge in Round 21 winning by 46 points at Steel Blue Oval with Josh Pullman booting five goals and Ashton Hams racking up 43 possessions, but Swans were on their way to the finals and the Bulldogs weren’t.

South Fremantle loses reigning fairest and best winner Haiden Schloithe with an ankle injury suffered late in the Good Friday win over Claremont last week, but depth is something that’s not a concern at the Bulldogs at present.

Anthony Collica had a solid game in the league team in Round 1 with 18 possessions but he then missed Round 2 and returned in the reserves last Friday and played well with 27 disposals and a goal to press his claims for a recall and to help make up for the loss of Schloithe.

Jacob Dragovich has taken the step up from the colts this year to play three strong reserves matches, including 20 possessions and a goal against Claremont last Friday, to put himself in the mix for a league debut this Saturday against Swan Districts.

Matthew Gundry played some good league football late in 2014 and has been in solid reserves form putting the small defender in the running for his first senior match of 2015 while key forward Josh Pullman remains a chance to return after being a late withdrawal against Claremont.

Pullman started the season well the first two weeks providing a strong forward target alongside Ben Saunders and James Sellar.

His withdrawal last Friday caused a bit of a reshuffle with Zac Strom playing his role in attack while Chris Luff came into the side to make his South Fremantle debut by holding down a key defensive spot after previously playing 43 games with Peel Thunder.

Further highlighting the depth at South Fremantle early in the season is the fact that Toby Bairstow (30 possessions in the reserves last week), John Sgherza (seven goals), Ben Sokol (18 touches, three goals), Adam Carter (17 disposals), Bailey Matera (18) and Tim Stewart (24) are unable to get a look in for the league team at the moment.

Swan Districts has had a fortnight to freshen up after its narrow loss to East Perth where the black-and-whites finished right over the top of the Royals before falling 13 points short.

From that team, Tom Smirk and Jacob Burnham go out of the side but Swans have some handy inclusions.

Kirk Ugle heads that list after he missed the game with East Perth and now the creative defender not only returns to add some attack to Swans’ back-line, but he also looms as the likely opponent for South Fremantle’s Cory Dell’Olio who is preparing for his second game of the season.

Levi Ridley, Warrick Wilson, Nelson Ansey and Sean Fletcher are all pushing for selection with Swan Districts as well with all four coming off playing in last year’s colts premiership.

Ridley is the son of triple East Perth premiership star Paul and was a key player in Swans’ colts premiership success of last year and now could make his league debut this Saturday against the Bulldogs.

Wilson is another colts premiership player from last year and after 39 possessions in the first two reserves games of the season, he comes into calculation for a league debut as well.

Ansey is a lively half-forward who comes into the mix after two solid reserves games to start the season following last year’s colts premiership while Fletcher has also stepped up this year to kick four goals in two reserves matches following last year’s colts success.

RESERVES SQUAD
M Ah Siu, T Bairstow, M Banks, N Borovac, J Branchi, M Carter, A Carter, A Collica, J Dragovich, A Gillespie, J Hall, L Harvey, S Lowrie, C Luff, J Maskos, B Matera, K Matera, B McPhail, S Mills, P Mugambwa, M Nicholson, N Olds, S Panizza, J Pullman, J Sgherza, B Sokol, T Stewart, N Strom, D Warrell

COLTS SQUAD
M Barritt, S Bolton, N Bretag, A Brown, D Brown, D Burke, D Cabassi, B Colbung, J Collard, J Colpitts, B Corner, C Datson, Z De San Miguel, B Donaldson, M Dzelebdzic, J Florenca, J Foster, C Foster, M Grubelich, J McComb, J McMaster, J Mudge, J Musika, A Nodari, C Pearson, K Pirangi, C Salmon