Round 7 Preview v East Perth

SOUTH Fremantle heads to Medibank Stadium on Saturday to take on the WAFL grand finalists of the last two years East Perth with the Bulldogs needing to bounce back from three successive losses entering next week's bye.

South Fremantle has now lost three straight matches after opening the season with impressive wins over West Perth, Perth and Claremont.

The Bulldogs have since suffered losses to Swan Districts, Subiaco and East Fremantle to now be searching for that winning form again.

The need to bounce back with a win takes on extra significance this Saturday against a strong East Perth team, and with South Fremantle having the bye next week before then playing Peel Thunder and then having another bye for the State game against South Australia at Lathlain Park.

Adam Carter and Blayne Wilson will also play for South Fremantle for the first time against East Perth since playing with the Royals in last year's losing grand final against Subiaco while both were on West Coast's AFL list.

East Perth put in a dominant display last Saturday to end up hammering Perth by 103 points at Lathlain Park in the biggest win by any team of the WAFL season so far.

The Royals also threw up some surprises in the win with Kyle Anderson kicking the most unlikely seven goals imaginable having been thrown forward with Callum Sinclair, Tom Barrass, Dylan Main, Nathan Blee, Callum Hart and Paddy Brophy all doing well holding up in the back-line.

That win improved East Perth to a 3-2 record on the season to sit in fourth position on the ladder.

Also working in East Perth's favour for the clash is the fact that the Royals will have had a full seven-day break from its win over Perth last Saturday while South Fremantle has had a short week to prepare since losing to East Fremantle on Monday for the Anzac Derby.

South Fremantle hasn’t named any players out of its team at this stage from the one that lost to East Fremantle by 17 points in the Anzac Derby, but Tim Kelly, Alistair Gillespie and Paul Mugambwa are all in the mix to return.

Kelly had played the Bulldogs' first five matches of the season and had averaged almost 20 possessions a game as an important part of the midfield before being a late withdrawal against East Fremantle on Monday. But he looks set to be right to play East Perth on Saturday.

Mugambwa is yet to play a game this season, but exciting 138-game veteran forward has shown some good form and could come in for his first league appearance of the season to add another target in attack, but more importantly to supply his ferocious tackling pressure.

And Gillespie could also come in to add his versatility to the South Fremantle team with him capable of playing as another target in attack, helping out in the ruck or playing down back if needed on East Perth's talls.

Craig White, Dylan Ross, Anthony Collica, John Sgherza and Matthew Gundry were all dropped back to the reserves last week for South Fremantle and will remain there for at least another week along with Toby Bairstow, Mitch Carter, Ben Sokol and Nick Borovac.

East Perth will swap one West Coast big man for another from last week's win over Perth to this Saturday's clash with South Fremantle with Callum Sinclair earning an AFL recall with the Eagles while Scott Lycett comes back to join the Royals.

While West Coast had Sinclair play in East Perth's back-line the last two weeks, it's unlikely Lycett will do the same so he will likely play as a key forward target for the Royals while helping Paul Johnson in the ruck.

The combination of Lycett and Johnson certainly provides a big job to do for South Fremantle ruckman Brock Higgins up against his old side as he continues to battle manfully virtually without support in the ruck for the Bulldogs.

Mitch Howlett, Mitchell Lague, Tom Omodei, Scott Jones, Brandon Hughes and Clayton Giblett are all in the mix to earn a call up into the East Perth team as well.

Rowen Powell does go out of the Royals team after showing good signs on debut last week against Perth and while Mark Hutchings and Brant Colledge have been named as emergencies for West Perth, they are still expected to line up for the Royals against the Bulldogs.

RESERVES SQUAD
M Ah Siu, T Bairstow, M Banks, N Borovac, J Branchi, M Carter, A Collica, B Collier, M Gundry, J Hall, L Harvey, J Laurino, J Maskos, K Matera, B Matera, B McPhail, S Mills, N Olds, D Ross, J Sgherza, B Sokol, J Tartaglia, D Warrell, C White

COLTS SQUAD
M Barritt, N Bretag, D Brown, D Burke, D Cabassi, B Colbung, J Collard, C Datson, Z De San Miguel, B Donaldson, M Dzelebdzic, J Foster, C Foster, M Grubelich, O Ham, B Kersten, J Lachlan, D Maguang, C McGuinness, J McMaster, J Mudge, J Musika, A Nodari, C Pearson, K Pirangi, A Robinson, K Russell