Round 9 Preview v Peel Thunder

SOUTH Fremantle got back to winning form prior to the bye and now will be looking to cement a spot in the top five against Peel Thunder on Saturday at Fremantle Oval heading into next week's State match with South Australia.

South Fremantle returned to the winner's list prior to last week's bye ending a three-game losing slide and now the Bulldogs will be looking to make it two straight heading into the State game break while handing Peel Thunder a third successive loss as well at Fremantle Oval on Saturday.

Both South Fremantle and Peel currently occupy positions inside the WAFL's top five heading into the round, but the loser on Saturday could find themselves slipping outside if either Swan Districts or East Perth are able to record victories at the same time.

Meanwhile, the winner will improve to an impressive 5-3 record heading into the State game and consolidate a position inside the top five and likely finish the round in third position on the ladder.

South Fremantle started its season in tremendous fashion recording wins over West Perth, Perth and Claremont but then the Bulldogs suffered three straight losses to Swan Districts, Subiaco and East Fremantle before bouncing back prior to the bye with a strong 13-point win over East Perth.

Peel, meanwhile, started the season with a narrow defeat at the hands of West Perth before putting together the club's first ever four-match winning streak with victories against East Fremantle, East Perth, Perth and Claremont.

However, the Thunder have since suffered a 47-point loss to Swan Districts and 60-point loss to Subiaco and they will be looking to stop that losing slide and get back to the form they were in only three weeks ago.

South Fremantle and Peel played out some fascinating battles last year with the Thunder winning by 24 points in Round 9 before the Bulldogs stormed home from 17 points behind in the final quarter to win by a point in Round 20, and then again winning by 30 points in Round 23.

South Fremantle has had the bye to freshen up since the Round 7 win over East Perth, but that break hasn’t helped two key forwards get up to play with Ben Saunders and Josh Pullman both going out of the Bulldogs team that will play Peel this Saturday.

That will require a reshuffle of the forward-line from coach Todd Curley and the first one likely will be 138-game veteran Paul Mugambwa coming in to play his first league match of the season following seven games and 10 goals in the reserves so far in 2015.

Fellow forward John Sgherza will likely return for his second league game of the season for the Bulldogs having also kicked 21 goals in six matches in the reserves so far in 2015.

Dual premiership veteran and 182-game league player Craig White could also make a return after two games in the reserves. He had 24 possessions, 11 inside-50 entries, 10 marks and a goal last up against East Perth prior to the bye.

Brendan Verrier racked up 38 possessions in the reserves against East Perth as well to make sure he comes into calculations to return to take on Peel while former Thunder defender Chris Luff is a chance to get the call up from South Fremantle as well to play his old side for the first time.

Peel will regain Fremantle midfielder Connor Blakely to take on South Fremantle and he has been terrific in the WAFL so far this season averaging over 25 disposals a game. He returns after missing last Saturday's loss to Subiaco.

Ruckman Jonathon Griffin also returns for Peel after missing the game against Subiaco and he will team up with fellow Dockers big man Jack Hannath to make sure that South Fremantle's Brock Higgins will have a long afternoon to compete with two men significantly bigger than him.

Laine Wilkins, Ben Hancock, Stephen Kane and Kieran May are then all a chance to get a call up into the Peel line-up from the reserves.

Tom Sheridan has been named to play with Fremantle against the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium on Sunday so he is out of the Peel team to take on the Bulldogs.

Hayden Crozier should still play with the Thunder after being named as an emergency for the Dockers and another Fremantle player Josh Deluca has lost his place in the Peel team take on South Fremantle.

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

COLTS SQUAD
C Ah Siu, M Barritt, D Burke, B Colbung, J Collard, J Colpitts, J Cupin, B Donaldson, M Dzelebdzic, J Foster, C Foster, O Ham, J Lachlan, D Maguang, J McComb, C McGuinness, J McMaster, J Mudge, J Musika, A Nodari, C Pearson, S Petera, A Robinson, K Russell, B Strickland, S Thompson