Round 13 Preview v West Perth

SOUTH Fremantle makes the trip to Joondalup to try and win a fifth straight match at HBF Arena to also reclaim the Garlic Munchers Cup and consolidate a spot inside the WAFL's top five.

The Bulldogs have the best winning record of any team at HBF Arena, including West Perth, and that has include winning on their last four trips heading into a crucial clash on Saturday with the Garlic Munchers Cup also at stake in tribute to the contribution of European migrants to both football clubs.

South Fremantle won the inaugural Garlic Munchers Cup battle at HBF Arena in 2013 before West Perth got even last year with a dominant victory at Fremantle Oval meaning the Falcons currently hold the trophy, but the honours are 1-1 in the battles over the first two years.

The Falcons enter the clash in second position with a 6-4 record and the Bulldogs are fourth at 6-5 so the winner will occupy second position come Saturday night, while the loser will be in danger of being leapfrogged on the ladder by either Claremont, East Perth, Swan Districts or East Fremantle.

The clash at HBF Arena will also have the Garlic Munchers Cup at stake with the two clubs striking the clash to pay 

West Perth and South Fremantle have both played a mixture of outstanding and disappointing football in 2015 so far, but they are now looking to string together consistently good performances.

West Perth has looked good in wins over East Fremantle, East Perth, Peel (twice), Perth and Swan Districts this season, but then not so good in losses to Claremont, East Perth, South Fremantle and Swan Districts.

South Fremantle has been similar, looking good beating Claremont, East Fremantle, East Perth, Perth (twice) and West Perth, but being disappointing against East Fremantle, Peel, Subiaco (twice) and Swan Districts.

The stakes are high, both teams play an exciting and attacking brand of football when allowed to and are looking to cement their finals position, so the third Garlic Munchers Cup battle looms as a beauty.

South Fremantle and West Perth met in Round 1 on a Friday night at Fremantle Oval to open the 2015 season, and the Bulldogs controlled the contest for much of the evening to end up convincing 14.6 (90) to 8.7 (55) winners.

The Bulldogs have also enjoyed their time playing at the Joondalup venue winning 15 of their 23 visits to the ground since West Perth moved there in 1994.

That has included South Fremantle winning at HBF Arena by 23 points in Round 5 last year while also winning by 39 points in 2013, nine points in 2012 and 25 points in 2011 so heading north will hold no fears for the Bulldogs having won their last four visits.

South Fremantle's forward-line will still be missing dual Bernie Naylor Medallist Ben Saunders with a hamstring injury and premiership-winning state player Cory Dell'Olio with a calf complaint.

That leaves Josh Pullman, James Sellar and Paul Mugambwa with the responsibility to provide the targets in attack and to hit the scoreboard, with Brock Higgins potentially spending time in the forward-line as well if fellow ruckman Josh Branchi returns to the line-up for the Bulldogs.

Craig White, Jacob Dragovich, the returning Jacob Martinez and potentially captain Ryan Cook will also be called on to not only provide plenty of pressure in the forward-line for South Fremantle, but to kick goals as well if the Bulldogs are going to win.

Key defender Zac Strom, prolific ball winner Brendan Verrier and small defender Jason Maskos are also in the mix to make a return to the South Fremantle line-up to take on West Perth at HBF Arena on Saturday.

Experienced pair Shaun Bewick and Toby Bairstow are out of the South Fremantle side to make way for those returning and taking 187 games of league experience back to the reserves with them. Bairstow will be particularly disappointed to miss the 100th game of good friend Adam Guglielmana.

West Perth is coming off the bye following the impressive win over Peel, but that hasn’t given hard winning ball winner Rohan Kerr enough time to recover from a back injury, and he goes out of the team to play the Bulldogs on Saturday at HBF Arena.

Premiership player and hard man Kody Manning is right to come into the West Perth line-up, though, after missing the win over Peel.

Another premiership star, Ray Bartholomew, could return to the side after some solid form in the reserves as well with defender Joe Morrow continuing to make a strong inclusion for his first league game of the season with good form in the reserves.

Brent Fotheringham is also playing his best football since joining West Perth with the former East Perth and Peel Thunder left footer having kicked nine goals in his last three games of the reserves and having a good impact around the ground both with the ball and his physical approach.

That puts the 25-year-old in with a chance of making his first league appearance for West Perth and to add to the six games he played at both the Royals and Thunder.

RESERVES SQUAD
M Ah Siu, T Amoroso, T Bairstow, M Banks, T Bennell, S Bewick, N Borovac, M Carter, B Collier, A Gillespie, M Gundry, L Harris, J Laurino, C Luff, K Matera, B Matera, B McPhail, S Mills, D Ross, J Sgherza, B Sokol, N Strom, J Tartaglia

COLTS SQUAD
C Ah Siu, M Barritt, N Bretag, D Burke, B Colbung, J Collard, B Corner, Z De San Miguel, B Donaldson, M Dzelebdzic, J Florenca, J Foster, C Foster, J Lachlan, D Maguang, J McComb, J McMaster, J Mirco, J Mudge, J Musika, A Nodari, C Pearson, S Petera, B Rhodes, K Stewart