Round 1 Preview v West Perth

SOUTH Fremantle will be looking to replicate its memorable start to last season beginning the 2016 WAFL season hosting West Perth at Fremantle Community Bank® Oval on Saturday.

The Bulldogs also hosted the WAFL season opener in 2015 against West Perth and on that occasion it was a 35-point victory for the home team under lights at the port.

A similar start is now what the Bulldogs are shooting for to kick off 2016 in memorable fashion and to begin Todd Curley's second season in charge as coach.

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South Fremantle and West Perth meet for the first televised match on 7mate for the 2016 WAFL season as they also do battle over the annual Garlic Munchers Cup.

Watch Higgo's Heroes as Brock Higgins talks to Shane Hockey, Jordan Matera, Dylan Main, Mason Shaw and Blaine Johnson

The Bulldogs and Falcons also began the 2015 season at the port and it was the home team that won that clash on a Friday night by 35 points.

However, South Fremantle went on to miss the finals and finish the season in seventh position while West Perth advanced all the way to the grand final.

Now they take on one another in the season-opener once more and the winner will claim the now annual Garlic Munchers Cup for 2016.

South Fremantle started its 2015 season Curley so impressively winning its opening three games.

However, the Bulldogs went on to lose three straight and then despite remaining in finals contention late in the piece, they lost their five matches to end up with an 8-12 record to finish in seventh position and miss the finals for a fourth successive season.

They have lost some experience over summer with the likes of Craig White, Paul Mugambwa, Kyle Hams, James Sellar, Dylan Ross and Nick Borovac moving on while Jarrod Parry will miss all of 2016 with a knee injury and so will Cory Dell'Olio through suspension.

South Fremantle has added some exciting talent, though, including welcoming back Mason Shaw (Port Adelaide), Blaine Johnson (Carlton), Dylan Main (West Coast) and Tom Vandeleur (Fremantle) from AFL clubs.

Shane Hockey is also a strong addition as an experienced, hard-bodied midfielder from the VFL with Steven Edwards and Jordan Matera two more new arrivals sure to add some excitement.

From South Fremantle's team named for Saturday's season-opener, Hockey, Main, Shaw, Edwards and Brad McPhail are all in line to make their league debuts for the Bulldogs.

Ruckman Brock Higgins is unavailable through injury but aside from him South Fremantle has a virtual full squad to select from.

Curley is looking forward to locking horns with his old side again to open the new season.

"It will be a good game for Round 1. It's on TV and hopefully we get a good crowd down here. It will be fantastic to get the season started," Curley said.

"You can train and play intra-clubs with match practice as much as you like, but we are pretty eager to test ourselves against opposition to be able to gauge ourselves.

"That all leads into Round 1 and obviously they played in a grand final last year and we didn’t play finals, so it's a good yard stick for us first up to see where we're at."

West Perth had a strong 2015 season after missing the finals in 2014 on the back of the 2013 premiership.

Having played 12 straight weeks without a bye by the time the grand final against Subiaco rolled around, they were a spent force but it had been a tremendous effort to get there and win finals at home at HBF Arena against Peel Thunder and East Perth.

The Falcons have lost powerhouse defender Marcus Adams with premiership players Marc Crisp and Ray Bartholomew retiring. Jordan Jones and Matt Johnson are two more players no longer at West Perth in 2016.

But they have added three players they expect to add some quality, depth and goal scoring ability to their forward-line in the form of Max Duffy, Joel Leeson and Keegan Knott.

Duffy arrives after time with Fremantle where he played three AFL matches and played some outstanding WAFL football as a half-forward with Peel Thunder.

Leeson played 49 games and kicked 56 goals with Perth before a year off in 2015 and he's now back in the system while Knott has played six matches for three goals with Claremont, and booted bags of seven and five (twice) in the reserves last year as a small forward.

Duffy, Knott and Leeson are all set to play their first games with West Perth while Northern Territory big man Mark Hamilton could make his debut after arriving midway through 2015 and talented ruckman Seva Mozhaev (Martin) returns after missing last year with a knee reconstruction.

Shane Nelson is unavailable after undergoing wrist surgery with West Perth also without Brayden Antonio and Steven Browne for Round 1 while Steve Potente, Laine Rasmussen, Matt Fowler and Corey Chalmers will play reserves.

ROUND 1
SOUTH FREMANTLE v WEST PERTH – FREMANTLE COMMUNITY BANK ® OVAL, SATURDAY 2.10PM
Broadcast – 7mate

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