Round 12 Men’s Preview v East Perth

Swan Districts will be looking to knock off another top five team this Saturday at Steel Blue Oval while also farewelling one of the club’s all-time greats, Tony Notte, in the clash with East Perth.

Swans are back home at Steel Blue Oval on Saturday fresh off a tremendous 32-point win last Saturday away to East Fremantle ahead of taking on East Perth this week.

Not only will Swan Districts be attempting to back up that impressive performance, but it’s also going to be the 323rd and last game in the remarkable career of the club’s games record holder Notte as well.

The day will begin on Saturday at Steel Blue Oval with the colts contest at 9:15am between Swans and the Royals with the reserves clash to follow at 11:45am and then the league match up will follow at 2:30pm.

The two teams come into the game in opposing form too with Swan Districts fresh off what might have been their best performance of the season so far recording a third win of 2025 beating an East Fremantle team who had been sitting in second place at the time.

Swans kept the Sharks to their lowest ever score in games between the two teams in the process on the way to the 32-point victory which they will now attempt to back up on home turf this Saturday against the Royals.

East Perth are now sitting in fifth position with a 6-4 record on the back of a 10-point loss last Saturday against Subiaco at Sullivan Logistics Stadium.

The two teams have already met earlier this season in Round 2 also at Leederville which saw East Perth score the 55-point victory against Swan Districts.

Swans coach Andrew Pruyn is now looking forward to the chance to build on that win over East Fremantle back at home on Saturday against the East Perth with an eye to finishing the season with plenty of momentum.

“I think we aim to continue what we got on the weekend which is producing our best footy, and what looks like is hopefully resulting in wins,” Pruyn told SEN WA.

“More importantly it’s about how quick we can get young guys like Brenton Hilton, Brodyn Fitzgerald and Ethyn Kane gelling together playing as a unit because they’re the future of our footy club, and see what that looks like.

“I think we have to find that balance of keeping our older and senior guys because they are so important with the experience they impart to these younger players which can fast track their development to hopefully get to a level that will set them up for long careers, and our club to be in a really good sport for next year.”

Coming off that win last week against East Fremantle, Swans have added Ayden Cartwright, Evan Smith, Anthony Stephens and Troy Yukich added to the squad with no outs at this stage.

East Perth have made just the one change from the team that lost to Subiaco last week with Corey Watts coming in for his first game of 2025 while fellow defender Jacob Msando goes out.

The day’s action at Steel Blue Oval gets underway with the colts match up between Swan Districts and East Perth starting at 9:15am on Saturday morning.

Swans come into the game sitting in seventh position with a 4-5 record and having lost last week to East Fremantle, but now looking to bounce back this Saturday against the Royals to stay in the finals race in the colts.

East Perth also lost last Saturday to Subiaco to now come into Saturday’s clash with Swans sitting in eighth position with a 3-6 record.

That leads into the reserves match up that gets underway at 11:45am with Swan Districts currently sitting in third position with a 7-2 record while East Perth is seventh place at 3-6.

Swans are one of three teams currently sitting on a 7-2 record to be only percentage behind South Fremantle and Claremont but a win on Saturday and depending on other results, they could very well be sitting in top spot in the reserves by the end of the weekend.