Round 17 Men’s Preview v Peel Thunder

Swan Districts face the biggest challenge in the WAFL Men’s competition right now hosting the ladder leading Peel Thunder but there’s a chance to make a statement and keep their season alive.

Swans will be hosting the Thunder at Steel Blue Oval on Saturday afternoon with the League game getting underway at 1:10pm.

Coming into the game and Swans are sitting in eighth position on the WAFL ladder with a 5-9 record but still with four games to play, they are just two games out of fifth position so finals are still not out of reach.

Peel, meanwhile, sit two games clear and percentage in top spot with an 11-3 record with a 10-game winning streak.

Peel have now won the past four games against Swan Districts with the last win for the black-and-whites against them coming in the qualifying final of 2024 in Mandurah.

The other meeting this season was back in Round 9 at Lane Group Stadium with Peel winning 14.11 (95) to 4.9 (33) with Leigh Kohlmann kicking two of the four goals for Swan Districts.

Blake Kelly also collected 29 possessions, Josh Cipro 25, Jackson McLachlan 23, Jesse Turner 20, Clint Hinchliffe 18 and Jake Pasini 18.

Swan Districts ruckman Lucas Impey might be missing for the game on Saturday with a minor knee injury, but he’ll be a keen onlooker to see how Tom Smith and company take it up to Fremantle AFL ruckman Sean Darcy and the rest of the Thunder line-up.

“I hate watching and I’m a pretty competitive person so I’d rather be out there but I’ll just do my best to try and support the boys who have to go against him (Darcy) and try to tell them what I’m seeing and if I can offer any tips,” Impey said.

“Obviously they’re (Peel) the most in-form team in the comp but they struggled a little bit last week with pressure and that’s a bit of the game plan we’ll go in with this week to apply as much pressure as possible to try and make them turn it over.

“We will then be doing our best to not turn it over ourselves because that’s kinda where they thrive and they’ve kicked the most goals in the competition against turnover. So if we can retain the ball and force them to give it back to us then we’ll be on track for a good day.”

Along with Impey going out of the Swan Districts team this week, captain Jesse Turner injured a hamstring two weeks ago so he is out too and so is Kade Chalcraft.

Coming in for Swans to take on Peel on Saturday are Luke Cotellessa, Harley Cummings and Jarvis Pina.

Peel have so far made three changes but there could be others depending on AFL selection with Archie Caldow, Leon Kickett and Ollie Murphy into the team.

Going out for the Thunder are Brandon Walker, Chris Scerri and Hugh Davies.

First up on Saturday at Steel Blue Oval will be the Reserves clash between Swan Districts and Peel Thunder starting at 10:15am.

It’s a battle of the top two teams in the Reserves as well but Swan Districts remain undefeated with a perfect 12-0 record to be four games clear of Peel who sit second with an 8-5 record and are just percentage in front of both West Perth and East Perth.

Prior to the bye last weekend, Swans continued their undefeated season in the Reserves by beating South Fremantle by 32 points at Fremantle Community Bank Oval while Peel beat Subiaco in Mandurah last Saturday by 70 points.

The Colts match up will then take place after the League game on Saturday afternoon beginning at 4pm with Swan Districts coming into the round in sixth position with a 4-8 record while Peel are seventh at 4-9.

It’s a big game in the context of the season for both teams and the winner will keep themselves in the finals hunt and potentially move to within one win of the top five while for the loser it’s going to be a significant challenge to remain in contention afterwards.