Round 18 Men’s Preview v Claremont

Swan Districts will be playing their last home game of the 2026 WAFL Men’s season on Saturday when they host Claremont at Steel Blue Oval.

It will be a second straight home game for Swan Districts on Saturday and also the last time for them to play at Steel Blue Oval this season as they take on the Tigers with the League clash getting underway at 2:30pm.

Swan Districts come into the Round 18 match up sitting in eighth position on the WAFL ladder with a 5-10 record while Claremont are 10-5 and in second position.

Swans were also at home last Saturday and took the challenge right up to the league leading Peel Thunder to even be leading at three quarter-time before ending up losing by 42 points while Claremont beat West Perth by 23 points at Revo Fitness Stadium.

Swan Districts will be trying to avoid a fourth straight defeat against Claremont too including the Tigers winning by 39 points earlier this season at Revo Fitness Stadium in Round 5.

Claremont also beat Swans in both meetings of 2025 but going back to 2024 and the black-and-whites won twice with them on the way to reaching a preliminary final that season.

Coming off last week’s loss to Peel Thunder also at Steel Blue Oval, Swan Districts have made three changes to take on Claremont with captain Jesse Turner returning from a hamstring injury, ruckman Lucas Impey back from a knee complaint and Tom Cathcart to make his debut.

Going out for the black-and-whites are Tony Stephens, Jiah Reidy and Harley Cummings.

Claremont are coming off beating West Perth last Saturday and have made just the one change from that team with Benji Van Rooyen into the line-up at the expense of Adam Boules.

It will be the Colts contest that gets things underway on Saturday morning at Steel Blue Oval with the game between Swan Districts and Claremont getting underway at 9:15am.

Coming into the match up and Swan Districts are sitting in sixth position in the Colts with a 5-8 record while Claremont are in second place at 11-3.

That means there’s plenty at stake for both teams with the Tigers trying to maintain their top two position and remain a chance to even go top while the Swans are just one game out of the top five so need the win to stay in the finals race for 2026.

Swan Districts beat Peel Thunder by 22 points also at home last Saturday and from that team, Levi Felder, Harlyn Fiori and Toby Grills come into the team.

Going out for Swans are Caleb Sampson, Ben McClements and Kobi Lange.

Claremont beat West Perth by 22 points last Saturday as well with mass changes with Harry Brooks, Tyson Edwards, Will Flaherty, Austin McFarlane, Ethan Parker, Daijon Puertollano, Lachlan Sheldrick, James Taylor and Elijah Williams coming in.

Going out for the Tigers in the Colts are Cooper Trovarello, Noah Braun, Linkin Eaton, James Nash, Sam Irving, Liam Unicomb, Jake Rubens, Jackson Muir and Jacob Kee.

That leads into the Reserves match up that begins also at Steel Blue Oval at 11:45am with Swan Districts still sitting on top of the ladder at 12-1 while Claremont are sixth at 7-7.

Swans suffered their first loss of the season in the Reserves last week against Peel Thunder and from that team, Kade Chalcraft, Will Collins, Harley Cummings, Will Smith and Latrell Yarran are into the line-up.

Going out are Tom Cathcart, Tom Liver, Basil Hart, Levi Calcott and Anthony Hansen.

Claremont beat West Perth last week to keep their finals hopes alive in the Reserves with Adam Boules, Noah Braun, Elijah Dennis and Samson Jennings-Hopkins into the side.

Going out for the Tigers are Charlie Bedbrook, Benji Van Rooyen, Elijah Williams and Tyson Edwards.