Round 7 Men’s Preview v Claremont

Swan Districts went into the State game break having not only broken through for a first win of the WAFL Men’s season, but doing it in style and they will look to back it up now on Saturday at home to Claremont.

It had been a tough start to the 2025 season for Swan Districts losing the opening five games, but they hit back in stunning fashion with the 75-point win against Subiaco under lights at Sullivan Logistics Stadium.

It was a terrific all-round performance from the black-and-whites during which they kicked 20 goals ahead of the State game break and now looking to build on that momentum against Claremont on Saturday at Steel Blue Oval.

It’s a special day for the club as well with the celebration of the 2010 premiership triumph which occurred with a one-point grand final triumph also against Claremont at Subiaco Oval in one of the most memorable matches in WAFL history.

Swan Districts will look to honour those celebrations by backing up that first win of the season and to start building some momentum for the rest of the 2025 campaign.

Claremont, meanwhile, arrives at Steel Blue Oval looking to respond to a loss last up at home to South Fremantle with the Tigers currently clinging to fifth position on the WAFL Men’s ladder with three wins, two losses and a draw to date.

Swan Districts did beat Claremont twice in 2024 as well by 17 points at Revo Fitness Stadium in Round 6 and then also by seven points at Round 15 at Steel Blue Oval with both teams ending up playing finals.

In the end, both teams saw their finals campaign ended by eventual premiers Peel Thunder as well with Claremont losing in the first semi-final and Swan Districts in the preliminary final.

Swan Districts captain Jesse Turner was part of the WAFL’s triumph against the SANFL last Saturday at Adelaide Oval but now all his attention is on trying to knock off the Tigers this Saturday back at Steel Blue Oval.

“Claremont have always been a very good team ever since I’ve been playing in the league squad,” Turner told 91.3 SportFM.

“They’ve pretty much been in the top five every year and I know they’ve probably lost a couple of games this year they wouldn’t be happy with and they had a draw with Peel.

“We know how good their midfield is with Eastland, Bailey Rogers, Jye Bolton and players that have been there for a long time who are very good players.

“They’ve got some good players on the outside too like Alvarez and their forward-line always have a lot of avenues to goal, and they’ve always had a strong back-line.

“We understand that when Claremont and us face it’s always a physical game, and this week won’t be any different especially if it’s a bit wet.

“We know that in order for us to get the win we’re going to have to be very contested, we’ll have to at least at the minimum break even at the clearances and then use our speed on our ground to our advantage to hopefully get the win over them.”

The day at Steel Blue Oval gets underway with the Colts match up between Swan Districts and Claremont starting at 9:15am.

Swans come into the match up looking to rebound from a tight loss to Subiaco two weeks ago at Leederville while the Tigers suffered a 69-point loss earlier that day to South Fremantle.

That sees Swan Districts coming into Round 7 in the Colts with a 2-4 record to be in seventh position while Claremont is in fourth place at 3-2 despite that last up loss a fortnight ago.

That leads into the Reserves clash at 11:45am where Swan Districts play Claremont and is attempting to bounce back from their first loss of the 2025 season.

Swans won their opening five matches this Reserves season before losing to Subiaco by just four points a fortnight ago leading into the week off.

Despite that, Swan Districts remains in top spot on the reserves ladder and will look to retain that position up against the second placed Claremont who are yet to lose from their five matches so far in 2025 setting up a fascinating contest.