Round 21 Preview v Claremont

SWAN Districts returns from a bye to finish the 2018 season this Saturday against the finals bound Claremont at Steel Blue Oval.

The season might not have quite finished the way Swans have hoped with them having lost eight of the last nine games, but the opportunity still presents on Saturday at Steel Blue Oval to finish on a winning note against the Tigers.

Swan Districts had the bye last weekend and before that had played well in the first half against both top two teams Subiaco and South Fremantle before being overrun in the second halves to lose and fall out of finals contention for 2018.

Swan Districts and Claremont first met this season with the Tigers winning by 20 points in Round 10 at Claremont Oval so this will be just their second meeting of 2018.

The day at Steel Blue Oval will get underway with the colts contest between Swan Districts and Claremont from 9am. It's a Swans' colts team that is guaranteed of playing finals and could still finish third and earn a double chance with a win if East Fremantle loses to South Fremantle.

The reserves contest from 11.30am will also be fascinating with Swan Districts a chance to play finals still with a win if South Fremantle and Perth both lose their matches to East Fremantle and Subiaco respectively.

Swan Districts football operations manager Phil Smart is looking forward to a strong performance from all three grades on Saturday against Claremont.

"We'll go out there 100 per cent to win and our colts are going to play finals so we have seven or eight boys up playing league or reserves who can play colts," Smart said.

"The boys who are playing league will stay there but the ones in the reserves will probably go back to colts to get ready for finals. But we'll go out to win all three grades to try and finish the season off on a good note. That's what we will be striving for."

It was a season that started with such promise for Swan Districts but will come to an end on Saturday with the black-and-whites well out of the finals race.

Swans will welcome back Rhys Palmer after he got hurt early in the Round 18 loss to Subiaco and missing the Round 19 clash with South Fremantle prior to the bye last weekend. He's played a solid 15 games this season averaging 22.6 disposals.

Swan Districts could blood some more debutants with Callum Garcia and Mitchell Bain in the selection mix to potentially join fellow debutants Jarrod Cameron, Tristen Raynor, Graydon Wilson, Patrick Italiano and Jack O'Sullivan from the second half of the season.

Steven Wityk is also a chance to come in for his first league appearance of 2018 while Josh Cipro could play his second game for the season too.

Jarrod Cameron and Graydon Wilson go out of the Swan Districts team and will go back to play in the colts ahead of a finals campaign.

Claremont locked away its finals campaign with last Saturday's come from behind win over Peel and as a result recently re-signed coach Darren Harris has no reason to make too many changes.

One important inclusion could be ruckman Oliver Eastland who missed the win over the Thunder but has had a tremendous season following the retirement of Mitch Andrews, averaging 16.0 disposals and 28.8 hit outs a game.

Tyron Smallwood and Rylie Morgan are two more Tigers players in the selection mix to take on Swan Districts on Saturday at Steel Blue Oval.

WAFL SEASON 2018 – ROUND 21

Swan Districts v Claremont – Steel Blue Oval

League – 2.15pm

Reserves – 11.30am

Colts – 9.00am