Round 12 Preview v Peel Thunder

SWAN Districts hits the road again in Round 12 of the 2019 WAFL season to take on Peel Thunder for the first time for the campaign with the mission of returning to the winner's list.

Swans have now lost their past three matches since beating the West Coast Eagles to slip to the bottom of the ladder, but a win on Saturday against Peel at Mandurah's David Grays Arena and the season is right back alive for the black-and-whites given the evenness of the competition.

The game is back in the traditional 2.15pm time slot on Saturday with the colts beginning the day in Mandurah at 9am before the reserves match begins at 11.30am.

Peel hosts Swan Districts in what should be another fascinating match up on Saturday at Mandurah's David Grays Arena.

Both teams need a win to maintain touch with the top five and depending on other results, a victory could see the Thunder climb into the top five while Swans just need a victory to get off the bottom of the ladder and to restore some confidence.

Peel is coming into the contest on the back of a dominant 42-point win at Lathlain over Perth last Saturday in the wet conditions. 

It was likely the Thunder's most emphatic performance of the season and it came just a week after a three-point loss to South Fremantle which was another game they perhaps should have won.

So the WAFL premiers of 2016 and 2017 are starting to build into some good form and another strong showing on home soil on Saturday and there's every reason they should be aiming for a return to finals action in 2019.

Meanwhile, Swan Districts just needs something to boost their flagging confidence at the moment.

Since beating the West Coast Eagles back in Round 7 at Steel Blue Oval, Swans have lost to Perth by a goal, Claremont by 34 points and then last Saturday in the wet 57 points at the hands of West Perth on home turf at Bassendean.

That leaves the black-and-whites entering Round 12 on the bottom of the WAFL ladder with a 2-8 record. 

But considering the fifth place team only has five wins and with Swans possessing a reasonable percentage, if they can get a win and some confidence, there's no reason their season needs to be over despite some of the doom and gloom that begins to mount during any sort of losing run.

The game will be the first meeting between Peel and Swan Districts in 2019. Their last meeting was back in Round 13 last year so it's been a full 12 months in between clashes. 

On that occasion also in Mandurah, it was Peel that won a tight affair by 18 points but Swans had won the previous two contests prior to that between the two sides.

Coming off last week's impressive win against Perth, Peel has made plenty of changes to its team with Keegan Power, James Sturrock, Lloyd Meek, Luke Valente, Dillon O'Reilly, Matt Bogensperger and Jordan Boullineau all coming into the line-up.

Harley Bennell goes out with a torn calf with Bailey Banfield, Lachie Schultz, Scott Jones, Cam McCarthy, Corey Morris and Adam Cerra also out of the Thunder line-up.

Meanwhile for Swan Districts following last Saturday's hefty loss to West Perth, the black-and-whites will blood another two debutants with Jackson Beck and Lachlan Riley coming into the team.

Brayden Noble will also return after a stint in the reserves last week to provide Swans with another marking target in attack alongside Corey Gault and Leigh Kohlmann.

Warrick Wilson, Graydon Wilson and Patrick Italiano are the three players to go out of the Swan Districts team.

OPTUS WAFL ROUND 12

SWAN DISTRICTS v PEEL THUNDER – DAVID GRAYS ARENA, SATURDAY 2.15PM

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