Round 18 Preview v Subiaco

SWAN Districts returned to the WAFL winners list last Saturday and now could pull off the upset of the season by backing that up against Subiaco on Saturday at Leederville Oval.

Coming off losing seven consecutive matches, Swan Districts produced a spirited and encouraging performance last Saturday at Steel Blue Oval to end up coming away with a four-point victory over the West Coast Eagles.

The next challenge for Swans on the back of that is the biggest test in the WAFL up against the league-leading Subiaco at Leederville Oval on Saturday.

The league game will bounce down from 2.15pm and the reserves contest from 11.30am. Meanwhile, Subiaco and Swan Districts will play in Kalgoorlie in the colts contest with that beginning at 6.30pm.

Subiaco might be all but guaranteed of finishing with a fifth consecutive minor premiership currently sitting clear on top of the WAFL ladder with a 14-1 record, but that doesn’t mean Swan Districts won't be up for the challenge of tackling the Lions.

Swan Districts returned to the winners list last Saturday with the four-point win over the Eagles and they also can take heart from the first clash with the Lions this season at Steel Blue Oval.

On that occasion back in Round 5, Swan Districts threw the gauntlet down to Subiaco with a five-goal to two third quarter to see them leading by 16 points at three quarter-time.

Despite the Lions responding with five goals to nil in the last quarter, it was still an encouraging showing from Swans that they will look to build upon this Saturday at Leederville Oval.

Coming into Saturday's game, Subiaco has won its past nine matches against Swan Districts. Swans' last win over the Lions was an inspired one-point upset back in Round 20, 2015 with Subiaco on its way to winning the premiership.

Coming off last Saturday's win over the Eagles, Swan Districts has added Jake Pasini, Leigh Kohlmann and Mitchell Bain to the squad while there are no omissions at this stage.

As for Subiaco following a thumping win over Perth last Thursday night, Tim Sutherland, Craig Hoskins and Kaiden Fullgrabe come into the squad while Simon Moore are the players named out at this stage.

Swan Districts coach Adam Pickering couldn’t have been prouder with what his young team produced last Saturday.

"It was a wonderful and it had been a long time coming for our group. I can't really say too much other than I'm so proud of our boys to be up against some full-time professional athletes and playing a bunch of kids really in our team," Pickering said.

"We had a lot of players not seasoned at WAFL level which made the result so pleasing. I thought they showed some real character and spirit of what this footy club has been built on. 

"We were headed in the last quarter and in previous weeks we haven’t come back to get the job done, and I'm sure there were some demons in their head, but they fought through it and ended up with a great result.

"I'm just so proud of our group and our footy club because at 2-12 going into the last four weeks it would be easy to turn our toes up and not have a crack. But these boys haven’t done that, they are doing everything right and I'm pleased they got this reward and now we turn our attention to Subiaco."
 

OPTUS WAFL ROUND 18

SWAN DISTRICTS v SUBIACO – LEEDERVILLE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.15PM

LEAGUE LIVE STATS
RESERVES LIVE STATS
COLTS LIVE STATS