Rd18 Preview v Peel Thunder

SWAN Districts missed a chance last Saturday to all but lock in a first finals appearance under coach Adam Pickering but they can just about do that at home this Saturday to Peel Thunder.

Swan Districts is back home to Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval to host Peel Thunder on Saturday with the black-and-whites needing to rebound strongly.

Swans suffered a surprise defeat last Saturday on the road to East Fremantle which cost them the opportunity to lock away a finals position coming into this week's clash at home against an undermanned Thunder outfit.

Swan Districts could have recorded a ninth win of the season last week against East Fremantle which would have put them all but out of reach for any of the teams outside the top five even with five rounds of the 2021 WAFL season still remaining.

However, it wasn’t to be and that leaves Swans still in fifth position with an 8-6 record but with East Fremantle and East Perth sitting on 5-9, they are still within striking distance if the black-and-whites don't get back on the winner's list.

That chance presents on Saturday for Swan Districts against a Peel team that has now lost three matches in-a-row and eight of their past nine to have slipped out of the finals hunt with a 4-10 record.

Peel had just the one Fremantle-listed player available for selection last week and it proved costly to their competitiveness with South Fremantle taking full advantage to beat them by 116 points in Mandurah.

The two teams last met in Round 9 of this season and that took place at David Grays Arena. It was a tight affair too with Swan Districts just managing to beat Peel 10.7 (67) to 7.17 (59) to make it three wins in-a-row for Swans against the Thunder.

Swan Districts has made just the one change to the team that lost to East Fremantle last Saturday with Jake Dugan to come into the line-up to make his league debut with Jackson Beck making way.

Peel Thunder continues to only have access to Reece Conca from Fremantle with the Thunder having added Roy George, Jonathon Ietto, Jarrad McIlvinney and Tyler Nesbitt to their extended squad from the team that was hammered by South Fremantle.

OPTUS WAFL ROUND 18

SWAN DISTRICTS v PEEL THUNDER – STEEL BLUE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.10PM