WAFL Round 13 Preview

Swan Districts has a chance to both move into a finals double chance position and end an eight-year drought at Fremantle Community Bank Oval up against South Fremantle on Saturday.

Swans continued their strong form last Saturday with a hard earned win at Steel Blue Oval against Perth despite being 27 points down in the first half, and being without Sam Fisher and Chris Jones, and losing Jesse Palmer and Matthew Germs throughout the afternoon.

That win consolidated Swans' position further inside the top five and now coming into Saturday's game against South Fremantle, both teams sit on 7-4 records only separated by percentage.

Swan Districts has already beaten South Fremantle once this season and that ended a nine-game losing run against the Bulldogs. Saturday now presents the chance to end an eight-game losing run at Fremantle Community Bank Oval for the black-and-whites.

This will be the second meeting between the teams this season after back in Round 6 at Steel Blue Oval it was Swan Districts that beat South Fremantle by nine points.

That win for Swans ended a nine-game losing streak against the Bulldogs and it was an impressive showing with Ryan Kemp, Chris Jones and Jesse Palmer all kicking two goals for the winners.

Sam Fisher also racked up 31 possessions for Swans as did Jesse Palmer while Tobe Watson had 22 touches, Aidan Clarke 21 and Josh Cipro 21 to go with 10 tackles.

Meanwhile in the loss for South Fremantle, Haiden Schloithe finished with 19 touches and two goals while Jake Florenca racked up 32 touches, Tom Blechynden 25 and Toby McQuilkin 23 with Hamish Free racking up 55 hit outs in the ruck.

However, prior to that match up South Fremantle had dominated Swan Districts in recent times with the nine straight victories by an average of 34.8 points.

The last win for Swans against the Bulldogs had been Round 2, 2017 and that meant that the Round 6 win this year was the first time that Swan Districts had beaten South Fremantle with Adam Pickering as coach.

Fremantle Community Bank Oval hasn’t been a happy hunting ground either for Swan Districts with South Fremantle having now won their last eight home matches over them by an average of 35 points.

The last win for the black-and-whites at the port was Round 13, 2014. Zac Strom, Haiden Schloithe, Steve Verrier and Tony Notte are the only remaining players at either club who played on that day.

Following the first 12 rounds of the WAFL season, South Fremantle is comfortably the best defensive team in the competition conceding just 57.1 points a game including giving up just three goals again to Claremont last week.

The Bulldogs' attack hasn’t quite clicked this year, though, with them ranked seventh at 68.6 points a game.

Meanwhile, Swan Districts is ranked fourth in attack at 74.5 points a game and fifth defensively at 68.1 points.

Both teams do well limiting the amount of ball won by their opponents too with South Fremantle conceding just 309 possessions a game and Swan Districts 323.

The start to the game will be fascinating with Swans a good starting team this season having outscored their opponents by 35 points in first quarters while the Bulldogs have struggled to be outscored by 24 points.

That dramatically changes in second quarters where South Fremantle are ranked third and Swan Districts ninth, but then Swans are the best third quarter team in the competition with an average of outscoring their opposition by 13 points a game.

South Fremantle is fourth in third terms as well while in last quarters, Swans are ranked sixth and the Bulldogs come in fifth.

Swan Districts coach Adam Pickering tasted a win against South Fremantle for the first time back in Round 6, and now hopes to repeat the dose with a first ever win at Fremantle Community Bank Oval on Saturday, but he knows it won't be easy.

"It's been tough for a long time for us, 2014 was the last time we won down there. This week it won't be any easier with those two guys out but this year for everyone with COVID, injuries and you just have to adapt," Pickering told 91.3 SportFM.

"You have to bring guys in who are in good form and they have to play a role for you, and hopefully you get the job done.

"This year no one is comfortable in the top five and every week it's a bloody hard game, and you can win or lose on how you turn up. This week will be no different down there against South, they're a good side and are always well coached."

Being without key forward Jesse Palmer and ruckman Matthew Germs will make Swans' job tougher on Saturday, but Pickering is looking forward to welcoming back at least Chris Jones and Nathan Ireland.

"Chris and Nathan both were just actually ill last week and it wasn’t COVID. They're recovering and should be right for this weekend but unfortunately Matt hurt his knee," Pickering added.

"The initial thoughts were that it was his ACL but his scans said that it's not, it's a little bit of a meniscus and some other stuff in there. Fingers crossed he might be back for the last round of the year and finals if we're lucky enough to make it.

"Jesse also got injured in a marking contest last week. He's been carrying a little bit of a knee and was just getting on with the job, but unfortunately in that contest his opponent fell on his knee and worsened. He's had scans as well and he'll probably miss two or three weeks. Unfortunately he has to get that right in rehab."