WAFL Preview vs East Perth

Swan Districts is back home on Saturday to host East Perth in a match where they have a chance to further consolidate their hold on a finals position in the WAFL.

Swans are back to Steel Blue Oval for Saturday afternoon's match up with the Royals and it's a significant contest for both teams in the context of the 2022 WAFL season.

Setting the stage for Saturday's match up, Swan Districts currently sits in fifth position on the WAFL ladder with a 7-5 record while East Perth is seventh at 6-6.

The Royals do hold a superior percentage to that of the Swans too so quite simply, the winner of Saturday's clash at Bassendean will sit above the other on the WAFL ladder, and for the black-and-whites that will mean they further consolidate their hold on a top five position.

Swan Districts might be coming off a loss, but there was a lot to like in last week's performance despite the eventual one-point defeat against South Fremantle at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

Despite the absence of Matthew Germs, Jesse Palmer, Mitch Bain and Will Collins, Swans did a lot right and led most of the way before conceding the last two goals of the game to suffer the one-point defeat.

Meanwhile, East Perth do pose a significant challenge for Swan Districts with the Royals having now won their past three matches to have kept their finals hopes alive with the recent wins against Claremont, West Coast and Perth.

East Perth won the meeting between the two teams earlier this season by just four points at Leederville Oval in the opening round in a nail-biter.

In that contest, Eddie Simpson, Sebit Kuek and Tom Medhat all kicked two goals for East Perth, but only Medhat remains with the Royals. Hamish Brayshaw racked up 30 touches, Harley Sparks 26 and Angus Scott 25.

Meanwhile for Swan Districts, Brayden Noble had a day out kicking five goals in that match up while Ryan Kemp marked his WAFL debut with three. Jesse Turner also collected 28 disposals, Jarvis Pina 27, Tony Notte 23, Sam Fisher 20 and Tobe Watson 20.

Prior to that, Swans beat the Royals in both their meetings in 2021 on their way to a finals return but before that it was East Perth who had won four in-a-row against Swan Districts. So in the past seven meetings, it's the Royals who have won five of them between the two teams.

Coming into Saturday's Round 14 match up, Swan Districts is the third best defensive team in the competition conceding 67.1 points a game while East Perth is fourth at 67.3. The Royals are fifth in attack at 75.8 points for while Swans are sixth at 72.8.

Little separates the two teams in most areas too with Swans averaging 1.8 disposals a game more than their opponents and the Royals 9.0 more than theirs.

In terms of quarter by quarter, Swans are the third best starting team in the competition while the Royals are ranked fifth. Then in second quarters, Swans have struggled to be ranked ninth having been outscored by 133 points while the Royals are at their best in second terms having outscored their opposition by 92 points.

When it comes to third quarters, Swans are the best in the WAFL having won theirs by a total of 153 points over the season while the Royals are ranked sixth having been outscored by 27 points. Then in last quarters, East Perth is ranked third and Swan Districts' sixth.