Round 7 WAFL Preview v Subiaco

Swan Districts will be attempting to win consecutive matches against Subiaco for the first time in almost 10 years when they take on the Lions at Leederville Oval on Saturday.

The WAFL season resumes this weekend following the State Game break where Western Australia lost narrowly to the SANFL last Friday afternoon at Adelaide Oval, and for Swans that means a match up with the Lions at Leederville Oval.

Swan Districts is looking to snap a two-game losing streak to get a second victory of the season while also attempting to make it consecutive wins against the Lions for the first time since doing so back in Round 13, 2013 and Round 7, 2014.

The day at Leederville Oval between the two teams begins with the colts match up at 9.10am followed by the reserves starting at 11.40am and then the league match up starting at 2.10pm.

While Swan Districts has won two of the last three matches with Subiaco including the last meeting by 51 points in Round 10 last year, the Lions have had the better of things with Swans overall in recent times.

Prior to the Swans winning by a point in Round 12, 2021 despite Subiaco going on to win the premiership, the Lions had won 12 straight against the black-and-whites dating all the way back to 2016.

So even though Swan Districts has won two of the past three against Subiaco, it's the Lions who have won 13 of the last 15 going back further.

And at Leederville Oval, Swans did beat the Lions in their last meeting there in 2021, but Subiaco had won seven straight at home prior to that dating back to 2014.

Coming into the Round 7 match up, Swan Districts is ranked seventh for points for this season with 70.5 points a game and eighth for points conceded at 80.2. Subiaco, meanwhile, is placed sixth in both categories scoring 73.0 points and giving up 68.3.

Neither team have been big ball winning sides this season with Swans ranked ninth in disposals with 297.5 a game and Subiaco eighth with 306.7. That has seen Swan Districts average 28.8 fewer possessions than their opponents and Subiaco 22.2 less than theirs.

Swan Districts has been a good starting team so far this season ranked third in first quarters having outscored their opponents by 71 points. However, things haven’t gone as well after that with Swans ranked ninth in second quarters, sixth in the third and ninth in the last.

Subiaco, meanwhile, has been a slow starting team ranked eighth in the first quarters having been outscored by 51 points. After that, the Lions are ranked fourth in second quarters, fifth in the third and fifth in the fourth.

Swan Districts has some significant inclusions for the clash with Subiaco as well with the return of prolific on-baller Aidan Clarke who was in career-best form to start the 2023 season.

He had 38 possessions in Round 1 against East Perth but then got injured in Round 2 against East Fremantle and has been sidelined since.

However, he will be back to face Subiaco on Saturday with Ryan Kemp also returning for the black-and-whites after he missed the last up loss to Claremont by two points.

Ayden Cartwright has also been added to the squad for Swan Districts and should he be selected it will be his first game of the season and the same for ruckman Matthew Germs who might come in to try and combat Subiaco's Zac Clarke.

Brayden Spackman is the other addition to the Swan Districts squad for Saturday's clash and if selected, he will play his first league match since Round 4 against South Fremantle.

The only out at this stage from the Swans team that lost to Claremont a fortnight ago is Tarir Bayok who had 10 possessions in that match in what was the 32nd game of his league career.

Subiaco comes into Saturday's match up at home to Swan Districts attempting to bounce back from the 32-point loss to East Fremantle in the twilight clash a fortnight ago at the WACA Ground.

There are plenty of changes to the Lions team two weeks later as well with Noah Ash, Connor Faraone, Isaac Clinch, Jordan Faraone, Corey Hitchcock, Jake South, Kyle Stainsby and Koltyn Tholstrup all added to the squad for the match up with Swan Districts.

Premiership hard man Michael Braut goes out of the Subiaco team through suspension while experienced defender Aaron Heal is also out delaying what would have been his 150-game WAFL milestone.

Jordan Snadden and Robert Hansen Jr also go out for the Lions from the team that lost to the Sharks two weeks ago.