Round 15 WAFLW Preview v East Fremantle

Swan Districts has the chance to all but lock away a finals position in the WAFLW win a win on Saturday evening against East Fremantle at the WACA Ground.

It's the second last round of the 2023 WAFLW season and the stakes couldn’t be higher for both Swan Districts and East Fremantle coming into the Round 15 match up on Saturday evening.

The game will take place at 5pm on Saturday evening at the WACA Ground straight after the WAFL match up also between the Swans and Sharks at the same venue on Saturday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Swan Districts' Rogers Cup team will be playing at Steel Blue Oval on Sunday against Peel Thunder.

The stakes couldn’t be more significant for both teams in the Round 15 WAFLW encounter at the WACA Ground with Swan Districts coming into the weekend in fourth position and East Fremantle in third.

The Sharks currently hold a 7-4 record with a draw with two games remaining while the Swans sit on a 7-5 record. The winner of Saturday night's clash will all but be guaranteed of playing finals in 2023 with one round to go while the loser will just about be in a must-win situation for the last game.

For Swan Districts, that means a clash with the currently second placed South Fremantle next Sunday at Steel Blue Oval while East Fremantle will finish the season with a likely win against the second last placed Peel Thunder in Mandurah.

Swan Districts saw its stunning seven-game winning streak come to an end last Sunday with a 21-point defeat to Claremont, but given the Tigers have not lost a game at all in 2023, there's certainly no shame in that.

Prior to that, Swans had won its previous seven matches in the WAFLW on the back of losing the first four games.

That included a win for Swan Districts against East Fremantle by 29 points back in Round 8 at Steel Blue Oval.

On that day, Courtney Zappara had a stunning performance for Swans with nine shots for four goals from 14 possessions and five marks. Ruby Mahony also had 25 touches for the black-and-whites, Kayley King 21 and Abbygail Bushby 17.

Chloe Reilly kicked three of East Fremantle's four goals for the day while Sharon Wong picked up 19 possessions, Ashleigh Gomes 19, Chloe Williams 13 and Jasmine Johansen 12.

Prior to that, the two teams hadn’t met since back in Round 10 last year. East Fremantle was too strong for Swan Districts winning by 40 points at Steel Blue Oval. Their other clash in 2022 was in Round 2 at East Fremantle Oval.

The Sharks won that contest too but it was a much tighter affair with the margin just seven points even though Swans finished with 12 scoring shots to nine for the game.

There are two changes to the Swan Districts team that lost last Sunday to Claremont coming into the crucial match up with East Fremantle.

Teyharna Curry and Ava Stewart are the two players coming into the Swan Districts team to face the Sharks while Kyah Chirichilli and Daisy Rigby go out of the side.

East Fremantle had the bye last weekend but prior to that were impressive in a derby victory against South Fremantle at the WACA Ground on WA Day.

The Rogers Cup clash for Round 15 pits Swan Districts against Peel Thunder and will be played at Steel Blue Oval from 12pm on Sunday afternoon.

Swan Districts currently sits in sixth position with two rounds of the Rogers Cup season to go with a 5-7 record.

While percentage will mean even with two wins to close the season they won't quite be able to break into the top four, Swans will be desperate to end the campaign on a high beginning on Sunday against a Peel team behind them on the ladder at 3-9.