Round 10 WAFL Preview v East Fremantle

Swan Districts looks to make it three consecutive wins in the WAFL on Saturday against East Fremantle while hunting a first win at the WACA Ground in 29 years.

Swans are building some momentum now in the 2023 WAFL season on the back of wins the past two weeks over the West Coast Eagles and Perth, and will look to make it three in-a-row up against East Fremantle on Saturday afternoon at the WACA Ground.

Swan Districts is now on a wining streak for the first time this season after those wins against the Eagles and Demons as they take on a Sharks team coming off losses the past two weeks against South Fremantle and East Perth.

So coming into the Round 10 match up and Swan Districts is in seventh position on the WAFL ladder with a 3-6 record while East Fremantle is sixth at 5-4.

Saturday's game at the WACA Ground will just be the second time since 1994 that Swan Districts has played at the venue.

That came last year also against East Fremantle with the Sharks ending up winning by 78 points on a rough day for Swans in what ended up being a costly defeat as they just missed out on playing finals in the finish.

It's incredible to think that Swan Districts hasn’t won a game at the WACA Ground since 1992, having lost the qualifying final of 1993 there to Claremont, the 1994 elimination final to Subiaco and then the Round 18 clash with East Fremantle last year.

The last win Swan Districts had at the famous venue was in Round 4, 1992 with the 31-point triumph against Subiaco. That was the end of a four-game winning run Swans had at the WACA and overall, they have 14 wins and 34 losses at the ground dating back to 1934.

Saturday's contest will just be the third time ever that the two teams have met at the WACA Ground. The first occasion was in Round 16, 1987 with Swan Districts winning by 45 points. Then there was East Fremantle's 78-point triumph last year.

The two teams have already met once this season and that was back in Round 2 at Steel Blue Oval and it proved to be one of the string of narrow losses that Swan Districts has suffered so far in 2023.

East Fremantle ended up winning the game 7.15 (57) to 7.11 (53) with Dillon O'Reilly kicking two goals for the Sharks while Milan Murdock gathered 34 disposals, Harry Marsh 30, Fraser Turner 29, Tom Joyce 28, Cam Eardley 23, Tom Bennett 22 and Josh Schoenfeld 22.

Ryan Kemp kicked two goals in the tight loss for Swan Districts with Sam Fisher racking up 32 possessions, Jesse Turner 26, Brandon Erceg 23 and Aidan Clarke 19 before he went off injured.

Swan Districts now attempts to make it three wins in-a-row on Saturday on the back of last week's after the siren win against Perth following the 81-point thumping of the West Coast Eagles.

From the Swan Districts team that beat Perth last Sunday, there are three changes with ruckman Nathan Blakely, versatile big man Nathan Ireland and the hard running Greg Ottaviano coming back into the line-up.

Going out from the Swans line-up that beat Perth are Ayden Cartright, Matthew Germs and Jesse Glass-McCasker who suffered a concussion during the second half of Sunday's match up with the Demons.

East Fremantle is attempting to snap a two-game losing streak on the back of defeats at the hands of South Fremantle and East Perth.

From the Sharks team that lost to the Royals last week, there are plenty of changes with Enrique Aiken-Featherstone, Lachlan Bailey, Jackson McDonald, Josh Ritchie and Chris Walker all into the side to take on Swan Districts.

Going out of the East Fremantle side are Matthew Burton, Corey Holmes, Tom Joyce, Milan Murdock, Cody Leggett and Josh Schoenfeld.

The Reserves contest is also at the WACA Ground on Saturday beginning at 11.40am with Swan Districts attempting to remain on top of the ladder currently sitting on a 7-1 record. East Fremantle is sitting sixth with three wins, four losses and a draw.

The Colts match begins the day at the WACA at 9.10am and that sees Swan Districts attempting to improve on a 1-7 record after the opening eight matches. They take on an East Fremantle team currently in fourth place at 5-3.