Pride Game Preview v Peel Thunder

Swan Districts has the chance to finish the 2023 WAFL season on a high and earn some revenge on Peel Thunder in Saturday's Pride Game at Steel Blue Oval.

While Swan Districts can't quite qualify for finals coming into the last game of the 2023 season, there has been plenty of reasons for optimism coming out of the campaign with the chance to now finish on a winning note against the Thunder in Saturday's Pride Game.

Swans can also get a measure of revenge on the last game of the season in 2022 when Peel went on to play finals with the black-and-whites a chance to deny the Thunder a spot in the finals now in 2023 if they can win by a big enough margin on Saturday.

The first time the two teams met earlier this season was back in Round 5 in Mandurah and that saw Peel defeat Swan Districts 17.16 (118) to 9.2 (56) at Lane Group Stadium.

In that win, Brody Wemm, Tom Emmett, Jonathon Ietto and Blair Bell all kicked two goals while Ben Hancock gathered 33 possessions, Liam Henry 26, Brady Grey 24, Will Brodie 24, Sam Sturt 24, Karl Worner 23 and Bell 22.

Ryan Kemp and Chris Jones kicked two goals each for Swan Districts with Jesse Turner picking up 33 touches, Jackson McLachlan 28, Josh Cipro 22, Jarvis Pina 21, Lachlan Riley 20, Mitch Bain 19 and Tobe Watson 18.

That gives Peel wins in the last two games against Swan Districts having also won by 92 points in the final round last year on the way to returning to finals action.

That was also in Mandurah but prior to that and Swans had won the previous five matches against the Thunder and at Steel Blue Oval, the black-and-whites have won six straight against Peel.

Those six wins for Swan Districts have come at an average of 19.8 points with Peel not having won at Bassendean wince a 52-point victory back in 2016. Even before that and Swans had won four straight home games so they have won 10 of the past 11 at Steel Blue Oval against the Thunder.

Coming into the last round of the season, Swan Districts is ranked seventh in scoring with 73.9 points a game while coming in eighth defensively conceding 73.5 points. Peel, on the other hand, is the third best team defensively giving up just 62.4 points while are ranked sixth offensively with 81.8 points.

Peel is only the sixth biggest ball winning team this season with 331 possessions a game to have 1.3 more than their opponents on average while Swan Districts comes in seventh with 318 touches per game which is 2.8 more than the teams they play against.

Over the course of the season, Swan Districts is the third best performing first quarter team in the competition having outscored their opponents by 83 points. However, they are placed eighth for second quarters, eighth in the third and seventh in the last.

Peel is the opposite and is the standout fourth quarter team in the competition having outscored their opponents by 178 points across the 17 games so far. The Thunder are then placed third for third quarters, fifth in the second and eighth in the first.

There are plenty of changes at Swan Districts coming into the last game of the season including the return of 2020 Sandover Medallist Sam Fisher who will play his first league match since tearing his hamstring back in Round 3 that ultimately required surgery.

He has now been back in the reserves the past two weeks and comes in to significantly boost the Swan Districts midfield against Peel on Saturday afternoon.

The other players coming into the team for the black-and-whites to face the Thunder are Mitch Bain, Max Chipper, Matthew Germs and debutant Luke Taylor.

Going out of the Swans team that lost to Claremont last Saturday are Cian Ehlers, Brayden Noble, Jesse Palmer, Jiah Reidy and Tobe Watson.

That does mean that Nathan Blakely, Greg Ottaviano, Brandon Erceg and Jarrod Cameron remain sidelined for Swan Districts for the last game of the season.

Peel needs to win the game, or at the bare minimum avoid a thumping loss, to guarantee a finals appearance for the second straight season.

The Thunder have added Guy Barnes, Josh Corbett, Max Knobel, Michael Sellwood, Reece Torrent and Corey Tregenza to the squad to take on Swan Districts at Steel Blue Oval on Saturday.

The two players so far named out of the Thunder line-up from the team that lost to West Perth last Saturday are Fremantle Dockers pair Liam Reidy and Joel Hamling.

The final round of the Colts sees Swan Districts and Peel Thunder battling at 9.10am with both teams out of the finals hunt.

The last round in the Reserves will also begin at 11.40am at Steel Blue Oval with Swan Districts taking on Peel Thunder with Swans having the chance to lock away second position with the victory.