Round 21 WAFL Preview v Perth

After 17 games and 20 rounds of the season, it all comes down to Saturday for Swan Districts and the equation is simple where a victory against Perth at Steel Blue Oval will guarantee a finals spot.

Coming into the last round of the 2024 WAFL season and Swan Districts currently sit in third position, but it is a tight race with just two points back to East Fremantle and Claremont, and four to South Fremantle.

That means that if Swans want to secure their finals position then they have to beat the Demons at Steel Blue Oval on Saturday afternoon.

Should they do that, Swan Districts is guaranteed of remaining in third spot and earning a finals double chance and then taking part in a qualifying final next week against either Peel Thunder or East Perth.

However, a loss for Swans to the Demons and that's where things get interesting. They will still play finals provided at least one of East Fremantle, Claremont or South Fremantle over the weekend, and potentially can still make it even with a Bulldogs win against West Perth depending on percentage.

While Swan Districts and Perth generally play close encounters, up until earlier this season Swans had the better of the recent match ups having won the previous seven match ups between the two teams.

That seven-game winning streak came to an end in Round 3 of this season at Mineral Resources Park with Perth winning a thriller by three points in the finish.

On that day for Swan Districts, Tom Edwards kicked three goals and Leigh Kohlmann two while Nik Rokahr gathered 31 possessions, Jesse Turner 28, Aidan Clarke 26, Jackson McLachlan 21, Bryce Watson 20, Brad Lynch 20 and ruckman Nathan Blakely 20 to go with 14 hit outs.

There are no outs at this stage in the Swan Districts team that lost in Mandurah to Peel last Saturday, but Nathan Blakely, Tony Notte, Jiah Reidy and Ben Hewett have all been added to the squad.

Perth has made two changes to the team that lost to South Fremantle with the last kick of the game last Saturday with Charlie Constable and Trent Manzone two strong inclusions to the midfield.

Going out for the Demons are Noah Cachard and Ryan Newick.

Speaking of Blakely, he can't help but be nervous coming into Saturday's game given their season is potentially on the line but at the same time is embracing the fact they have put themselves in contention to play finals for the second time only in his career.

"It's sickening really that it comes down to this one game. You have all these rounds that were so close and if any of them went another way we wouldn’t be in this position," Blakely said.

"But at the same time we have accepted any time over the last decade to be in this position with one round to go.

"It obviously would have been nice had we locked in third already and we didn’t have to worry about it, but here we are and it's against one of our great rivals, Perth, who do get up for us every single time.

"A wet weather can be a great equaliser too so we know the significance, but we know it's a big challenge. Whether I'm out there or other people are doing the job, I'm confident we can handle the occasion even though a lot of this have been waiting for a chance like this to play big games and finals our whole careers."

Blakely knows that it's a delicate balancing act coming into Saturday's game of knowing what's at stake and embracing that challenge, but also just trying to focus on playing to their strengths as a team that's currently got them into third position.

"It's a fine balance of accepting what's at stake, but also focusing on doing what we've done all year and making the right adjustments to our game style to suit the weather conditions," Blakely said.

"We haven’t had a ridiculous amount of wet games and we probably didn’t adjust that well last week. It's a fine balance to not be overawed by the occasion and they talk a lot about players who have the clutch gene.

"You saw that at the Olympics with what LeBron did even as a 40-year-old who took over when his team needed it the most. Footy can be a bit different because it's less one-on-one, but we need to play our role and be confident that what we've done all year will hold us in good stead.

"We just need to focus on getting the win and then reassess what comes next for us, but we have to focus on doing what we need to do to win on Saturday first."

Meanwhile, the action on Saturday at Steel Blue Oval gets underway with the colts match up between Swan Districts and Perth beginning at 9.15am.

Both teams are not only locked into playing finals in 2024, but also can't move from the fourth and fifth positions they are currently sitting so Saturday's game is effectively a dress rehearsal for the elimination final next weekend.

Swan Districts currently sit in fourth position on the colts ladder with a 9-6 record while Perth is fifth coming off reaching last year's Grand Final with seven wins, seven losses and a draw.

The reserves clash will then follow at 11.45am at Steel Blue Oval with Swan Districts playing host to Perth with Swans just looking for a positive end to the season while the Demons must win in order to play finals.

Coming off winning the premiership last year, Swan Districts reserves have only managed the four wins in 2024 as they come up against a Perth team currently sitting in fifth spot.

However, the Demons are only a game ahead of East Perth so a loss to Swans and should the Royals beat the Thunder at the same time then it would mean they miss out on playing finals in the reserves in 2024.