Round 22 Preview - East Fremantle v Peel ThunderSaturday, August 19, 2017 - 1:46 AM - by Chris Pike

EAST Fremantle is back home at East Fremantle Oval for its last two games of the 2017 season as the Sharks look to avoid the wooden spoon but the first task this Saturday of reigning premiers Peel Thunder is a tough one.

The Sharks have won just two games so far this season but they have managed to climb from the bottom of the WAFL ladder with two wins over Perth in the second half of the season and now with more competitive efforts than the Demons in recent times.

That has seen East Fremantle's percentage remain above that of Perth's and with the Demons having just the one game remaining against East Perth this season, a win in the last two rounds looks certain to ensure the Sharks avoid the wooden spoon in 2017.

Their first chance of getting that elusive third victory of the season comes on home turf against Peel this Saturday.

However, the Thunder are coming off winning last year's premiership and they currently sit in third position on the ladder with an 11-7 record. That means Peel is already guaranteed of playing finals for a third straight season.

Then a win on Saturday for Peel and the reigning premiers will be secure in third position and then will have a qualifying final against South Fremantle at Fremantle Community Bank Oval to prepare for in the first week of the finals.

Intriguingly if Peel does beat East Fremantle on Saturday to make that happen, the Thunder will play the Bulldogs next week in Mandurah in a virtual dress rehearsal for a week later.

However, if the Thunder suffer a slip up against the Sharks on Saturday they remain a risk of finishing in as low as fifth position and losing the chance at both a finals double chance and a home final.

Working in Peel's favour is the fact that they have won the last seven clashes with East Fremantle by an average of 40.9 points. The Sharks last win against the Thunder came in Round 17, 2014.

East Fremantle comes into the clash on Saturday following competitive efforts against West Perth and South Fremantle the previous two weeks since a 61-point loss to Subiaco on the back of the second win over Perth in the space of five rounds.

Peel, meanwhile, beat Perth unconvincingly last Saturday by 21 points at Bendigo Bank Stadium following the bye and defeats at the hands of Swan Districts and Subiaco.

Cameron Eardley is a welcome return to East Fremantle's midfield for Saturday's clash following suspension. Peter Delaney, Sean Henson and Zac McCarrey are the other players in contention to receive a call up for the Sharks with colts star Dillon O'Reilly a chance to make his league debut.

Jesse Mirco and Jayden Schofield go out of the Sharks team that lost to West Perth narrowly last Saturday at HBF Arena.

There are plenty of chances at Peel and a lot of that has to do with changes made to Fremantle's AFL team for Sunday's match against Richmond at Domain Stadium.

From Peel's team that beat Perth last Saturday in Mandurah, Ryan Nyhuis and Harley Bennell have been called up into the Dockers team.

One of the emergencies of Tom Sheridan, Danyle Pearce and Garrick Ibbotson will be held over as a back up for Fremantle on Sunday.

Meanwhile, key defender Sam Collins comes straight back for Peel after being the travelling emergency for the Dockers last week in Sydney with Jonathon Griffin also back to strengthen the ruck brigade.

Leroy Jetta could be straight back in for Peel too after one game back in the reserves on return from injury. James Kirby, Calvin Thorne and Lachlan Mitchell are the other players in contention at the selection table for Peel for Saturday's clash with East Fremantle.

EAST FREMANTLE (2-16, 8th) v PEEL THUNDER (11-7, 3rd) – EAST FREMANTLE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Selected teams, live stats