Round 8 Preview – East Perth v Swan DistrictsFriday, May 25, 2018 - 2:45 PM - by Chris Pike

EAST Perth and Swan Districts meet in what could very well be a season-defining battle for both at Leederville Oval in Round 8 of the WAFL season on Saturday.

Swan Districts are back in action for the first time in three weeks while East Perth is looking to respond to its first defeat since Round 1 setting the stage for a terrific contest at Leederville Oval on Saturday.

The Royals enter the game in fourth position with a 4-2 record while Swans are fifth at 3-3 and the difference for both teams between a win and loss is significant.

If East Perth can improve to 5-2, it sets up its season nicely to return to finals action in 2018 after missing out in 2017. While a loss sees the Royals back to 4-3 and just trying to hold on to a position inside the top five.

Meanwhile, the difference for Swan Districts between going 4-3 or 3-4 is equally as significant.

The game bounces down at 1.40pm at Leederville Oval on Saturday with it broadcast live on Channel 7.

Both East Perth and Swan Districts are coming off losses to South Fremantle as well. The Royals lost to the Bulldogs by 68 points last Saturday at Leederville Oval while Swans lost to them by 13 points three weeks ago at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

The starts to the season for the Royals and Swans have been remarkably similar to date. Both have beaten East Fremantle, Peel Thunder and Perth while also suffering defeats at the hands of Subiaco and South Fremantle.

The only difference between East Perth being 4-2 and Swan Districts 3-3 is that the Royals beat West Perth while Swans went down to the Falcons.

East Perth opened its season losing to Subiaco by 118 points before going on a four-game winning streak defeating West Perth, Perth, Peel and East Fremantle heading into the break for the State game. But the Royals struggled last Saturday against the Bulldogs.

Swan Districts started the season with solid wins over the Demons and Thunder too before losing to Subiaco. Swans responded by beating East Fremantle by 90 points before losing to South Fremantle prior to the State game break and then the Round 7 bye.

The two teams haven’t played since Round 21 last year when East Perth beat Swan Districts by 54 points despite Swans playing finals just a couple of weeks later and the Royals missing out.

In East Perth's four wins this season, they have averaged a score of 115.8 points while conceding just 67.3. In their two losses, they've given up 154.5 points and scored just 61.5. The Royals have also had 68 less disposals in the two losses but an average of 64.3 more touches in the four wins.

Meanwhile in Swans' three wins, they have scored 121.0 points and given up 71.3 while in their losses, they've scored just 67.7 and given up 114.3. They've had an average of 67.3 less possessions in the defeats and 25.3 more disposals in wins.

East Perth looks set to welcome back co-captain Kyle Anderson for his first appearance of the 2018 season. The quality defender made his return from injury in the reserves last week for the Royals and now will strengthen the back-line against Swan Districts.

West Coast-listed players Oscar Allen, Kurt Mutimer, Jack Petruccelle and Nathan Vardy are also back in the East Perth line-up with Jaxon Cahill, Mitch Dobson, Nelson Waite and Stan Wright added to the squad as well.

The Royals lost Will Schofield and Asher Samelko to injury early in last week's eventual 68-point loss to South Fremantle and both go out of the side as a result against Swan Districts with Brayden Ainsworth out as well having travelled with the Eagles to Melbourne.

Swan Districts have added Brad Fullgrabe, Jack O'Sullivan, Taryce Stewart, Jack Watson and Jacob Coniglio to the squad from the team that lost to South Fremantle three weeks ago.

Albert Dean and Jarrad Blight are the two players to make way in the Swans line-up so far.

EAST PERTH (4-2, 4th) v SWAN DISTRICTS (3-3, 5th) – LEEDERVILLE OVAL, SATURDAY 1.40PM
Selected teams, live stats 
Broadcast – Channel 7, HFM (107.3FM), Footy Radio