Round 11 Preview – East Perth v SubiacoSaturday, June 16, 2018 - 6:42 AM - by Chris Pike

THE Leederville Oval co-tenants lock horns for the second time so far in 2018 on Saturday with East Perth looking to pull off at least a 119-point turnaround from what happened on Good Friday.

Subiaco and East Perth opened the season on Good Friday at Leederville Oval and the Lions sent a message of their intentions for the season ahead by hammering the Royals on that occasion by 118 points.

Subiaco has continued on its merry way since then remaining undefeated this season and looking unstoppable while East Perth did respond impressively to that hammering by winning its next four games, before since losing its past three prior to last week's bye.

That sets the tone for a potentially intriguing match up this Saturday at Leederville Oval as East Perth try to return to the winner's list, and need to do so, while Subiaco looks to remain invincible.

East Perth now sits in fifth position with a 4-4 record and is only percentage ahead of Peel Thunder and just one game in front of Claremont and Perth. 

Depending on how other results fall in Round 11, there is the prospect that the Royals slip to as low as eighth position come Saturday night with another heavy loss to Subiaco and if the Thunder, Tigers and Demons all are victorious.

However, with a victory the Royals could climb to as high as third position leapfrogging Swan Districts and West Perth potentially depending on percentage and how the Falcons perform against Claremont.

So there's plenty at stake for East Perth but their first task is just to find a way to be competitive against a Subiaco team that has been unstoppable in 2018 to date.

The Lions were in cruise control last week against East Fremantle but still won by 103 points and it could have been by significantly more had they converted more of their 26 behinds.

That was on the back of the Round 10 bye for Subiaco over the WA Day long weekend and prior to that they had beaten Perth by 40 points and Peel by 92 since the State game break.

Over the course of the season, Subiaco have been performing remarkably averaging 131.6 points a game (31.8 better than the next best team) and conceding an incredibly low 54.8 (21.3 better).  

The Lions' average winning margin is 76.9 points and they have kicked 102 points or more in all bar one game this season and never conceded more than 10 goals in any of their eight matches to date.

Subiaco has also been at its best in last quarters, outscoring its opponents by 225 across the season. They have also won their third quarters by 173 points, second terms by 144 and first stanzas by 73.

All that means that East Perth has a significant job ahead of them this Saturday, particularly with the defeats to West Perth, Swan Districts and South Fremantle since the State game break and prior to last week's bye.

Of concern to the Royals will be if they aren’t in front at half-time considering they have been outscored by 42 points in second halves so far in 2018 while the Lions have won theirs by 398 points.

The game will be the 42nd meeting at Leederville Oval between the two teams since they officially became co-tenants of the ground for the start of the 2004 season.

In those first 41 games, Subiaco has won 29 of those and East Perth just the 12. But it started with the Lions winning their first eight games and 11 of the first 12 as co-tenants at Leederville Oval.

The Royals first win didn't come until Round 9, 2007 by three points in what was a remarkable come from behind win after trailing by 47 points at half-time.

Things then became relatively even in the following years between the co-tenants until Subiaco has again asserted its dominance over the past four years. 

Following Subiaco beating East Perth in the 2014 Grand Final, the Royals did win the first battle of 2015 by 64 points on Good Friday but the Lions have won all nine meetings since by an average of 51.3 points. 

They now look to make it 10 straight against East Perth and nine in-a-row this season on Saturday.

There are plenty of changes at East Perth with the defensive to be significantly strengthened with the returns of Tom Gorter, Eric Mackenzie and Will Schofield while co-captain Kyle Anderson will hope to play his first full game of 2018 after being concussed early two weeks ago.

One of three fairest and best winners last year Julian Ameduri is also back in the mix to take the field against Subiaco with Callum Hart and Mitch Dobson added to the squad as well.

The Royals do lose Jarrod Brander from its forward-line after he made his AFL debut on Friday night for the West Coast Eagles against Sydney at the SCG.

Subiaco does lose Ben Newton who was out of action early in last week's win over East Fremantle while Thomas Edwards-Baldwin, Ben Reid, Greg Clark and Daniel Leach have all been added to the squad to face East Perth at Leederville Oval on Saturday. 

EAST PERTH (4-4, 5th) v SUBIACO (8-0, 1st) – LEEDERVILLE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Selected teams, live stats 
Broadcast – 91.3 SportFM, KIX Digital, Footy Radio