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WAFL Round 17 PreviewFriday, July 18, 2014 - 11:30 AM - by Chris Pike

THERE is just the three matches in Round 17 of the WAFL this Saturday afternoon with each pitting a top four team against an out of finals contention opponent, but that doesn't mean the results won't be important.

Swan Districts, Subiaco and East Fremantle can further entrench themselves inside the top four with wins on Saturday but Claremont has been in good recent form while Perth and Peel Thunder desperately want to avoid the wooden spoon for 2014.

Saturday's matches see Claremont host Swan Districts at the Showground, Subiaco take on Perth at Leederville's Medibank Stadium and East Fremantle play Peel Thunder at East Fremantle Oval.

West Perth, East Perth and South Fremantle all have the bye with the Falcons preparing for the Foxtel Cup grand final on Tuesday night against Williamstown at Geelong's Simonds Stadium.

CLAREMONT (5-9, 6th) v SWAN DISTRICTS (11-3, 2nd) – CLAREMONT SHOWGROUND, SATURDAY 2.05PM
Selected teams

Claremont and Swan Districts do battle for the third time in the past nine rounds when they meet at the Claremont Showground on Saturday.

Claremont comes into the contest out of finals contention but in overall good form the past two months prior to a narrow loss to Peel Thunder last Saturday.

Swan Districts, meanwhile, remains solid in second position coming off a Round 15 win over West Perth at HBF Arena.

The Tigers and Swans first met this season in Round 9 when the black-and-whites won by 26 points before Claremont recorded an upset 26-point victory themselves at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval in Round 14.

The pair now play again with Claremont looking to return to the winner's list having won three of its last six games after a 2-6 start to the season while Swan Districts simply needs to keep winning to remain in second position on the ladder, and in contention for the minor premiership.

Swan Districts has been the strongest finishing team in the WAFL so far this season having outscored its opponents by a total of 234 points in second halves in 2014.

That could spell trouble for Claremont if the game is close or if they are behind at half-time with the Tigers having been outscored by a total of 97 points themselves in the second halves of 2014.

Sam Fong goes out of the Claremont team that lost to Peel last week but the Tigers have some more than handy players ready to return to take on Swan Districts.

Luke Blackwell returns to the Tigers line-up after missing just the one-game last week and before that he was in outstanding form, and instrumental in Claremont's improved run of performances in recent times.

Captain Jake Murphy is also back for Claremont for just his sixth league game of the season since taking over as skipper from Andrew Browne who retired at the end of last season.

It has been a horror season for Murphy who played well in the Round 2 win over West Perth but then went down injured early in Round 3. He returned in Rounds 8 and 9 with solid performances, but then again got injured and only returned through the reserves the past two weeks.

The dual premiership winning and 96-game star will now be hoping to successfully return for Claremont this Saturday and remain healthy for the rest of the season to lead a young Tigers team from the front.

Jack Richardson and Tom Willett are two more players pressing to return to the Claremont line-up after solid form in the reserves.

Swan Districts was impressive in its last match against West Perth prior to the bye last weekend and now there is little reason for coach Greg Harding to look to make changes.

Brent Latch was dropped for the clash with the Falcons and played in the reserves with Tony Notte playing as a key defender as a result, but if Swans want Notte to return to his regular role at centre half-forward then Latch could return and take on Claremont.

State 18s star Connor Blakely will also likely return for Swan Districts after a strong campaign with Western Australia with Anthony Stephens in the mix as well to play his third league game for the black-and-whites, and first since coming in for the second semi-final and preliminary final of 2012.

At this stage there are no outs named from the Swan Districts team that beat West Perth a fortnight ago.

SUBIACO (10-4, 3rd) v PERTH (3-11, 8th) – MEDIBANK STADIUM, SATURDAY 2.05PM
Selected teams

Subiaco and Perth appears to be a mismatch on paper, but the Lions will have to be a mindful of a Demons team playing better football in recent weeks particularly with so much riding on the result for the home team.

Subiaco currently sits a game and percentage clear in third position on the ladder with a 10-4 record coming into the round, but a loss at Medibank Stadium to Perth will close up the gap to East Fremantle and the difference between finishing third and fourth could be crucial come first semi-final time.

However, Subiaco comes into the contest after a strong 25-point win over West Perth last Saturday at HBF Arena which saw the Lions open up a 46-point lead during the third quarter before seeing the Falcons close to within just 12 heading into time-on of the final term.

Subiaco steadied with the last two goals of the match through George Hampson and Kyle Halligan, though, to end up winning comfortably and recorded the crucial four points to stay clear in third position, and remain a chance to sneak a top two finish as well between now and finals time.

Perth is well and truly out of finals contention having now lost eight straight matches, but the Demons have put in solid showings the past two weeks since the departure of coach Damien McMahon and with his assistant Trevor Williams taking over for the rest of the 2014 season.

Perth got within three points of East Fremantle late in the game two weeks ago and could have hit the front if Brennan Stack held on to a mark in the goal squad.

However, he didn’t and the Demons lost by 10 points before then going down to South Fremantle again last week by 12 points despite hitting the front during the last term.

So Perth has gone close to winning late in games both the past two weeks and will be hoping for another strong showing this Saturday against a finals bound opponent.

Last week Subiaco had Lachlan Delahunty return from injury to replace the injured Matt Boland, but now this Saturday Boland is back from his hamstring complaint and Delahunty goes back out after hurting his knee again early in last Saturday's win over West Perth.

Young defender Aaron Heal is also out of the Subiaco team to take on Perth while Joel Ashman, Dylan Clarke, Will Fetherstonhaugh and Declan Jackson are all trying to break into the Lions team heading towards the finals.

Jackson has put himself in the mix to make his league debut with the 19-year-old from Collie so far having a good season in Subiaco's reserves after spending the last two years with the colts.

There are at least three changes to be made at Peel Thunder with Callum Collard, Matthew Boyle and Brent Edmonds all going out of the side at least.

Joel Houghton, Rowan Brookes, Ben Power, Kieran Hug and Cameron Manuel are all in the mix to return to the Demons.

Mark Deaves is also a chance to make his first league appearance of the season, and just his second in the last two years following his eight-goal haul last week in the reserves against South Fremantle.

EAST FREMANTLE (9-5, 4th) v PEEL THUNDER (3-11, 9th) – EAST FREMANTLE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.05PM
Selected teams

East Fremantle might appear heading for finals in 2014 and Peel Thunder currently in place for the wooden spoon, but Saturday's clash at East Fremantle Oval doesn't appear quite as cut and dry as that.

East Fremantle currently sits in fourth position with a 9-5 record to be a game and significant percentage behind the third-placed Subiaco, but three games ahead of the fifth-placed West Perth.

A win on Saturday for the Sharks could stretch that gap over West Perth to four games but the Thunder won't be a pushover.

Peel is coming off its third win of the season having beaten Claremont last Saturday at home by two points and now the Thunder could get off the bottom of the ladder with a win over East Fremantle this Saturday.

Peel has struggled in second halves so far this season so the Thunder will need to try to be close, or in front at half-time, given they have been outscored by a total of 241 points in second halves this year.

Meanwhile, East Fremantle has outscored its opponents 37 points in second halves over the course of 2014.

East Fremantle fell short of East Perth last Saturday but coach Steve Malaxos is pretty close to settling on his best team for a run towards the finals with Jamie McNamara the main player sidelined at this point with a knee injury.

Mitch Boyle, Tyler Chalwell and Jordan Dorotich are three players vying to return to the Sharks team though.

Boyle had 19 possessions in the reserves last week as he tries to break back into the league side now in time for the finals having not played in the senior side since Round 9.

Chalwell had 22 touches and a goal in the reserves against East Perth to put himself back in the mix to play just his second league match of 2014, and first since Round 2.

Dorotich also had 16 possessions, six marks and six tackles to ensure he remains in contention to add to his 12 league matches so far played in 2014.

Once again Peel has plenty of changes to its side from the one that held on to beat Claremont by two points last Saturday.

Jonathon Griffin has been in good form leading the ruck for Peel this season and as a result deservedly receives his chance for an AFL return with Fremantle with Aaron Sandilands not playing against St Kilda at Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

The good news for Peel is that it is well-equipped with ruckmen with Jack Hannath to step up as the No. 1 ruckman in the absence of Griffin with Craig Moller to back him up.

Matt Taberner also has been picked to take up a place in Fremantle's forward-line replacing Michael Apeness, and as a result the pair swap places with Peel as well.

Matt de Boer's 31-possessions, 10-tackle performance last week against Claremont means he gets a call up from the Dockers as well.

Sam Menegola has been rewarded for his terrific form when fit this season both as a ball winner in his own right and in some strong run-with roles, and has travelled with Fremantle as the travelling emergency and could very well still end up making his AFL debut.

Kepler Bradley is another Fremantle-listed player out of the Thunder team after injuring a hamstring last week against Claremont.

However, Peel does welcome back another quality big man in the form of Scott Gumbleton while Clancee Pearce also returns from Fremantle after being subbed out of the game last Sunday against the GWS Giants at Patersons Stadium.

Kristin Thornton responded to being dropped by Peel last week with a solid showing in the reserves so could return to take on East Fremantle with Corey Morris, Toby Gianatti, Brad Walsh and Sam Barndon all in contention to come into the league side as well.