ALL four matches of Round 6 of the 2012 WAFL season are back to Saturday afternoon time slots this week while West Perth takes part in Foxtel Cup action for the first time on the same morning.
After West Perth takes on the ACT's Ainslie in a Foxtel Cup clash at Blacktown, the new home of the Greater Western Sydney Giants, on Saturday morning there will be four enthralling WAFL clashes in the afternoon bouncing down at 2.10pm.
Peel Thunder will host South Fremantle at Mandurah's Bendigo Bank Stadium, East Fremantle takes on East Perth at East Fremantle Oval, Perth faces Subiaco at Lathlain's Brownes Stadium and Claremont battles Swan Districts at Claremont Oval.
CLAREMONT v SWAN DISTRICTS – CLAREMONT OVAL, SATURDAY 2.10PM
Selected teams
Claremont moved back to the top of the ladder last week with a big win over South Fremantle but could face a big test this week from a Swan Districts team looking to bounce back and with some key players returning.
Claremont beat South Fremantle by 10 goals last Sunday at Claremont Oval on the back of another tremendous win over West Perth on Easter Monday.
Those wins came in response to the Tigers only loss of the season against East Fremantle at East Fremantle Oval that saw the Sharks boot 15 goals to Claremont's three in the second half.
With wins to start the season against Perth and East Perth as well, Claremont currently sits on a 4-1 record to be on top of the ladder.
Swan Districts also had an impressive start to its 2012 campaign with good wins over West Perth and South Fremantle, but went down at home to Peel by 14 points last Saturday and will be looking to bounce back from that now on Saturday against the reigning premiers.
Ryan Neates was outstanding last week for Claremont with 19 possessions and three goals and goes out of the side for the Tigers as does his West Coast teammate Lewis Stevenson. Simon Starling is also out and will be for the rest of the season after suffering a knee injury that will require a reconstruction.
Jesse Laurie, Jack Bradshaw, Alistair Gillespie, Tom Willett, Brad Nisbett and Alroy Gilligan are all pushing for selection.
Dayle Garlett and Lachie Neale go out of the Swan Districts side that lost for the first time this season last week against Peel while co-captain and reigning Swan Medallist Tallan Ames and West Coast and Swans premiership forward Ashley Hansen head the list of inclusions.
Blain Boekhorst, Adam Faulkner and Rudy Riddoch are also pushing for selection.
PEEL THUNDER v SOUTH FREMANTLE – BENDIGO BANK STADIUM, SATURDAY 2.10PM
Selected teams
Peel Thunder and South Fremantle both enter Saturday's clash at Bendigo Bank Stadium sitting on 1-3 records meaning that they each will be extra determined to avoid slipping to 1-4.
Similar to the West Perth-Perth game last week where both entered on 1-3 and knowing it would be a long way back this season with a loss, the Thunder and Bulldogs have a lot riding on their clash in Mandurah on Saturday.
Peel recorded its first win of the season last week over Swan Districts at Steel Blue Oval in what was a tremendous all-round performance.
The defence of Blayne Wilson, Peter Faulks, David Johnston, Lee Spurr and Devin McFarlane was outstanding with the experienced brigade of Pat Travers, Matt Orzel, Brendon Jones and Kristin Thornton leading the way further up the field.
South Fremantle started its season with a stirring last quarter comeback over Perth under lights at Fremantle Oval, but since then the Bulldogs have suffered losses to Subiaco, Swan Districts and Claremont making this clash with Peel a crucial one.
South Fremantle has lost just twice to Peel at Bendigo Bank Stadium and only five times in total in all 37 meetings, so it would be a good time for the Bulldogs to keep that run against the Thunder going this week to start to get their 2012 campaign rolling.
Coming off Peel's impressive win last week over Swan Districts, Brad Triplett goes out of the team with an ankle injury that he suffered with an inspirational smother on Swans' forward Tim Geappen as he was shooting on goal.
Mitch Keddell, Bryce Thornton, Rhett Mason, Jackson Geary, Mitch Brown and Chris Luff are among the players pushing for selection, but there's little reason for coach Trevor Williams to be looking to change last week's winning line-up.
South Fremantle is searching for a crucial win to avoid slipping to a fourth straight loss and Paul Hasleby could look to bring in John Sgherza, Mitchell Thompson, Jordan Wilson-King and Jesse Maiorana.
PERTH v SUBIACO – BROWNES STADIUM, SATURDAY 2.10PM
Selected teams
Perth and Subiaco have had vastly contrasting starts to the 2012 season to date making the Demons desperate to win at Brownes Stadium on Saturday and the Lions out to remain unbeaten.
Perth promised so much coming into the season with the recruitment of the likes of Leon Davis, Paul Bevan, Llane Spaanderman, Brennan Stack and Alistair Smith, but so far it has netted just one win from five games.
That one win came courtesy of the last goal of the game as well against Perth and came before losses to East Perth and West Perth, and after defeats to Claremont and South Fremantle.
Sitting at 1-4 means that the Demons can hardly afford to drop another game. While it could turn around from 1-5, Perth will certainly be doing everything to avoid that and 2-4 looks like far less of a hole to try and crawl out of.
Meanwhile, Subiaco has had an outstanding start to the season with wins over West Perth, Peel, South Fremantle and East Fremantle. While there was a loss to the Port Adelaide Magpies in the Foxtel Cup in between, it has been an outstanding start to the season for the Lions.
Ben Fraser and Dylan Murray go out of the Perth side that lost to West Perth last week with some handy players coming into the line-up.
Former East Perth fairest and best winner Tim Noakes will play his first league game for Perth after 21 possessions, 10 marks and five goals in the reserves last week. Brad Fry will also join him up forward with Drew Robinson and Matthew Rogers to strengthen the run out of the back-line.
Subiaco remains unbeaten this season and loses Jack Anthony to Fremantle after he kicked 1.6 in last week's win over East Fremantle while former Shark Conor Davidson is also out of the side after an impressive opening to his career with his new team.
Coach Chris Waterman could look to some more youth as replacements with Matthew Cullen, Sonny Dann, Justin Joyce, James Lee and Myles Smythe all a chance to come into the line-up.
EAST FREMANTLE v EAST PERTH – EAST FREMANTLE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.10PM
Selected teams
East Perth has had a week off following its first up win of the 2012 season and now will be looking to make it two straight and hand the Sharks a second straight defeat at the same time at East Fremantle Oval.
East Perth started its season with two losses, but they were encouraging displays against both Claremont and West Perth. Then on Good Friday, the Royals were terrific to record a 27-point win.
That led into a bye last week and now the Royals will be looking to get their season back on level pegging at 2-2 and to start building some momentum.
East Fremantle had the first two weeks of the season off with byes, but then started in strong with good wins over Claremont at East Fremantle Oval and Peel at Bendigo Bank Stadium.
However, it was back to earth last Friday night with a loss to Subiaco at Medibank Stadium and now the Sharks will be looking to bounce back strongly on Saturday at home. A win will improve East Fremantle 3-1, but a loss back to the pack at 2-2.
Ryan Lester-Smith and Sam Menegola go out of the East Fremantle team that went down to Subiaco last Friday, but there are some handy inclusions headed up by Richard Hadley, Steven Dodd, and Jacob Brennan. Adam Waight and Cameron Sutcliffe are also a chance to come into the side.
Fremantle's Dylan Roberton goes out of the East Perth side that won over Perth a fortnight ago on Good Friday. Daniel Macaulay, Brett Eades, Shaquille McKenzie, Jacob Derickx and Ryan Maldenis are among those pushing for a spot.
