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Some more very interesting games this weekend, none moreso than the Sharks v Swans and Falcons v Lions games.
Sharks v Swans, East Freo Oval
East Fremantle and Swan Districts are both in terrific winning form and sit comfortably inside the top-four heading into what should be a terrific battle at East Fremantle Oval on Saturday.
Both the Sharks and Swans put in big last quarters last week against West Perth and Subiaco respectively to record impressive victories that saw them improve to a 5-2 record.
That's the same record they share with East Perth to be just one game behind the league-leaders Claremont.
That's a game clear with one in hand on fifth-placed Subiaco so there is already a gap to the bottom five and whichever team wins on Saturday will be looking pretty for a finals appearance heading into the State game break next week.
Versatile East Fremantle big man Rob Young will also play his 100th game with the Sharks if he takes his place in the team, but he will have to prove his fitness first.
Swan Districts welcomes back AFL and WAFL premiership spearhead Ashley Hansen for his third game of the season while Dylan Harvey could make his league debut to help out Wes Lammie in his ruck battle against Fremantle's Jonathan Griffin and his back up Russell Gabriel.
Matthew Outridge and Brent Latch also continue to press their claims for a spot in Swan Districts' team with Blake Boekhorst the only out at this stage from the team that overrun Subiaco last week at home.
East Fremantle regains ruckman Griffin from Fremantle with veteran Leith Teakle and West Coast's Mitch Brown also back in the line-up.
Former Brisbane-listed midfielder Kieran King is in line to make his league debut with Cameron Symonds and Brad Cooper also pressing claims to make their first league appearance for the Sharks.
Tim Viney, Tom Howlett and West Coast midfielder Koby Stevens go out of the East Fremantle team.
Falcons v Lions, Arena Joondalup
West Perth and Subiaco played off in last year's preliminary final and certainly came into 2012 with hopes of being a contender again, but now both enter Saturday's clash at Arena Joondalup desperate for a much-needed victory.
West Perth currently sits on a 3-5 record this season following another disappointing final quarter last week against East Fremantle to give up a handy advantage to end up losing to the Sharks at home by two points.
That leaves the Falcons desperate to now beat the Lions this Saturday to avoid falling to a 3-6 record that could be tough to recover from in the second half of the season.
Subiaco started the 2012 season so impressively and it all began with a hard fought win over West Perth in Round 1 at Leederville's Medibank Stadium.
The Lions then followed that up with victories over Peel, South Fremantle and East Fremantle to be undefeated after five rounds. However, things have turned sour since then with four consecutive defeats to Perth, East Perth, Claremont and Swan Districts.
Last week's loss to Swans was particularly disappointing after the Lions led during the last quarter but ended up going down at Steel Blue Oval by six goals.
That was after Claremont also blew them away in the last quarter the previous week so the Lions will be looking to finish strongly against a Falcons team that has also struggled in last quarters this season.
West Perth welcomes back experienced defender Luke Tedesco with Marc Crisp, Joel Rice and Kris Shannon also pushing for selection. Small forward Anton Saylor goes out of the side after kicking just five goals from eight games so far this season.
Subiaco looks to stop a four-game losing run with the return from injury of East Fremantle recruit Conor Davidson.
Exciting youngsters Alliston Pickett and Rhys Waters are also pushing for a spot in the side as is Matthew Cullen while versatile big man Clancy Wheeler is set to return after being a late withdrawal last week in the eventual loss to Swan Districts.
Des Headland was also a withdrawal for that game and hasn’t got up this week to take on the Falcons on Saturday. Marty Smith and Reece Blechynden also go out of Subiaco's line-up.
Thunder v Royals, Rushton Park
East Perth could very well be the in-form team of the WAFL competition right now and that makes Peel's job of a much-needed win all that harder, but the Thunder will be hungry to put in a strong showing.
East Perth won its fifth straight match this season when it kicked the last four goals to beat South Fremantle at Medibank Stadium last week.
The Royals were also unlucky to lose their first two games to Claremont and West Perth so while they currently hold an impressive 5-2 record, it could quite conceivably be 7-0 right now.
That means that East Perth will head down to Mandurah full of confidence to take on the bottom-placed Thunder, but Peel can't afford to put in another disappointing showing.
Peel's worst two performances this season have been in its last two home games as well. There was the Round 6 loss to South Fremantle by 73 points and then last week Claremont kicked the first nine goals of the game before running out comfortable 76-point winners over the Thunder.
With just one win from seven games and two thumpings recently at the home ground that Peel tries to make a fortress, Saturday is a big day for Peel to try and take a stand against an in-form team in the Royals.
Peel had a tough day last Saturday against Claremont and it's no surprise to see coach Trevor Williamson make some changes to take on the Royals this week.
Promising defender Chris Luff, debutants Ryan Mulgrave, Joel O'Driscoll and Alex Devitt, young backman Devin McFarlane, West Coast big man Scott Lycett, 102-gamer Matt Battye, the experienced Mitch Green and small defender Brad Triplett come back into the side.
All will be handy inclusions as well with Luff, McFarlane, Green and Triplett strengthening the back-line, and Battye and Lycett providing two strong forward targets alongside Brad Holmes.
Out of the side from last week goes Tom Sheridan, Brayden Sutton, David Johnston, Ryan Herring, Jesse Crichton, Rhett Mason, Rob Beswick and the suspended Matt Orzel.
East Perth continues to roll on with its tremendous form with coach Tony Micale just needing to swap one defender for another. Kyle Anderson goes out with a hamstring injury and Luke Sampey comes in for his first game of the season.
Tigers v Demons, Claremont Oval
Claremont looks to maintain top spot on the ladder hosting Perth at Claremont Oval on Saturday, but the Demons have some big inclusions and will be hoping the week off has done them the world of good.
Coming off last year's premiership and despite a change in coach plus key players Brett Jones, Clancy Rudeforth, Ryan Brabazon and Beau Wilkes moving on, Claremont has done well so far this season to be currently sitting on top of the ladder with a 6-2 record.
Last week's win over Peel was Claremont's most dominant showing of 2012 to date as well with the Tigers booting the first nine goals before running out comfortable 76-point winners.
Tom Lee stepped up to kick a career-best six goals, Alroy Gilligan fought back into the team to kick four goals and the likes of Kane Mitchell, Luke Blackwell and Byron Schammer dominated in the midfield.
Perth came into 2012 with such high hopes of pressing for finals action after being out of them since 1997, but so far things haven’t gone to plan with the Demons suffering a horror injury.
That has seen the Demons win just two from eight games to start the season heading into the bye last week. That included a Round 1 loss to Claremont that saw Perth trail by just three points at three quarter-time but end up losing by 42 points.
However, coach Damien McMahon will hope that not only has the week allowed some players the chance to get fit to take on Claremont, but it's allowed his whole group to take stock of where they are at and look to make a statement against the league leaders, and reigning premiers.
Claremont loses in-form recruit Jarryd Morton to take on the Demons with West Coast's Lewis Stevenson also named as an out at this stage.
Fremantle's Alex Silvagni, full-forward Chad Jones, West Coast's Ryan Neates, the talented Keifer Yu and premiership defender Brandon Franz are among those pressing for selection.
Following Perth's bye last week, Fraser McInnes, Michael Florio, Matt Moody, Nick Lower and Ashley Smith come back into the side. Brad Fry and Brett Hodge are the only outs at this stage.
McInnes missed the loss to East Fremantle and returns to strengthen the forward-line and help out Christian Eyres in the ruck.
Moody had a horror three-game run where he failed to kick a goal that led to him being dropped to the reserves, and last year's leading goal kicker finally found some form in the reserves against East Fremantle kicking five goals while Fremantle's Lower and West Coast's Smith both return from injuries.
Sharks v Swans, East Freo Oval
East Fremantle and Swan Districts are both in terrific winning form and sit comfortably inside the top-four heading into what should be a terrific battle at East Fremantle Oval on Saturday.
Both the Sharks and Swans put in big last quarters last week against West Perth and Subiaco respectively to record impressive victories that saw them improve to a 5-2 record.
That's the same record they share with East Perth to be just one game behind the league-leaders Claremont.
That's a game clear with one in hand on fifth-placed Subiaco so there is already a gap to the bottom five and whichever team wins on Saturday will be looking pretty for a finals appearance heading into the State game break next week.
Versatile East Fremantle big man Rob Young will also play his 100th game with the Sharks if he takes his place in the team, but he will have to prove his fitness first.
Swan Districts welcomes back AFL and WAFL premiership spearhead Ashley Hansen for his third game of the season while Dylan Harvey could make his league debut to help out Wes Lammie in his ruck battle against Fremantle's Jonathan Griffin and his back up Russell Gabriel.
Matthew Outridge and Brent Latch also continue to press their claims for a spot in Swan Districts' team with Blake Boekhorst the only out at this stage from the team that overrun Subiaco last week at home.
East Fremantle regains ruckman Griffin from Fremantle with veteran Leith Teakle and West Coast's Mitch Brown also back in the line-up.
Former Brisbane-listed midfielder Kieran King is in line to make his league debut with Cameron Symonds and Brad Cooper also pressing claims to make their first league appearance for the Sharks.
Tim Viney, Tom Howlett and West Coast midfielder Koby Stevens go out of the East Fremantle team.
Falcons v Lions, Arena Joondalup
West Perth and Subiaco played off in last year's preliminary final and certainly came into 2012 with hopes of being a contender again, but now both enter Saturday's clash at Arena Joondalup desperate for a much-needed victory.
West Perth currently sits on a 3-5 record this season following another disappointing final quarter last week against East Fremantle to give up a handy advantage to end up losing to the Sharks at home by two points.
That leaves the Falcons desperate to now beat the Lions this Saturday to avoid falling to a 3-6 record that could be tough to recover from in the second half of the season.
Subiaco started the 2012 season so impressively and it all began with a hard fought win over West Perth in Round 1 at Leederville's Medibank Stadium.
The Lions then followed that up with victories over Peel, South Fremantle and East Fremantle to be undefeated after five rounds. However, things have turned sour since then with four consecutive defeats to Perth, East Perth, Claremont and Swan Districts.
Last week's loss to Swans was particularly disappointing after the Lions led during the last quarter but ended up going down at Steel Blue Oval by six goals.
That was after Claremont also blew them away in the last quarter the previous week so the Lions will be looking to finish strongly against a Falcons team that has also struggled in last quarters this season.
West Perth welcomes back experienced defender Luke Tedesco with Marc Crisp, Joel Rice and Kris Shannon also pushing for selection. Small forward Anton Saylor goes out of the side after kicking just five goals from eight games so far this season.
Subiaco looks to stop a four-game losing run with the return from injury of East Fremantle recruit Conor Davidson.
Exciting youngsters Alliston Pickett and Rhys Waters are also pushing for a spot in the side as is Matthew Cullen while versatile big man Clancy Wheeler is set to return after being a late withdrawal last week in the eventual loss to Swan Districts.
Des Headland was also a withdrawal for that game and hasn’t got up this week to take on the Falcons on Saturday. Marty Smith and Reece Blechynden also go out of Subiaco's line-up.
Thunder v Royals, Rushton Park
East Perth could very well be the in-form team of the WAFL competition right now and that makes Peel's job of a much-needed win all that harder, but the Thunder will be hungry to put in a strong showing.
East Perth won its fifth straight match this season when it kicked the last four goals to beat South Fremantle at Medibank Stadium last week.
The Royals were also unlucky to lose their first two games to Claremont and West Perth so while they currently hold an impressive 5-2 record, it could quite conceivably be 7-0 right now.
That means that East Perth will head down to Mandurah full of confidence to take on the bottom-placed Thunder, but Peel can't afford to put in another disappointing showing.
Peel's worst two performances this season have been in its last two home games as well. There was the Round 6 loss to South Fremantle by 73 points and then last week Claremont kicked the first nine goals of the game before running out comfortable 76-point winners over the Thunder.
With just one win from seven games and two thumpings recently at the home ground that Peel tries to make a fortress, Saturday is a big day for Peel to try and take a stand against an in-form team in the Royals.
Peel had a tough day last Saturday against Claremont and it's no surprise to see coach Trevor Williamson make some changes to take on the Royals this week.
Promising defender Chris Luff, debutants Ryan Mulgrave, Joel O'Driscoll and Alex Devitt, young backman Devin McFarlane, West Coast big man Scott Lycett, 102-gamer Matt Battye, the experienced Mitch Green and small defender Brad Triplett come back into the side.
All will be handy inclusions as well with Luff, McFarlane, Green and Triplett strengthening the back-line, and Battye and Lycett providing two strong forward targets alongside Brad Holmes.
Out of the side from last week goes Tom Sheridan, Brayden Sutton, David Johnston, Ryan Herring, Jesse Crichton, Rhett Mason, Rob Beswick and the suspended Matt Orzel.
East Perth continues to roll on with its tremendous form with coach Tony Micale just needing to swap one defender for another. Kyle Anderson goes out with a hamstring injury and Luke Sampey comes in for his first game of the season.
Tigers v Demons, Claremont Oval
Claremont looks to maintain top spot on the ladder hosting Perth at Claremont Oval on Saturday, but the Demons have some big inclusions and will be hoping the week off has done them the world of good.
Coming off last year's premiership and despite a change in coach plus key players Brett Jones, Clancy Rudeforth, Ryan Brabazon and Beau Wilkes moving on, Claremont has done well so far this season to be currently sitting on top of the ladder with a 6-2 record.
Last week's win over Peel was Claremont's most dominant showing of 2012 to date as well with the Tigers booting the first nine goals before running out comfortable 76-point winners.
Tom Lee stepped up to kick a career-best six goals, Alroy Gilligan fought back into the team to kick four goals and the likes of Kane Mitchell, Luke Blackwell and Byron Schammer dominated in the midfield.
Perth came into 2012 with such high hopes of pressing for finals action after being out of them since 1997, but so far things haven’t gone to plan with the Demons suffering a horror injury.
That has seen the Demons win just two from eight games to start the season heading into the bye last week. That included a Round 1 loss to Claremont that saw Perth trail by just three points at three quarter-time but end up losing by 42 points.
However, coach Damien McMahon will hope that not only has the week allowed some players the chance to get fit to take on Claremont, but it's allowed his whole group to take stock of where they are at and look to make a statement against the league leaders, and reigning premiers.
Claremont loses in-form recruit Jarryd Morton to take on the Demons with West Coast's Lewis Stevenson also named as an out at this stage.
Fremantle's Alex Silvagni, full-forward Chad Jones, West Coast's Ryan Neates, the talented Keifer Yu and premiership defender Brandon Franz are among those pressing for selection.
Following Perth's bye last week, Fraser McInnes, Michael Florio, Matt Moody, Nick Lower and Ashley Smith come back into the side. Brad Fry and Brett Hodge are the only outs at this stage.
McInnes missed the loss to East Fremantle and returns to strengthen the forward-line and help out Christian Eyres in the ruck.
Moody had a horror three-game run where he failed to kick a goal that led to him being dropped to the reserves, and last year's leading goal kicker finally found some form in the reserves against East Fremantle kicking five goals while Fremantle's Lower and West Coast's Smith both return from injuries.
