WAFL Round 13 Preview

THE four WAFL games in Round 13 action are spread over Saturday and Sunday this weekend with each of them having big implications for teams trying to hold onto spots in the top-four and to break into it.

The two games on Saturday afternoon sees Subiaco and Swan Districts do battle at Leederville's Medibank Stadium and then top-of-the-table Claremont takes on eight-placed Peel Thunder at Claremont Oval.

There are then two massive matches on Sunday with fourth-placed East Fremantle hosting second-placed West Perth at East Fremantle Oval and then third-placed Perth taking on sixth-placed East Perth at Lathlain's Brownes Stadium.

Bottom-of-the-table South Fremantle has the bye.

CLAREMONT (10-1, 1st) v PEEL THUNDER (3-7, 8th) – CLAREMONT OVAL, SATURDAY 2.10PM

Selected teams

Claremont might have beaten Peel last time the two sides met back in Round 7 in Mandurah, but the fact that the Thunder were impressive that day and have continued to improve before a hiccup last week should mean that Saturday's game isn’t a clear cut Tigers victory.

Peel pushed Claremont all the way at Bendigo Bank Stadium back in Round 7 before the Tigers held on to win by 17 points in one of the more high-quality games of the 2013 WAFL season to date.

Claremont did drop a game to Subiaco in Round 11, but bounced back last Saturday beating West Perth by 21 points at Arena Joondalup to now sit on a 10-1 record four wins clear of second place to already have gone a long way to securing a fourth consecutive minor premiership.

However, Peel did win games over Subiaco and East Perth following that narrow loss to Claremont to be building some encouraging form before a last quarter fadeout last Saturday led to a 35-point loss to East Fremantle at East Fremantle Oval.

Peel does have confidence of the memory from Round 11 last year when the Thunder recorded a terrific 14-point win over Claremont at Claremont Oval as well so heading to Tigerland shouldn’t hold any fears for the boys from Mandurah.

Claremont has lost Paul Medhurst with a rib injury for the next month with premiership defender Aaron Holt also out of the Tigers' side to face Peel on Saturday.

Small forward Liam Smith is the likely replacement to come into the team for Medhurst with Richard Cronin, Matthew Goyder, Jared Hardisty and Keegan Knott all in the mix to play after some strong reserves form.

Big man Jeremy McGovern is set to have another week in the reserves after returning last week against West Perth with 12 disposals, six marks and two goals.

Peel Thunder has named Fremantle pair Tom Sheridan and Matt Taberner as outs after both were terrific against East Fremantle last Saturday, but both have only been named as emergencies for the Dockers making them likely starters for Peel still against Claremont.

Liam McKenna racked up 40 possessions for Peel in the reserves last week and as a result could return to the Thunder line-up against the Tigers with Corey Morris, James Bristow, Jordan Wythes and Jesse Hocking all pressing their case to come into the league side as well.

CLICK HERE for a full preview of WAFL Round 13 action

Courtesy of www.wafl.com.au