Round 13 Preview v East Perth

SWAN Districts is back on home soil at Steel Blue Oval on Saturday to host East Perth in NAIDOC Round of the WAFL with the black-and-whites desperate for an improved showing and to return to the winner's list.

It's going to be a big day of high-quality action at Steel Blue Oval on Saturday in commemoration of NAIDOC Week.

It all gets underway from 9.20am with the reserves contest between Swan Districts and East Perth.

Round 9 of the WAFLW competition will then take place from 12.05pm on Saturday at Steel Blue Oval with Swan Districts taking on the league-leading Subiaco.

The colts game will be a road trip for both clubs with Swans and the Royals playing in Bunbury from 2.45pm also on Saturday afternoon.

The main event on Saturday afternoon at Steel Blue Oval will then be the WAFL league contest between Swan Districts and East Perth from 2.15pm.

It is a big game for both Swans and the Royals too as they battle to return to the winner's list.

Swan Districts comes into the contest sitting on the bottom of the WAFL ladder with a 2-9 record having lost four straight matches while East Perth is sitting one spot above with a 3-8 record and having now lost three games in-a-row as well.

With Swans currently the only team in the competition to not have at least recorded three wins and the Royals with the worst percentage, the game shapes as a season-defining one for both clubs.

The winner will deservedly still feel their finals chances are alive with six games of the season remaining while the loser will just about be calling curtains on their top five prospects.

Swan Districts and East Perth have already met once this season and that was a low-scoring slog back in Round 2 at Leederville Oval with the Royals narrowly winning by eight points.

On that occasion, Swans led most of the afternoon but went goalless in the last quarter with East Perth kicking the only two goals of the final term to come from behind to win.

Unfortunately for Swans, that has become the story of their season where they have been competitive in the majority of their nine losses but unable to complete the job.

Both teams are the lowest-scoring teams in the competition coming into Saturday's match while the Royals are also the worst ranked side defensively, but Swans are only eighth in that department.

Swans also collect the least amount of possessions across the league with an average of just 289 per game while East Perth averages 338. In contrast, Swans opponents average 346 possessions and the Royals 343.

Highlighting Swans' competitive over the first three quarters this season is the fact that despite winning only two games, they've only been outscored by their opponents by 45 points in first quarters, 39 points in second terms and they have won the third terms by 28 points.

But the final terms have been the problem with Swans' opponents outscoring them by 115 points making the black-and-whites the worst finishing team in the WAFL.

Then East Perth is the worst performing team for each of the first three quarters, but then ranked just seventh in fourth quarters having only been outscored by 58 points.

From the Swan Districts team that lost to Peel Thunder in Mandurah by 79 points last Saturday, Seb Bright has been added to the squad as a potential debutant along with Callum Garcia.

Brad Fullgrabe, Mitchell Bain, Aidan Clarke and Dylan Smith are the other players in the mix to play for Swans against the Royals at Steel Blue Oval on Saturday.

At this stage, the three players to make way are Anthony Stephens, Josh Simpson and Jiah Reidy.

And at East Perth, there are household changes coming out of last Saturday's 35-point defeat at the hands of Perth at Leederville Oval.

Jackson Ramsay, Jaxon Cahill, Jamie Rudrum, Joel Houghton, Sharrod Wellingham, Nathan Arbon and Matthew Johnson have been added to East Perth's squad to take on Swan Districts.

Patrick McGinnity, Taylor North, Christian Ameduri and Nathan Eaton are all among the players to go out for the Royals.

OPTUS WAFL ROUND 13

SWAN DISTRICTS v EAST PERTH – STEEL BLUE OVAL, SATURDAY 2.15PM

LEAGUE LIVE STATS
RESERVES LIVE STATS
COLTS LIVE STATS