THERE is some big milestone and massive repercussions for WAFL Round 22 action with the four games spread over Friday, Saturday and Sunday.With East Perth co-captain Craig Wulff and four-time West Perth leading goalkicker Anthony Tsalikis celebrating big milestones, and finals spots now going on the line it's sure to be a big weekend of WAFL action.
It all starts at Fremantle Oval on Friday night with South Fremantle hosting Swan Districts. Then on Saturday, Perth takes on Claremont at Lathlain's Brownes Stadium and Subiaco takes on East Perth at Leederville's Medibank Stadium.
East Fremantle then faces West Perth at East Fremantle Oval on Sunday with the ninth-placed Peel Thunder having the bye.
SOUTH FREMANTLE (6-12, 7th) v SWAN DISTRICTS (12-5, 2nd) – FREMANTLE OVAL, FRIDAY 6.40PMSelected teams
Swan Districts can go a long way to securing a top-two berth with a win over South Fremantle on Friday night, but the youthful Bulldogs will go in confident of an upset having won three straight games and with a good record in night games at the port.
Swan Districts still sits a game clear in second position on the ladder with just three games of the 2012 home and away season remaining.
The black-and-whites were certainly helped along last week with East Fremantle and East Perth both losing while they had the bye so they remained in second spot and can stay clear in that position with a win on Friday night.
South Fremantle's finals hopes have long been over, but the younger the team has got throughout 2012 the more energy, vibrancy and commitment they seem to have given.
That has seen them bounce back from a run of eight straight losses with three wins on the trot now against Subiaco, Perth and East Fremantle to avoid any hope of finishing with a rare wooden spoon.
Over recent years, South Fremantle has won 11 of 16 night games at Fremantle Oval including a victory earlier this season that saw them overcome a 50-point three quarter-time deficit to beat Perth.
South Fremantle has also dominated Swan Districts in night fixtures at the port
The teams have met twice so far this season with Swan Districts winning by 23 points in Round 4 on Easter Monday and then by 14 points in Round 12.
There is just one change for a South Fremantle team that is young, but has now impressively won three straight games. Joel Palumbo comes into replace Alex Grima with one running wingman replacing another.
Swan Districts has made four changes from the team that thrashed Peel a fortnight ago.
Four youngsters Adam Faulkner, Nathan Broad, Ray Daniels and Brent Latch all return with Andrew Embley, Ryan Davis, Murray Newman and Lachie Neale all out of the side.
SUBIACO (7-10, 6th) v EAST PERTH (10-1-6, 4th) – MEDIBANK STADIUM, SATURDAY 2.10PMSelected teams
Subiaco and East Perth meet in the final battle of the Medibank Stadium co-tenants for 2012 with the Lions coming in with winning form, but the Royals desperately needing to win to maintain their hold on a top-four position.
The teams have split the first two meetings at the Leederville venue this season with East Perth winning the first encounter in Round 7 by 31 points and then Subiaco controlled the Round 15 clash to run out 37-point victors.
While that bragging rights is sure to mean something to both teams, for East Perth there is something much more important at stake.
Right throughout the season, it has appeared that East Perth has been heading for a finals appearance, but its form since Round 13 has been a little shaky.
Over those six games, the Royals have beaten Peel and Perth, but lost to Swan Districts, Subiaco, East Fremantle and then last week Perth.
While the Royals do maintain a two-game advantage in fourth position on the ladder ahead of West Perth, they do have a tough run home with games against East Fremantle and West Perth to finish after this Saturday's clash with the Lions.
East Perth also has the added motivation of co-captain Craig Wulff celebrating his 200th game with the Royals this Saturday. Wulff becomes just the 15th East Perth player in club history to reach the mark and there has been very few more beloved or dedicated Royals ever.
Subiaco's finals hopes have been over for some time, but coach Chris Waterman has turned to youth and that showed some exciting signs last week with a thrilling two-point win over West Perth thanks to 17-year-old Chris Deluca kicking the winning goal.
Now the Lions again have nothing to lose when taking on the Royals and would certainly take some delight in making it tougher for them to end up playing finals.
Subiaco had a tremendous second half last week to beat West Perth up at Joondalup and now enter Saturday's co-tenant battle full of confidence and with some more than handy inclusions.
Fremantle's Antoni Grover and 103-gamer Kane Bloxsidge are both back with Michael Genovese pushing to make his debut and Ryan Wade and Scott Worthington a chance to return as well.
Last week's debutant Joel Ashman and 20-gamer Rory Muller are the only outs for the Lions at this stage.
East Perth suffered a disappointing and potentially costly loss last week to Perth, but hopes of bouncing back quickly are certainly helped with the forward-line likely to be strengthened by leading goalkicker Josh Smith and co-captain Michael Swan. Tyson Rudd is also a chance to return.
PERTH (6-12, 8th) v CLAREMONT (13-4, 1st) – BROWNES STADIUM, SATURDAY 2.10PMSelected teams
Claremont already looks to have locked in the minor premiership, but all 22 players that take on Perth on Saturday will be desperate to keep performing strongly meaning that the Demons have a big task ahead of them.
Claremont sits a game and massive percentage clear on top of the ladder to be on track for a third straight minor premiership, but pressure on for spots in that Tigers team is massive.
With Luke Blackwell and Paul Medhurst still to return in time for finals, everyone needs to keep performing or they will face the prospect of representing the reserves come September instead of the league side.
The Tigers form has been unbelievable of late as well. In between impressive Foxtel Cup victories over VFL side's Port Melbourne and Williamstown, Claremont has beaten Swan Districts by 97 points, West Perth by 119, East Fremantle by 92 and Peel by 81.
That isn’t the news Perth was hoping for, but the Demons are coming off a good win last week when they stormed home in the final quarter to beat East Perth by 17 points.
Claremont and Perth have met twice already this season with the Tigers overrunning the Demons in the last quarter in Round 1 to win by 42 points and then again Claremont prevailed in Round 10 by 88 points.
Perth did well to come back and beat East Perth last week and unfortunately for the Demons they lose one of their prime movers this week to take on Claremont with Nick Lower going out of the side. Fremantle's Lower was outstanding with 34 possessions last week.
Ruckman Christian Eyres, forward Brad Fry and youngsters Reese Richardson and Matthew Hunt are pushing for a spot in the 22.
Jack Bradshaw, Brandon Franz and Lewis Stevenson are out of the Claremont team that beat Peel last Saturday but there are some big name inclusions.
Premiership stars Trinity Handley, Tom Swift and Jake Murphy are all set to return along with Fremantle's Alex Silvagni with Keifer Yu and Alistair Gillespie desperate for another chance to impress before finals time.
EAST FREMANTLE (11-6, 3rd) v WEST PERTH (8-1-8, 5th) – EAST FREMANTLE OVAL, SUNDAY 2.10PMSelected teams
East Fremantle and West Perth meet in a virtual eight-point clash on Sunday at East Fremantle Oval.
Both teams lost games last week to South Fremantle and Subiaco respectively that they were in positions to win and that they would have expected to win, placing even greater pressure on this Sunday's clash.
The Sharks currently sit in third position just two points clear of East Perth and two and-a-half games ahead of West Perth. But with East Fremantle finishing against East Perth and Peel this season, they are still a chance of missing out on finals if the Falcons beat them on Sunday.
West Perth does need to win its last three games against East Fremantle, South Fremantle and East Perth, and hope that either the Sharks or Royals lose all three of their last matches, but while there is hope they will certainly continue to fight to play finals.
The Falcons also have the added motivation of celebrating the 150th game of four-time leading goalkicker Anthony Tsalikis as he becomes a West Perth life member.
It's a massive game for both clubs and East Fremantle needs to win to lock in a finals spot, but those hopes have received mixed news at selection.
West Coast's Josh Kennedy and Mitch Brown return to the line-up with 161-game veteran Leith Teakle pressing for his first league appearance since Round 10 after five goals in the reserves last week.
Corey Yeo, Brad Cooper, Aiden Tropiano, Russell Gabriel and Kurt Tropiano are also pressing their claims for selection. Bradd Dalziell, Kieran King, James Bayliss and Cameron Symonds all go out of the Sharks' line-up.
West Perth loses Fremantle's Josh Mellington after he hurt his ankle in last week's loss to Subiaco. James Batterham, Nick Rodda, Jordan Jones, Joel Rice and 138-game veteran Matt Guadagnin are all set to either debut or make their returns for the Falcons.
