[Meenepek]

Round 3 this week, Peel have an easy first up game against Claremont. Hard to believe that a side can have 2 byes in the first two rounds, then come up against the Tigers first up. It will be messy, anyway here goes....
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SOUTH FREMANTLE vs PERTH @ Fremantle Oval - Friday Night

Souths were very good last week given the injuries they had. Had an average pre-season, not that pre-season is much to go by. Amazingly they still hang on to Callum Wilson. The Eagles just tease him at the end of every year, and he continues to be an asset to the Bulldogs. He wasnt a stand-out last week but his presence is there. South ran EP off their legs at stages last week, and their pressure on the ball carrier was constant. Dimmer coached well and he knew EP would be a little leg weary from the previous weeks game and Souths took full advantage. Perth are a club under pressure and they need to find an avenue to make Souths accountable. Blooding youth could be the answer. Perth need to change their ways with name players who dont deliver enough. Sometimes a young hungry player can spark an attitude change. But against Souths I do feel Perth can actually cause the Bulldogs some problems. Im not game enough to tip them, though they did well at Fremantle Oval last year in an early fixture. Souths should be too strong for the Demons and will open up with a good solid start to the season..... SOUTH FREMANTLE TO WIN BY 22 POINTS.

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WEST PERTH vs SWAN DISTRICTS at Arena Joondalup - Saturday (ABC TV Game Live).

The garlic munchers showed some spirit last Friday Night by coming from a big deficet to beat Subiaco. A few AFL selections could be the difference in this game given Strijke could be recalled to West Coast to possibly cover LeCras. But regardless the Falcons are a side who have hit pre-season and round one with real prominence. And these two sides have had some great battles over the past few seasons. Swans are the reining premiers, though now that seems a distant memory as the thought of being 0-3 would be almost sickening for them. The last reining premiership team to lose their opening 3 games was Claremont back in 1997. They in fact lost their first 6... But Swans have not been playing badly. They went to water in round one after holding a handy lead. And they pushed Claremont up until the last 15-20 minutes. They are a dangerous side and this game will see them break back hard I think. Swans and West Perth are finals contenders but starting with 3 loses will put Swans behind the eight ball. I think West Perth will be challenged by Swans attack and its still unknown how long Hanson is away from playing. Swans will click at some point and though this game is on enemy territory, I think Swans can win it..... SWAN DISTRICTS TO WIN BY 5 POINTS.

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EAST FREMANTLE vs SUBIACO @ East Fremantle Oval - Saturday (1.30pm start) !!

Yes, here we go again and for what reason I dont know. This game is starting at an earlier time. Why the WAFL dont just stick to standard Saturday start times as 2:15pm. I think this does catch alot of people out as I remember a few years ago at a derby game at Fremantle Oval.... Anyway I think the Sharks bounced back very well against the Demons. They stood up when it counted and slammed on a productive 21.9, which is a massive improvement on some of their practice match scores (6.22 v SD)... Getting thumped in the opener was obviously put behind them and rightly so. The Sharks will cause a few headaches this season I am sure. Subiaco will rue that loss to the Falcons. A costly last quarter miss by Jack Anthony was crucial and it almost deflated the Lions. And Subi have been hit by injuries to Pickett and Randall that will not help their cause. East Fremantle broke a big houdoo last year beating Subiaco on their own dunghill and it eventually shot them into the finals. And that win was important for the Blue & Whites for many reasons. It gives them that slight mental edge and I think they can do enough here to win the game. It wont be easy as Subiaco rarely give token efforts. But the Sharks just appear to have a bit more zip about them, and Subiaco will probably struggle to stay with them for the whole game..... EAST FREMANTLE TO WIN BY 27 POINTS.

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CLAREMONT vs PEEL THUNDER @ Claremont Oval - Saturday

This will be as messy as you can imagine. In fact there should be a mercy rule put in place before the bounce. Claremont played Peel twice last year and won by 110 & 196 points respectively... Plus kicking a massive score of 38.12 !! This game will be interesting for morbid reasons. I dont know much about Peel other than what I saw last year. How they avoided the wooden spoon with a percentage of 46% and the most 100+ point thrashings ever in a season is anyones guess. But god bless them they did... Claremont should buy the WAFL a carton of p!ss and say "ta you legends" for giving them this fixture so early. I dont want to too negative but if the tigers can give a good side like EF a 13 goal belting, expect Peel to get abused by more than double. I think the record winning margin in the WAFL is by West Perth over South Fremantle back in 1987 (37.17 to 4.5) and that was 210 points.... I reckon Claremont will know this and give it a serious shake.... CLAREMONT TO WIN BY 211 POINTS ..... would break the hearts of the joondy loony window lickers in the stand

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FOXTEL CUP GAME

EAST PERTH vs NORTH BALLARAT at Pattersons Stadium (Before Fremantle/Geelong game) - Saturday

I really have no idea about North Ballarat other than they are the affilliat club of North Melbourne and they have won the last 3 VFL premierships. They are coached by Gerald Fitgerald who has been the state coach for Victoria. And East Perth were quite flat against South Fremantle after a great win the previous week. Very hard to tip as the opposition are unknown and what side they bring over is also quetsionable. Same with EP who I think will attack the game seriously, but wont take risks with line ball players. Zac Beeck may come in for his first game and that will definently lift East Perth and free up Josh Smith. And Zac Clarke may also come in for his first game. Regardless North Ballarat are seen as possibly the strongest club in this 16 team series, and with a direct alignment with an AFL club will be a benefit. I reckon the Royals will lift and hopefully put up a decent effort for WA footy - along with Swans & Claremont in the coming weeks. Its all a new format that deserves a try. If it works well for state league profiles, then it should be a winner. But it needs to be trialed.

Impossible to tip a result as I dont know Nth.Ballarat - So Im going a DRAW - stuff it.

[Fellionas]

Im hoping Perth can fire up a bit. Its only round 1 but as usual they have some work to do.

And my tips are a bit early but I look more to overall form and things like that. AFL selections do play a part to a degree for some clubs, but AFL players make up only a small percentage of most sides (tigers probably not so)...

Free Ticket to a home final ??... What, are Channel 7 doing the "My Kitchen Rules" final from Lathlain Park eh !!

[AnypecekceS]

SF
WP (only because I hate the goony birds a little less than the knuckledraggers)
EF
C
EP

And Gassy, I realise it was the Under-age Competition due to the war, but in 1944, EP 41.30 (276) d SF 3.2 (20).

[TimoDass]

And Gassy, I realise it was the Under-age Competition due to the war, but in 1944, EP 41.30 (276) d SF 3.2 (20).

Yeh macs, I realised that but even EP dont recognise that as a record. Its always been 32.19 vs Claremont. They always have that 41.30 score in brackets which is wrong in my opinion. It was still a legitimate season as every other record from that year has stood like games,premierships and leading goalkickers etc... So East Perth's 41.30 (276) should too.

I have always wondered where that record score stands with the WAFL... Apart from that I know they have Souths 40.18 against West Perth in 1981 as the record. Either way Claremont will give it a shake on Saturday.

[elalmhicabalp]

Bloody brilliant Gassy ! If ya can do that every week, i will be tuning in with anticipation !!!

[sessoorale]

South - by 13 points - think this will be a close, hard fought game. lets hope for a good crowd down at Freo 2
EF - by 7 points
CL - by 205 points
SD - by 9 points

All bar the CL & Peel game will be close I reckon...looks like a good w/e of WAFL footy ahead

[gariharlj]

I think the teams are released today so hope a few posters put some tips up here.

Its always good to see what people think. Bit of fun anyway.... Have a go.

Just on the SF vs P game, the Demons will need to put a tag or leash on both Bairstow & Guglielmana. These guys ran & ran all day last week (in the heat) and really cut EP up. Graham will be a problem in the ruck regardless, but if Perth are able to put some kind of limitations on these two players it may unbalance Souths a bit. If attention isnt paid to these two then Perth will suffer the same problems as EP did.

I rate them both

[pertikuss]

Perth have more than enough talent in their side to win, and given what is at stake I think they will win by 4 goals.

East Freo will have a strong side in on Saturday and should win against a pretty weak Subi side.

Claremont will bend Peel over and make passionate love to them. The margin will be 128 points.

Swans should be very fired up against WP because if they lose then they are in a bit of trouble. There are plenty of sides this year with a chance to play finals so if a team goes 0-3 then they are in the shit. Swans by 2 goals.

[saruxanset]

Claremont will bend Peel over and make passionate love to them.

More like rape.

[lopushok]

Rd 3
c
wp
sub
p

[cyslespitocop]

SF
CL
WP
EF? Toss a coin on that one

[scewDeasp]

EF
Perth
SD
Peel - fellas like Flaherty, Herring, Healey, Michie, Crichton, Jones, Lycett, Thornton x 2, Jones, Faulks.....to make sure Peel win in a boilover by 2 goals......pity Barlow isn't playing as well!

[Elelaytet]

SF
EF
SD
CL - one of the strongest Peel line ups in their history but can't see them toppling Claremont first up. Yeh throw Barlow in there for 2 or 3 weeks and they will look pretty imposing.

[elapicearpisp]

Coniglio out for Swans will hurt them a bit in the midfeild, but Hanson up forward with Geappon, Hunter and an in form Notte may stretch the WP backline a bit.

Should be a real good game this one. Only round 3 but plenty riding on it. Will try and catch the TV coverage tomorrow, should be a beauty I reckon.

[QzVyZbTg]

Rd 3
c
wp
sub
p

That is brilliant tipping catfish, especially the last 3.

[dodadaxia]

Thanks DD
Went agianst swans thinking that they would be under a fair bit of pressure, being two zip.
Don"t underestimate Perth, they have a great squad to work with, just need to believe in themselves and all their supporters get behind and support them.
Subi were unlucky to loose agianst WP, if they had kicked straighjt in the last 10 minutes it would of been different.
(Good side)
SF tipped them to come second last this year, on the goss, don't think they have much there. Probably fall in a hole this week now.

[gopsbousperie]

Yeh well done catfish, Im just glad claremont played. Otherwise nothing for me.