ROUND 10 PREVIEW V SUBIACO

WEST Perth gets its second crack at Subiaco this season following last year's grand final and the Falcons enter Saturday's clash at Medibank Stadium on a three-game winning streak with more important players set to return from injury.

Subiaco and West Perth meet for a second grand final rematch already of 2016 when they do battle on Saturday at Medibank Stadium with the Lions looking for back-to-back wins, and the Falcons hunting a fourth in succession.

After the Lions scored big wins in the second semi-final and grand final over the Falcons to end 2015, they backed it up at HBF Arena back in Round 3 this year to win by 44 points when they ran right over the top of the home team.

However, at that time Subiaco was in the middle of a six-game winning streak to open the season while West Perth was in the middle of three-game losing run.

Both teams have suffered some differing fortunes since then with the Lions losing their only game of the season two weeks ago to East Fremantle to the tune of 80 points.

They did bounce back last Saturday to beat Claremont by 44 points at the Showground to improve to a 7-1 record on the season and remain just percentage behind the league-leading South Fremantle.

West Perth, meanwhile, looked like it had its season in trouble at 1-4 following a loss to East Perth in Round 5, but the Falcons have rebounded well since then with better form and the return of some key players.

Prior to the bye last weekend, West Perth scored wins over Swan Districts, Claremont and Peel Thunder to steady at 4-4 and be only percentage outside of the top five.

That should give West Perth confidence of being more ready to challenge Subiaco than earlier in the season at HBF Arena.

Since the Falcons beat the Lions at HBF Arena by 10 points in Round 14 last year, Subiaco has won the last three meetings by an average of 55 points.

West Perth hasn’t been a good starting team over the course of the season and are ranked third worst in that department but they have also been outscored by their opponents by 69 points over the course of the season.

Subiaco's best quarter has been its third and overall in second halves they are averaging 14 points more than their opponents, which would be significantly more taking out the 80-point loss to East Fremantle.

West Perth continues to welcome back important players from injury following the bye with Joe Morrow and Laine Rasmussen set to further strengthen the Falcons' defence against Subiaco on Saturday.

Morrow hasn’t played since the loss to Subiaco in Round 3 while Rasmussen is set to play his first game of the season.

The return of the pair is on the back of premiership stars Shane Nelson and Kody Manning coming back prior to the bye during West Perth's three-game winning run. Chris Keunen, Matt Fowler, Matt Guadagnin and Brayden Antonio are among those still sidelined through injury.

Keegan Knott and Kris Shannon also put themselves back in contention to return to the West Perth team with strong reserves performances against Peel prior to the bye.

Knott played in the midfield the majority of the afternoon with the usual small forward enjoying the freedom racking up 30 possessions. Shannon also found some good form with 21 disposals.

Joel Leeson does go out of the Falcons side, though, and he will be missed with the former Perth player kicking seven goals in the two games prior to going scoreless and having just 11 disposals against the Thunder at HBF Arena.

Subiaco bounced back from its loss to East Fremantle by beating Claremont last Saturday, but it perhaps wasn’t as convincing as coach Jarrad Schofield would have hoped.

And the Lions are still some way off fielding what he would consider their best 22 with Kyle Halligan, Rhys Waters and Jordan Lockyer still missing, and Michael Wood, David Madut and Brad Stevenson among the players working their way back from long-term injuries.

The Lions do regain triple premiership player Wayde Twomey, though, after the 140-game veteran missed the win over Claremont.

Braden Fimmano and Nick Hay are also in contention to come into the side after Fimmano had 20 possessions and eight marks last week in the reserves, and Hay contributed 14 disposals.

ROUND 10
SUBIACO (7-1, 2nd) v WEST PERTH (4-4, 6th) – MEDIBANK STADIUM, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Broadcast – 107.3 HFM

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