ROUND 12 PREVIEW V EAST FREMANTLE

WEST Perth and East Fremantle meet at Arena Joondalup on Saturday with the winner to occupy fourth position on the WAFL ladder come Saturday night.

West Perth enters the game with a 5-5 record and given its percentage will leapfrog East Fremantle into fourth spot with a victory, but a loss for the Falcons will leave them with plenty of work to do in order to try to make the finals still in 2014 and defend their 2013 premiership.

West Perth comes into the game having beaten Claremont by nine points last Saturday following a 16-point loss to East Perth and before that two straight wins against Subiaco and Peel Thunder.

The Sharks currently hold fourth position with a 6-4 record so if they win over the Falcons they will improve to 7-4 and be two games clear of the fifth-placed Falcons.

East Fremantle has now put together an improved run of form with wins over Perth, South Fremantle and Peel Thunder to make up for losses prior to that against Swan Districts, East Perth and South Fremantle.

The Sharks also built up a match-winning lead over the Falcons at East Fremantle Oval in Round 1 and withstood a spirited West Perth comeback in the final quarter to win by three points.

East Fremantle also thrashed an undermanned West Perth line-up by 73 points in Round 22 last year despite the Falcons going on to win the premiership and the Sharks missing the finals altogether.

West Perth's team will be well short of full strength with premiership veterans Chris Keunen and Matt Guadagnin again missing through a bruised retina and badly corked thigh respectively for the second straight week.

Andrew Krakouer also remains sidelined while emerging power forward Marcus Adams is also out of the team to take on the Sharks. Adams has had an outstanding first season to date with the Falcons mostly as a key forward but also as a back up ruckman.

However, the absence of Keunen, Guadagnin, Krakouer and Adams does offer opportunities to others with Seva Martin to carry the load in the ruck, Jack Thrum to keep getting chances in the midfield, Kris Shannon to get more time as a small forward and potentially Matt Johnson to come in and offer another forward option without Adams.

Johnson has not played a league game this year since Round 2, but has been in good form in the reserves including a season-high 23 possessions last week and five goals the week before.

Premiership veteran Ray Bartholomew will also make his return after missing the last three games against Subiaco, East Perth and Claremont following surgery on his fractured cheekbone and eye socket suffered early in the Round 8 win over Peel Thunder.

Ben King and Jordan Mills are both a chance to make their league debuts for West Peth as well with Mills especially likely to play if Jordan Jones doesn’t overcome a knee complaint suffered in last week's win over Claremont.

West Perth might be missing some key players, but East Fremantle is again without star defender Steven Dodd who has now still not played a game since the WAFL's State game victory over the NEAFL in Sydney back on Saturday May 24.

Young key forward Brandon Ellis is also out of the East Fremantle line-up having played the first four of his league games with the Sharks over the past four matches.

However, the Sharks have some key players to return and none more so than the hard-running AFL-experienced Bradd Dalziell who is back after missing last week's victory over Peel Thunder.

Tyler Chalwell, Michael Edwards and Boston Williamson have also continued to work hard in the reserves and show some good form to ensure that they remain in contention to also come back into the East Fremantle line-up to take on the Falcons this Saturday.

RESERVES TEAM

M Alexander, B Antonio, C Branch, C Chalmers, J Embley, M Fowler, M Geraghty, P Harvey, J Kirwen, A Lynch, B McNamara, M McPhee, S Money, J Morrow, D Munns, B O'Regan, J Regan, D Rohde, K Shannon, D Sorgiovanni, T Sutherland, M Van Berlo, B Walton, B Wilhelm, T Young

COLTS TEAM

N Alexandre, A Allen, M Antonio, M Ashfield, N Beutel, A Charlie, M Douglas, K Egan, K Fullgrabe, J Gray, C Hinchcliffe, C Lynch, T Manners, W Michell, T Moulton, B Mountford, J Nolan, M Peirce, D Robertson, L Roe, S Rotham, J Sheehan-Nel, A Smith, M Walley, A Wenn