ROUND 14 PREVIEW V SOUTH FREMANTLE

Friday, June 27, 2014 - 4:56 PM by CHRIS PIKE

WEST Perth faces a must-win clash with South Fremantle at Fremantle Oval on Sunday to keep its finals hopes alive and to also win the Garlic Munchers Cup for the first time since it was instituted last year.

West Perth has had an up and down 2014 season so far currently sitting on a 5-6 record in fifth position to be three games out of fourth place, but will be hoping to take some momentum out of qualifying for the Foxtel Cup grand final with a 74-point semi-final win over the Western Storm on Tuesday night.

A loss on Sunday for West Perth would just about end its finals hopes and chances of defending its premiership with only eight games remaining, but a win would keep the Falcons in touch with the third-placed Subiaco and fourth-placed East Fremantle.

South Fremantle will miss finals for the third straight year but the Bulldogs should be a better team than their 3-8 record suggests.

Games between the two teams over the past six seasons have been fascinating with home ground proving to be more of a hindrance than help.

South Fremantle has won its last four matches against West Perth at Arena Joondalup, but the Falcons have won four of their last five games at Fremantle Oval including two of them by three points.

Overall since 2007, South Fremantle has won nine and West Perth eight of the 17 meetings between the two but only four of the Bulldogs' wins have been at Fremantle Oval where the Falcons have won five times.

From West Perth's team that won the Foxtel Cup semi-final on Tuesday night, only 13 players have been included in the Falcons' squad so far announced for Sunday's clash with South Fremantle.

Aidan Lynch was best on ground in that Foxtel Cup win but hasn’t made the cut for his league debut on Sunday with Brayden Antonio, Luke Meadows, Joe Morrow, Corey Chalmers, Max Alexander, Mitch van Berlo, Cameron Branch and Ben King not making the squad of 26.

However, there are very good reasons for that with Marcus Adams, Laine Rasmussen, Andrew Strijk, Dan Hunt, Luke Tedesco, Aaron Black, Jay van Berlo, Anthony Tsalikis, Kody Manning, Steve Potente, Nick Rodda, Shane Nelson and Jordan Jones all coming back in who didn’t play in the Foxtel Cup.

And from the team that lost narrowly to East Fremantle a fortnight ago, Adams is back for West Perth to add another key forward target with premiership on-ball pair Matt Guadagnin and Chris Keunen also returning from injuries that had kept them sidelined since the WA Day derby.

Mitch McPhee is also a chance to make his league debut with West Perth after an impressive three-goal performance in the Foxtel Cup semi-final victory over the Western Storm on Tuesday night.

At this stage there have been no outs named for West Perth but with Adams, Guadagnin and Keunen at least being confirmed starters, Jack Thrum, Kris Shannon, Trent Manzone and Matt Johnson might be among those players the coaching staff is weighing up for selection or not for Sunday's match.

There are no outs at this stage at South Fremantle from the team that lost to Swan Districts at home last Saturday, but clearly there are some senior players under pressure to hold on to their spots with some players looking to return to the line-up to face the Falcons on Sunday.

Enigmatic forward Paul Mugambwa is a chance to return from injury and play his first match since Round 6 while another key forward target Alistair Gillespie is pressing claims to come back in for just his second league match of the season.

In order for either or both to play, room will need to be made in the league side and Josh Pullman appears under the most pressure after just nine possessions and a behind against his former team Swan Districts last Saturday.

Mitch Carter missed the game against Swan Districts with a slight injury as well so he is vying to return to the side to face with West Perth as is Anthony Collica who didn’t play against Swans after a good game the previous week against East Perth.

While being supremely talented, Collica's body just hasn’t allowed him to have a good run in his career with him limited to two league games in 2012, two league and two reserves appearances in 2013, and now just three reserves and two league matches so far this season.

Only once in almost three seasons now has Collica been able to play consecutive matches at reserves or league level. This year, he played reserves in Round 1, 5 and 9 and in the league team in Round 10 and 12.

After 22 possessions, seven marks and a goal in Round 12 against East Perth, he couldn’t back up and play against Swan Districts last Saturday but now could return straightaway to take on West Perth on Sunday.

In order for either Carter or Collica, or both, to come in, though, they do need room to be made for them in South Fremantle's team with Shaun Bewick, Craig White, Ben Sokol, Jason Maskos and Jacob Martinez the most likely candidates after quiet games against Swan Districts.

RESERVES TEAM

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

COLTS TEAM

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

ROUND 14 PREVIEW V SOUTH FREMANTLE

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