SWFL round nine preview: season reaches its midpoint

Over the last three years, only two teams who were in the top five after round nine missed out on making finals come the end of the season – South Bunbury (fifth after round nine, finished eighth) in 2017 and Donnybrook (fourth after round nine, finished sixth) in 2015.

If that trend continues, we should have a good idea of which teams will be playing finals footy this year by Sunday night.

Check out our preview of the round’s games and tell us who you think will win.

Round nine kicks off on Saturday with an interesting game between Augusta Margaret River and Harvey Brunswick Leschenault.

The Hawks have been one of the most inconsistent teams this season. Their best is right up there with the competition, but they have also shown they can sometimes lose winnable games.

The Lions sit in third position and have a healthy percentage. They haven’t really stood out this season with any breathtaking performances, but have found a way to win on most occasions.

It will be an interesting battle between the Lions defence – which has conceded the second least amount of points this season – and the Hawks forwards, led by Matt Jukes and Jack Hick.

Prediction: Harvey Brunswick Leschenault by one point.

The Harvey Bulls have won just two games this season, but that doesn’t really show how competitive they’ve been.

In the last three weeks, the Bulls have picked up a win and had two losses by a combined 16 points. Last week they pushed Bunbury to the limit and were close to causing an upset.

Eaton, on the other hand, has started to slide down the ladder after a very impressive start to the season.

The Boomers have won just one of their last four games, although they’ve been competitive in each of them.

Despite their lowly positions on the ladder, the Bulls and the Boomers are the second and third highest scoring teams respectively, so this match will be determined by the defence that stands stronger on the day.

Prediction: Harvey Bulls by eight points

The match of the round is undoubtedly the top-of-the-ladder clash between Donnybrook and Carey Park.

The Dons have turned their season around after a poor start, winning the last six straight, to set themselves up for their first taste of finals in 13 years.

They’ve done it on the back of a defence that has conceded just 404 points in eight games, so the Panthers will have a tough test to kick a winning score.

The Panthers have been the surprise of the season and are by far the league’s highest scoring team, averaging almost 78 points a game – nine more than next best Harvey and well above the league average of 66.

It truly is a case of the best attack taking on the best defence.

Prediction: Donnybrook by 24 points.

South Bunbury has been better than its 4-4 record might suggest. The Tigers have been competitive in almost all of their games, with just one of their losses decided by more than 15 points and two by less than a goal.

On the other hand, the Magpies sit just one game behind the Tigers, but they have a terrible record away from home.

Busselton has lost all three of its away games by an average of 35 points, while it holds a 3-2 record at Sir Stewart Bovell Park.

The Magpies haven’t lost a close one all season – all five losses have been by at least three goals or more – and have kicked 10 goals on just two occasions, so South Bunbury would be confident of a percentage booster this week.

Prediction: South Bunbury by 16 points. 

The Collie Eagles have lost their last six games, but they’ve shown steady improvement over the last month.

Will it be enough to knock off the reigning premiers through? Probably not. The problem for the Eagles is scoring. Eight rounds in and Blair Malatesta – with 17 goals – is still the only Eagle to reach double figures this season.

However, the most important battle will be at the other end of the ground. With Matt Blackford missing, it will be on the defence of Mat Michael, Corey Gulvin and Teale De’Angelis to stop the league’s leading goal kicker Brett Peake from adding to his 24 goals.

The Bulldogs have shown a tendency to leak defensively, as shown by their percentage of 98 despite a 5-3 record, so Collie will still feel like it has a chance.

Prediction: Bunbury by 33 points.

Read more from round eight of the South West Football League season: