SWFL round thirteen preview: Top teams look to bounce back

Both Donnybrook and South Bunbury, who were sitting first and second on the ladder at this time last week, were upset by teams in the bottom half.

And we’re still no clearer about who will be playing come finals time, with just two games separating South Bunbury in third place and Busselton in eighth.

For round 13, the contributions that volunteers make to keeping the competition and its clubs running smoothly will also be recognised with Volunteer Recognition round.

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

The round kicks off with an interesting game between two teams that will both be looking to bounce back from upset losses last week.

An injury-riddled Donnybrook side was limited to just two goals by Collie in wet conditions last week while South Bunbury recorded its third loss by less than a goal this season against Augusta Margaret River.

The Dons will be hoping to get some players back this week, with important players Kieran Hug and Tyler Patterson among the names that missed against Collie.

However, more important for the Dons will be the performance of the midfield. Donnybrook’s midfield was kept quiet by Collie and the Dons don’t look like the same team when they’re not regularly getting the ball into their forwards.

While the Tigers are one of the league’s strongest defences – they’ve conceded the second lowest point per game this season behind Donnybrook – they probably don’t kick as many goals as they would like.

South Bunbury has failed to kick ten goals in eight – or two thirds – of its games this season. The Tigers have a 3-5 record when not kicking 10 goals, with three losses coming by less than a goal, and a 4-0 record when they do reach 10.

Key forward Leigh Kohlmann led the goal-kicking early, but has kicked just three goals in his past three games, yet the Tigers haven’t found anyone else to hit the scoreboard regularly.

With the league’s two best defences meeting each other here, you’d have to think there won’t be too many goals kicked at VC Mitchell Park this weekend. 

Prediction: Donnybrook by seven points.

Two of the competition’s most exciting teams to watch face off at Kelly Park in what could easily be game of the round.

Both teams play a free-flowing game style and have performed better than most would have expected before the season began.

The Panthers will have something to prove as they as have dropped from first to fifth on the ladder over the past six rounds.

On the other hand, the Boomers have won four straight and now sit second on the ladder, mainly on the back of their improved scoring output. Eaton has averaged almost 96 points a game over the last four which is well above the league average.

With both teams being the highest scorers for the season, but also susceptible to conceding big scores, it will interesting to see if this game becomes a shootout.

It will also be interesting to see if there’s any bad blood with the Humphries brothers playing their first game against Carey Park after jumping across to Eaton mid-season.

Prediction: Eaton Boomers by 40 points.

The Eagles have turned around their shocking first half of the season with a really strong last four weeks.

Collie has picked up two wins – over Augusta Margaret River and Donnybrook – and two narrow losses over that time and has essentially turned its season around.

The Eagles have improved their scoring output by an average of eight points over the last month, but more important, they’ve reduced their opponents average scores by 16 points over the same period.

Busselton have also shown some big improvements over the last few weeks.

Since the returns of Aidan Fraser and Jed Kemp from injury three rounds ago, the Busselton forward line has looked more dangerous.

Both teams come into the game with confidence and both probably need the win to have any chance of playing finals. They look pretty evenly matched on paper, so it really come down to which team is harder at the contest on the day.

Prediction: Colllie Eagles by 22 points.

Augusta Margaret River’s up-and-down season continued once again last when it scored an upset over South Bunbury.

The Hawks, who have had some problems with injuries, look to be getting back on track with most of their big name players coming back into the team.

They’ve shown they can beat anyone on their day, but they will be looking to clean up their inaccuracy in front of goals. The Hawks have kicked more goals than behinds just four times this year, with the most recent time coming in round six.

They’ll come up against the always-entertaining Harvey Bulls.

The Bulls sit last on the ladder, but they have shown a desire to throw everything to the wind to score throughout the season.

Despite their lowly position, the Bulls are the third highest scoring team all season and with full forward Ryan Nye in good goalkicking form – 10 in the last three weeks – the Bulls can never quite be counted out.

Prediction: Augusta Margaret River by 16 points.

Last season’s grand finallists come into this game in pretty similar positions.

The Bulldogs sit fourth on the ladder with a 7-5 record, but a percentage of 95.54 – the lowest out of the top seven.

The Lions are two spots lower and just outside the finals positions with a 6-6 record, but have four more percentage points than the Bulldogs.

Both teams ended a disappointing run of form with important wins last week and both have key players in all areas of the ground coming into the game in  good form.

The game will probably be won in the midfield, so it will be interesting to see who has more influence in the ruck battle between Harvey Brunswick Leschenault’s Mitch Andrews and Bunbury’s Cullen Boyd, who have been two of the strongest big men all season.

Prediction: Bunbury by eight points

Catch up on round 12 of the 2018 South West Football League season: