Road Warrior Lions face another away battle with Perth at Lathlain

Subiaco are on the road for the second consecutive week, as they travel to Lathlain for a match with Perth looking to extend their unbeaten run to start 2018.

Subiaco are coming off one of its most complete performances of the season after defeating Peel in the Grand Final rematch a week ago, while Perth are buoyed by a gutsy one point win over Claremont.

Ben Newton and Kyle Halligan both drop out of the Subiaco side with injuries with their replacements set to come from a group of five including McKenzie Lawrence, Daniel Perkins, Michael Braut, Craig Hoskins and Kaidyn Fullgrabe.

Subiaco has had strong recent form over Perth having won 10 of their last 11 games between the clubs and has a strong form line at Lathlain Park, having won their past five matches.

In the earlier games, two top five battles will be held with the top placed Perth colts taking on the third place Subiaco colts while in the reserves the fourth placed Perth set to take on the fifth placed Subiaco.

Subiaco fans are encouraged to get down to Lathlain Park and support the Lions and for those that can’t make it to the game can hear it through the WAFL app using the live radio tab or through the Subiaco Lions Facebook live stream.

Action commences at Lathlain Park from 9am with main game commencing at 2.15pm.

GAME CHANGERS

10^th TO DEBUT

McKenzie Lawrence was a confirmed starter for Saturday’s clash at Subiaco’s final training session of the week on Thursday night. Lawrence, a product of local side Warwick-Greenwood, a former Reserves Premiership Player and a former Colts Club Captain continues a line of young players to debut for the Lions in 2018. Lawrence’s selection is one of perseverance and proof that dedication continues to breed opportunity at the club.

OFFENCE V DEFENCE

Subiaco statistically has the best offence in the WAFL through 2018 with an average of over 130 points while Perth’s defence is ranked eighth having conceded 104 points per game. Subiaco’s ability to be able to exploit this seeming mismatch could be pivotal in the final outcome of the game.

MISSING NEWTON

Having a player who kicked five goals in the last game sitting this game out with injury could be a problem, however the Subiaco forward line has had multiple goal scorers in every game so far this year so there are options to cover the loss.

HOT HORSE

Captain Kyal Horsley is the runaway favourite for the Sandover Medal after a strong start to 2018. Horsley has recorded consecutive 40 possession games and remains the barometer for the Subiaco midfield with his leadership proving crucial in recent wins.

BYE AHEAD

The stop start nature of Subiaco’s 2018 season continues next weekend with Subiaco to have another bye, their third in the space of six weeks. The stretch gets more onerous over the second half of the year for Subiaco with their final 13 games split by just one final bye round. Subiaco will look to remain focused on Saturday and go to the bye in winning form.

STATE PLAYERS FORM CONTINUES

Some of the players most looking forward to the bye are Subiaco’s eight state representatives. A week after their win in Adelaide all eight were strong contributors to the win over Peel and will be looking for one more big effort before the bye.

WET WEATHER FORECAST

The weather forecast is not pleasant for Saturday’s match, with rain expected through Friday and into Saturday. Subiaco fans don’t have to think back far to the last wet weather game between the clubs, when Perth caused a massive boil over in wet conditions in Round 16, of 2016 winning a game in which only 10 goals were scored.

DOMINANT HOME & AWAY SEASON RUN

Interestingly, since that wet weather loss, Subiaco has lost just one home and away season match, a round one 2017 loss against South Fremantle. Since the shock loss to Perth, Subiaco is a dominant 30-1 over their past 31 home and away season games.

Written by Declan Waghorn