Roar Guru
A dominant display from new Eagle Sam Mitchell has helped West Coast to a 55-point win in the pre-season derby on Saturday.
Final score
West Coast Eagles 16.11.107
Fremantle Dockers 8.4.52
The JLT Community Series begins for the two West Australian teams, as the West Coast Eagles host the Fremantle Dockers. Join The Roar for live scores from the match and a live blog of the game, starting from 6:40pm (AEDT).
The Western Derby is on again, although neither team is playing for points, with Wonthella Oval in Geraldton the venue.
Both teams did well in the preseason, picking up a few prized recruits from rival clubs.
For the Eagles, Sam Mitchell may get his first game in the Eagles colours after being controversially sent West from the Hawks.
As for Fremantle, Cam McCarthy, who missed last year due to a contract dispute with the Greater Western Sydney Giants, may finally debut in purple.
Both teams are out to bounce back from disappointing 2016 seasons, although West Coast may struggle a bit more due to the loss of their key ruckman, Nic Naitanui, however Matthew Priddis and Mitchell are both talented enough to make any ruckman look good.
Liam Duggan, Will Schofield and Scott Lycett will be some other notable absentees for the Eagles.
Nat Fyfe will hope to get his Brownlow Medal form back this year, after an injury-plagued 2016. However the Dockers will be missing the likes of Lachie Neale, Harley Bennell, and ruckmen Aaron Sandilands and Zac Clarke.
The forecast is for a sweltering 37-degrees, and the country town oval will be novel for recruits who are used to playing at much bigger grounds.
The preseason competition never really shows how things will pan out in the regular season, however considering both of these teams will want to take the early bragging rights, it should be a hard-fought contest.
Prediction
Fremantle to get the win by seven points.
Join The Roar for live scores from the match and a live blog of the game, starting from 6:40pm (AEDT).