Royals face hungry Bulldogs

East Perth will face a South Fremantle outfit that remain winless in the opening two rounds of 2014 under lights tonight at Fremantle Oval.

The Royals go into the match as one of three unbeaten teams, joining Subiaco and Perth at the top of the WAFL ladder.

The Bulldogs who have been out of finals action since 2011, have had a less than an ideal start, with a 38-point loss to Subiaco in Round One and then dwindling a 44-point lead against Perth a week later to go down to the Demons by five points.

Local Coolbinia product, Mark Hutchings, will play his first game for the Royals since being drafted to St Kilda at the end of 2009. Hutchings, who is listed with the West Coast Eagles joined West Perth after being delisted from the AFL and won the Simpson Medal for the Falcons in last year’s Grand Final. He is returning from a back injury.

Steven Wityk, Matt Gordon, Callum Hart, Julian Locantro and William Magginness have been named in the extended 25-man squad. Scott Lycett, Will Schofield and Dom Sheed have been listed as emergencies for the Eagles.

Meanwhile, former Royal, Brock Higgins will play for South Fremantle in his first match against East Perth. While Bulldogs veteran, Paul Mugambwa, new recruit James Sellar, and Ben Sokol have been named as outs for the Bulldogs.

Defender Kyle Anderson and midfielder Steven Payne will celebrate their 50^th game milestones for East Perth tonight.

Bounce down is at 7:00pm with Reserves (2.05pm) and Colts (11.35am) to be played on Saturday.