Week 1 Finals Optus WAFL PreviewThursday, August 29, 2019 - 5:22 PM - by Chris Pike

IT was quite the exciting race to the finals in 2019 and now the battle for the WAFL premiership heats up this weekend with South Fremantle and Claremont having earned a double chance while it's do-or-die between the West Coast Eagles and West Perth.

The make up of the final five wasn’t decided until Sunday evening after the last game of the 2019 Optus WAFL Premiership Season had been played.

That saw the West Coast Eagles qualify for finals by winning that game against East Fremantle and breaking the hearts of all the Perth faithful with the Demons the team to miss out on finals action for the 22nd straight year having occupied a spot inside the top five all season long.

But now with Perth, East Perth, East Fremantle and Swan Districts having already started preparing for 2020, and Subiaco enjoying the week off having earned a fifth consecutive minor premiership, the other four teams all open what should be a fascinating finals series this weekend.

The action gets underway on Saturday afternoon at Fremantle Community Bank Oval with South Fremantle and Claremont doing battle in the qualifying final.

The winner of the clash will advance into the second semi-final next week against Subiaco with a spot in the Grand Final at stake while the loser will host a first semi-final against the loser of Sunday's elimination final.

South Fremantle finished the season on a five-game winning streak to secure a second place finish for the fourth consecutive year. The Bulldogs ended the campaign on a 13-5 record as they now attempt to improve on preliminary final finishes the past three years.

Claremont ended up in third position with a 12-6 record with the Tigers now earning a double chance in the finals as they attempt to get a step closer to their first Grand Final appearance since 2012.

With the winner getting a shot at Subiaco in the second semi-final with a Grand Final spot on the line and the loser going on to host a first semi-final but then facing cut-throat action the rest of the way, there's plenty at stake for two teams who split their two games with one another through 2019.

South Fremantle captain Dylan Main was proud that the Bulldogs were able to secure second spot for the fourth straight year after a season that saw them win seven straight, lose four in-a-row and now enter the finals on a five-match winning streak.

"It was good to consolidate second spot on the ladder. We had a bit of an inconsistent season, we started well and had a little hiccup in the middle of the season but we finished strong and were able to lock in that second spot," Main said.

"It would be nice to get the win this weekend and then go on to Subi but our eyes are just on Saturday at the moment."

Claremont's dual Sandover and Simpson Medallist Jye Bolton ended the season in remarkable form with 46 possessions and two goals in last Saturday's 106-point win over Swan Districts but he knows it's going to be a lot different against South Fremantle on Saturday.

"We'll have to play hopefully like we did on the weekend against Swans," Bolton said.

"We just need to get some consistency across all four quarters and get back to what we've been playing in the front half of the year. 

"We've been a bit disappointed with probably our last six weeks so it's been good to try and get some momentum back last week which we can hopefully bring into this week."

The elimination final will take place on Sunday afternoon at Joondalup's HBF Arena with West Perth getting to host the contest against the West Coast Eagles despite finishing lower on the ladder.

The winner of the elimination final will advance to next week's first semi-final and play the loser of the South Fremantle-Claremont clash while the season will be over for the loser.

Neither the Falcons or Eagles knew their fate in terms of reaching the finals until Sunday when West Coast beat East Fremantle to mean that both clubs reached the finals and it was Perth who missed out.

West Perth did lose to South Fremantle on Saturday and initially thought that Perth was going to beat Peel and that would have meant the Falcons would miss the finals in 2019 after playing in the Grand Final against Subiaco last year.

They were so resigned to their fate that club great Andrew Strijk was chaired from the ground thinking his career was over, but then Peel got up to beat Perth and not only did West Perth qualify for the finals, but will now host the Eagles on Sunday at HBF Arena.

After losing their first four games of 2019, West Perth finished off winning nine of its last 14 to enter the finals with a degree of confidence especially on their home deck.

West Perth captain Aaron Black is looking forward to leading the Falcons into battle in yet another finals campaign having already taken part in three Grand Finals during his career.

"You have to go into these games being pretty confident and the ledge is one-apiece this year and you go into finals games knowing it's an elimination for both groups," Black said.

"We know our best is good enough if we put it all together this weekend. I don’t think you can ever settle for just being happy being in. You make the finals and there are five teams vying to win a flag and we are one of those."

The Eagles are a standalone team in the WAFL for the first time in 2019 and things didn’t start too well as they lost seven of their opening nine matches.

But as West Coast's squad got closer to full health, the quality of players available for the WAFL Eagles increased and they finished the season in good form winning their last three matches, and seven of the last nine to book in their finals position.

West Coast captain Fraser McInnes is confident the Eagles will perform well come finals time no matter who is available for selection.

"I'm proud of the group and what we've been able to do definitely. At the halfway point we were 2-7 and last on the ladder so to be able to turn it around and qualify for finals, I'm really proud of what we've been able to do. But we don't want to stop here," McInnes said.

"We'll wait and see on the team that we roll out with on Sunday but I'm pretty confident in both our AFL and WAFL-listed guys with what we've been able to do. We'll see how the cards fall and see what we've got."

Meanwhile, the reserves elimination final will take place on Saturday from 11.50am at Fremantle Community Bank Oval between East Fremantle and East Perth.

The qualifying final will take place on Sunday at HBF Arena between West Perth and Subiaco. The winner will advance to the second semi-final against Claremont while the loser will take on the winner of the elimination final.

And in the colts, the elimination final will take place on Saturday morning at Fremantle Community Bank Oval between East Perth and Swan Districts.

The qualifying final will then take place on Sunday morning at HBF Arena with West Perth again earning home ground advantage despite finishing third and playing the second placed Claremont. 

The winner of that will move on to the second semi-final against Peel Thunder while the loser will play the winner between the Royals and Swans in the second week of the finals.
 

OPTUS WAFL FINALS SERIES

QUALIFYING FINAL

SOUTH FREMANTLE (13-5, 2nd) v CLAREMONT (12-6, 3rd) – FREMANTLE COMMUNITY BANK OVAL, SATURDAY 2.40PM
Live scores, stats
Broadcast – Channel 7, 720 ABC Perth, 91.3 SportFM, KIX Digital 

ELIMINATION FINAL

WEST COAST EAGLES (9-9, 4th) v WEST PERTH (9-9, 5th) – HBF ARENA, SUNDAY 2.40PM
Live scores, stats
Broadcast – Channel 7, 720 ABC Perth, 91.3 SportFM