WAFL First Semi Finals PreviewSaturday, September 10, 2016 - 6:15 PM - by Chris Pike

THE 2016 AHG WAFL Finals Series enters its second week this Sunday and West Perth and Peel Thunder do battle in a cut-throat first semi-final at HBF Arena.

West Perth is coming off a 52-point loss to South Fremantle while Peel Thunder beat East Perth by 49 points last weekend setting up their first semi-final battle at HBF Arena on Sunday.

The winner will advance to the preliminary final against the loser of the second semi-final between Subiaco and South Fremantle at Medibank Stadium. The loser's season will be over.

The two minor grade first semi-final matches will take place at Medibank Stadium with South Fremantle playing East Fremantle in the reserves and South Fremantle taking on East Perth in the colts.

LEAGUE FIRST SEMI-FINAL
WEST PERTH v PEEL THUNDER – HBF ARENA, SUNDAY 2.15PM
Selected teams 
Broadcast – 91.3 SportFM, KIX Digital

West Perth and Peel Thunder put their seasons on the line on Sunday at HBF Arena doing battle in the WAFL finals for a second straight year.

Peel qualified for the WAFL finals for the first time in history in 2015 and its first ever final was also at the Joondalup venue against West Perth. It wasn’t a day to remember for the Thunder with the Falcons beating a depleted Peel outfit by 109 points.

It's fair to say the circumstances are vastly different going into this Sunday's game not only in terms of the personnel of both teams, but also because the game is cut-throat unlike last year's qualifying final when both went on to fight another week.

West Perth enters Sunday's first semi-final having finished the home and away season in third position on the WAFL ladder with a 13-7 record on the back of winning 12 of its last 15 games.

But it was a day to forget last Saturday at Fremantle Community Bank Oval with a 52-point loss to South Fremantle.

The positive is that the Falcons get a second chance this Sunday and they have the comforts of their home ground to play at in an attempt to get back to a second straight preliminary final.

Peel, meanwhile, qualified for the finals for a second straight time finishing in fourth spot with an 11-9 record before hosting East Perth in last Sunday's elimination final.

The Thunder put in a comprehensive performance to win by 49 points to win the club's first ever final since entering the WAFL in 1997.

Now the winner on Sunday will advance to the preliminary final next Sunday which will be at the home venue of the loser of the Subiaco and South Fremantle second semi-final battle.

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For West Perth it will be a second straight preliminary final having beaten East Perth in the corresponding match last year on the way to a grand final while for Peel it would be its first ever preliminary final appearance.

The season will be over for the loser meaning the stakes couldn’t be higher.

West Perth has hosted four finals at HBF Arena previously losing preliminary finals to Swan Districts and Subiaco in 2008 and 2011 respectively before beating Peel last year in the qualifying final and East Perth in a preliminary final.

The Falcons have also won 20 of the 22 meetings ever against the Thunder at the Joondalup venue. West Perth has won the last 11 home games against Peel with the Thunder's last victory at HBF Arena coming in Round 21, 2006.

West Perth has dominated Peel overall in recent years as well winning the last 12 meetings between the two teams. The Thunder's last win over the Falcons came in Round 13, 2011.

The two teams met twice this season with West Perth winning by 17 points in Round 8 at HBF Arena and then by 44 at Bendigo Bank Stadium in Round 16 while holding the Thunder to a record low score of 1.5 (11) in horrible weather conditions.

After a slow start to the 2016 season, West Perth did well to qualify for the finals from third position but last Saturday's qualifying final could have hardly gone worse for the Falcons.

Despite having a team vastly more experienced in finals than South Fremantle, it was the Falcons who were caught off guard by the pressure and made uncharacteristic mistakes highlighted by Nick Rodda conceding goals through the Bulldogs pressure at one end, and key forward Michael Lourey dropping a mark all alone in the goal square at the other.

It's reasonable to expect a much more levelled performance by West Perth this Sunday back on its home floor and with the Falcons' season at stake.

Dean Munns, Shane Nelson, Tyler Keitel and Steve Potente all returned to the West Perth line-up last Saturday meaning some tough calls had to be made.

That saw experienced performers like Laine Rasmussen, Aidan Lynch, Drew Rohde and Luke Tedesco missed out on selection.

While Rohde and Tedesco haven’t been considered again for this Sunday by the Falcons coaching staff, midfielder Lynch and vice-captain Rasmussen are into the squad and should be inclusions.

Jordan Mills and Tyson Moulton are the other two players added to West Perth's squad but at this stage there have been no outs named.

Peel's team in last year's qualifying final against West Perth had almost all its Fremantle-listed players taken out. But it's a different story this time around and in last Sunday's win over East Perth, the Thunder line-up featured 17 Dockers players.

Now the only forced change for this Sunday is with the injured Anthony Morabito going out with Clancee Pearce likely to replace him having overcome a hamstring complaint.

The only other intrigue over Peel's selection is around the big men. Last week it was Jonathon Griffin who was left out with Zac Clarke and Jack Hannath sharing the ruck duties while also playing as another target in attack along with the imposing Michael Apeness.

Peel might decide to go extremely tall this week by adding Griffin or perhaps the most likely options is that Griffin replaces Hannath in the line-up.

RESERVES FIRST SEMI-FINAL
SOUTH FREMANTLE v EAST FREMANTLE - MEDIBANK STADIUM, SUNDAY 12.25PM
Selected teams 

It is a derby first semi-final in the reserves at Medibank Stadium on Sunday as South Fremantle and East Fremantle battle to keep their seasons alive.

The Bulldogs and Sharks meet in the first semi-final in the reserves at the Leederville venue starting at 12.25pm on Sunday.

The winner will advance to next Sunday's preliminary final against the loser of the second semi-final at HBF Arena between East Perth and Claremont. The loser will see their season come to an end in the reserves for 2016.

South Fremantle is coming off winning two of the past three reserves premierships and ended the 2016 home and away season in third position before playing Claremont last Saturday at Fremantle Community Bank Oval in the qualifying final.

The Bulldogs lost to the Tigers by nine points but now get a second chance on Sunday against the Sharks to move into the preliminary final.

The Sharks, meanwhile, finished the home and away season in fourth position before beating Subiaco in a thriller last Sunday by two points at Bendigo Bank Stadium to book a berth in the first semi-final.

South Fremantle and East Fremantle met three times during the season with the Bulldogs winning by two points in the Anzac Derby, South Fremantle again by 21 in the Foundation Derby and then again the Bulldogs by six points in Round 19 at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

South Fremantle's reserves have won its last five games against East Fremantle.

The Bulldogs reserves have now lost their past four matches entering Sunday's clash with the Sharks but last Saturday's loss to Claremont was despite a flying start.

South Fremantle kept Claremont scoreless in the first quarter kicking four goals but the Tigers kicked nine goals to four from that point on to win by nine points and advance to the second semi-final, and sending the Bulldogs into the first semi.

The Bulldogs welcomed back Adam Guglielmana from a hamstring injury with 32 possessions and 10 marks but likely was enough to book himself back in the league side.

Steven Edwards was another to impress with 23 touches and a goal who will be hoping to return to the league line-up.

But South Fremantle will still feature ruckman Tim English who had 20 touches, nine marks and 29 hit outs last week along with Tim Stewart, Tom Vandeleur, Jake Florenca, Bailey Matera and Brandon Donaldson who have played good league football at different times during 2016.

Last Sunday against Subiaco in the elimination final, East Fremantle started on fire with four goals to nil in the first quarter but the Lions kept coming with the only three goals of the final term. The Sharks just managed to hold on by two points though.

Jacob Green kicked three goals to continue his impressive form late in the season at league level with East Fremantle while Jesse Adamini racked up 36 possessions, Matthew Bannister 22, Jake Schleicher 21, Miles Franklin 21, Fraser Perry 21, Tom Hooker 20 and Tyler Chalwell 20.

REDiMED COLTS FIRST SEMI-FINAL
SOUTH FREMANTLE v EAST PERTH – MEDIBANK STADIUM, SUNDAY 9.55AM
Selected teams 

South Fremantle and East Perth do battle in a colts first semi-final at Medibank Stadium on Sunday with plenty of exciting young talent to be on show.

The Bulldogs and Royals colts meet in the cut-throat encounter at Leederville on Sunday beginning at 9.55am.

The winner will advance to next Sunday's preliminary final against the loser of the second semi-final at HBF Arena between Perth and Claremont. The season for the loser will be over.

Last week South Fremantle's colts lost to Claremont by 32 points at Fremantle Community Bank Oval to now be in a cut-throat situation for the rest of the finals starting on Sunday against East Perth.

The Royals finished the season in fifth position having qualified for the finals with a win over East Fremantle in the last round.

They then continued that momentum last Sunday at Bendigo Bank Stadium beating a Swan Districts colts outfit that had taken part in the past two grand finals by 12 points.

The Royals will now look to continue that momentum on their home deck on Sunday despite being the lower ranked team.

South Fremantle and East Perth were the only two WAFL clubs to have all three grades qualifying for the finals in 2016. The Bulldogs' colts now won't want to be their first team eliminated while the Royals' colts won't want to join their league side out of action.

The two teams met three times during the season with South Fremantle winning by 31 points in Round 3 and by 57 in Round 22 while East Perth prevailed by two points in a thriller at Fremantle Community Bank Oval in Round 15.

Last Saturday at Fremantle Community Bank Oval, South Fremantle couldn’t match it against the reigning premier Claremont but still had some impressive performers.

Shai Bolton was tremendous with 17 possessions and four goals while Bruno Faulkner finished with 21 disposals, Kyle Russell 20 and Dylan Brown 17.

East Perth went down to Mandurah and were impressive last Sunday beating Swan Districts with Tarir Bayok, Nathan Arbon, Jalen Hoffman and Kane La Fontaine all kicking goals two goals while Mitch Dobson had 30 possessions, Connor De Campo 24, Nelson Waite 24 and Matthew Young 24.

Sam Powell-Pepper could now return for the Royals on Sunday as well after finishing the season at league level including last week against Peel Thunder.