Earning Grand Final spot now Subiaco's sole focusSaturday, September 16, 2017 - 10:25 AM - by Chris Pike

AFTER shaking off the disappointment of losing to Peel Thunder last Sunday, all Subiaco coach Jarrad Schofield is focused on now is bouncing back against South Fremantle in Sunday's preliminary final to book a spot in a fourth straight WAFL Grand Final.

Subiaco entered last Sunday's second semi-final on the back of a 19-game winning streak and a week off in the opening weekend of the finals, but the Thunder led them from start to finish to end up winning by 24 points.

That saw Peel move into a second straight Grand Final but Subiaco's' outstanding 19-1 season to earn a third straight minor premiership means they have another shot to make a fourth consecutive premiership decider by beating South Fremantle in Sunday's preliminary final in Leederville Oval.

Despite plenty of over the top, outlandish comments flying about surrounding Subiaco and South Fremantle playing off for second place this Sunday or that the winner will be deemed the best WAFL team of the season, Schofield is not buying into any of that.

What he wants from his Subiaco team on Sunday is for them to bounce back from last week's loss to Peel and to earn another crack at Peel in the Grand Final next Sunday at Domain Stadium.

But having said that, he knows how hungry and determined the Bulldogs will be at the same time and he's not looking any further than the challenge that is immediately in front of them in terms of South Fremantle.

"All three sides finished top three for a reason and that gives you the beauty of having the double chance," Schofield said.

"Unfortunately for myself and Todd (Curley) we are in this position because our sides weren’t good enough against Peel the first time we played them in the finals, but we are thinking we are good enough to be hopefully there next week and if we are to be able to win. 

"But I reckon we are worrying about this week's game before anything else and that's why it will be a fantastic contest for spectators to come and see. 

"I know there's been plenty of banter about this being the real Grand Final, no it's not. But you have two good sides going up against each other who want to play next week who have had a strong rivalry even this year. We'll see who comes out on top."

Coming off winning 19 straight games to close to the WAFL season since losing to South Fremantle by 39 points in Round 1, and combined with losing to Peel in last year's Grand Final, it was understandable the disappointment felt by Subiaco last Sunday.

But by Monday night following the review that was quickly forgotten and it was time to move on to the job at hand of preparing to do battle with a South Fremantle team who Subiaco did also beat by 39 points in Round 9 at Leederville Oval.

Schofield is hopeful and confident that his Subiaco players will have learned something from the loss to Peel as they now attempt to book a place in a fourth successive WAFL Grand Final.

"We were bitterly disappointed on Sunday night and the body language of the boys on Monday was that they realised they had probably let themselves down with their performance. But we did a thorough review and we've moved on pretty quickly," he said.

"Once the lecture room door room opened after our review on Monday night we were upbeat and moving forward to South Fremantle. Winning 19 games and finishing top doesn’t guarantee you a premiership or for you to win finals games. 

"We found that out on the weekend and we were a bit slow out of the blocks, but hopefully we can learn something from that. Knowing the character of the group I dare say we will be making a better showing of ourselves than what we did on the weekend."

As far as physically, the reports are all good coming out of Subiaco following Sunday's game with Liam Baker recovering well from the knock he took from Peel's Zac Dawson.

Kyal Horsley and Clancy Wheeler got through the game well and will be better second time up after their injuries while 150-game dual fairest and best winner and premiership player Chris Phelan will return in the reserves on Sunday as well to push his case for a potential Grand Final.

"He's (Baker) good and he's right to go. He got through training this week. He copped a fair hit and he's a small fella against one of the biggest blokes on the field, but he's a tough little character and he was able to go back on the ground and finish off the game, and give us the effort we look for," Schofield said.

"They (Wheeler, Horsley) both pulled up well. It was one of those things with Kyal where we knew that with where he had been and with him as a person, he was trying to feel himself out in terms of the speed of the game early on and in the second half he felt to get his game going. 

"He has pulled up really well. With Clancy Wheeler, he was good for us too and they will both be better for the run. They haven’t shown any signs of pulling up sore or that they've been out for a while so they will both be good."