TABtouch Preliminary Final PreviewSaturday, September 15, 2018 - 10:00 AM - by Chris Pike

THE stage is set for a massive day of WAFL preliminary finals at Fremantle Community Bank Oval on Sunday as Subiaco's league and colts teams, and East Perth's reserves outfit await to find out their 2018 Grand Final opponents at Optus Stadium.

We are already halfway there to knowing who will be playing in the three WAFL Grand Finals at Optus Stadium on Sunday September 23 with Subiaco's league and colts sides, and East Perth's reserves booking their place in the big dance with second semi-final victories last Sunday.

Now the three preliminary finals will take place this Sunday at Fremantle Community Bank Oval to determine the other participants on Grand Final day.

The action at the port gets underway from 9.15am with the colts preliminary final between Swan Districts and Peel Thunder. The winner will advance to the Grand Final against Subiaco.

The reserves preliminary final will begin at 11.50am between Subiaco and Claremont. 

East Perth shocked the Lions with a remarkable comeback in the second semi-final last week after conceding the game's opening eight goals to mean the Lions and Tigers are now battling to determine who faces the Royals in the reserves Grand Final of 2018.

The main event is then the league preliminary final at Fremantle Community Bank Oval between South Fremantle and West Perth, with the winner to advance to play Subiaco in the Grand Final.

The game will begin at 2.40pm and will be broadcast live on Channel 7 from 2.30pm.

MEADOWS NOT AFRAID TO AIM FOR FALCONS PREMIERSHIP 
COOK DESPERATE FOR BULLDOGS TO REACH GRAND FINAL 
FALCONS READY FOR REDEMPTION AGAINST BULLDOGS 
BULLDOGS NOT TAKING FALCONS LIGHTLY WITH GRAND FINAL AT STAKE 

South Fremantle and West Perth meet in the preliminary final of 2018 at Fremantle Community Bank Oval on Sunday looking to book in a meeting with Subiaco at Optus Stadium in next Sunday's Grand Final.

The two teams were battling it out over second spot on the ladder for much of the season and it's only fitting now they are the ones to meet in the preliminary final with a Grand Final spot on the line.

South Fremantle will be playing in its third consecutive preliminary final and attempting to win its way into a first Grand Final appearance since 2009, when the Bulldogs beat the Lions for their last premiership.

West Perth last played in a Grand Final against Subiaco in 2015 with the Falcons' last premiership coming in 2013 when they defeated East Perth in the decider.

The two teams met just two weeks ago in a qualifying final also at Fremantle Community Bank Oval and on that occasion South Fremantle kicked 16 of the last 17 goals of the game to run out 98-point winners.

Beyond that, South Fremantle has won its past nine matches against West Perth by an average of 47.8 points, but the two earlier meetings in 2018 prior to the qualifying final saw the Bulldogs only win by a combined 13 points.

West Perth's last win against South Fremantle came in Round 22, 2015 to the tune of 23 points with the Falcons on the way that year to a Grand Final appearance while the Bulldogs missed the finals for a fourth straight season.

For the third consecutive season, South Fremantle finished the home and away season in second position on the ladder ahead of winning that qualifying final against West Perth by 98 points.

South Fremantle then started strongly in last Sunday's second semi-final against Subiaco with a five goals to one opening quarter. But the Lions eventually worked their way on top with the only five goals of the third quarter to end up winning by 18 points.

That has South Fremantle now playing in its third successive preliminary final having lost on the same day the past two years against Peel Thunder in 2016 and Subiaco in 2017.

West Perth again qualified for the finals in 2018 from third position with an 11-7 record and then the Falcons responded well to that qualifying loss to South Fremantle with an impressive showing beating Claremont in last Sunday's first semi-final by 53 points at Joondalup Arena.

South Fremantle has made two changes to the team that lost to Subiaco in last Sunday's second semi-final.

Ruckman Brock Higgins has shaken off an ankle complaint to return for the Bulldogs to take the place of his late replacement from last week, second-gamer Blair Della Franca.

The other change is a forced one with Steve Verrier out with a knee injury with his place to be taken by Kyle Russell.

Della Franca, Regan Spooner and Daniel Cabassi have been named as South Fremantle's three emergencies for the preliminary final.

West Perth has decided to make no changes to its team going in with the same 22 that beat Claremont last week, having made just the one change last week and that saw Connor West come in to take the place of Tyson Moulton.

West Perth's three emergencies for the preliminary final are Rudy Riddoch, Scott Nelson and Connor West.

PRELIMINARY FINAL
SOUTH FREMANTLE (13-5, 2nd) v WEST PERTH (11-7, 3rd) – FREMANTLE COMMUNITY BANK OVAL, SUNDAY 2.40PM
Selected teams, live stats 
Broadcast – Channel 7, ABC Radio, 91.3 SportFM, KIX Digital, Noongar Radio, Footy Radio

TABtouch Preliminary Team Lists