Optus WAFLW Round 7 WrapMonday, August 31, 2020 - 12:24 PM - by Chris Pike

PEEL Thunder delivered a tremendous performance at home to Claremont on Saturday to guarantee their rise from wooden spoon to finals in the WAFL Women's competition for 2020 while East Fremantle also won an exciting Grand Final rematch.

Coming into the final round of the 2020 Optus WAFL Women's Premiership Season there were still five teams in the mix to take part in the top four finals action with all eyes firstly on Mandurah's David Grays Arena on Saturday.

It was the only game to be played on Saturday and quite simply Peel Thunder had to win if they wanted to play finals. 

And that's exactly what the home team did as they beat Claremont 5.5 (35) to 3.8 (26) and that meant Peel couldn’t miss finals having finished with the wooden spoon in 2019 in what was the inaugural WAFLW season.

While it meant Peel were guaranteed of playing finals, Claremont then had a nervous wait until Sunday afternoon to see if their season was over or not as a result of the loss to the Thunder.

It all came down to the game at New Choice Homes Park which was a Grand Final rematch from last year between East Fremantle and Swan Districts. 

A win for Swans and Claremont would still play finals at the expense of East Fremantle meaning the Sharks had to win if they wanted to remain a chance of defending their premiership from last year.

That set the stage for a tantalising match up and it didn’t disappoint. In the end, it was East Fremantle who prevailed against Swan Districts 3.8 (26) to 3.5 (23) and that meant both teams made the top four at the expense of Claremont.

The other game in the final round was a top against bottom collision, but to South Fremantle's credit they produced their best and most competitive, and highest scoring performance of their inaugural WAFLW season.

Subiaco still prevailed 6.11 (47) to 5.3 (33) to guarantee they finish the home and away season two games and percentage clear on top of the WAFLW ladder.

The WAFLW Finals for 2020 now begins this Sunday with Subiaco and Peel Thunder playing in the second semi-final at Leederville Oval for a spot in the Grand Final.

The loser of that game will then host the winner of the East Fremantle-Swan Districts contest also on Sunday afternoon at East Fremantle's New Choice Homes Park.

OPTUS WAFLW PREMIERSHIP SEASON – ROUND 7

PEEL THUNDER 5.5 (35) defeated CLAREMONT 3.8 (26)

The equation was simple for Peel Thunder and Claremont on Saturday – win and all but guarantee yourselves a finals berth or lose and start preparing for Mad Monday.

While there were still two games to go on Sunday to close Round 7 and the home and away season in the WAFL Women's competition, Peel or Claremont wouldn’t miss finals should they win on Saturday and they most likely would miss should they lose.

So that set the stage for an enthralling match up at Mandurah's David Grays Arena on Saturday with Peel attempting to make the most of their home ground advantage.

It wasn’t to be in the first quarter, though, with Claremont going towards the scoring end with the breeze behind them. The Tigers had the only six scoring shots of the quarter as a result but couldn’t take full advantage kicking just the one goal to be 11 points in front at quarter-time.

Peel then gained the advantage of the breeze in the second quarter and took greater toll of it. While the Thunder held the Tigers to just the one behind, they kicked two goals and five behinds themselves to head into half-time leading by five points.

The breeze had less of an impact on the second half allowing for the Thunder to kick two goals to one in the third quarter and extend their lead to 10 points by three quarter-time.

Peel then completed the job with both teams kicking a goal each in the last quarter as the Thunder went on to win 5.5 (35) to 3.8 (26) and to go from finishing last in 2019 to second in 2020 to now have a finals double chance.

Kate Bartlett kicked two goals for Peel with Hannah Church, Kira Phillips and Ella Roberts kicking a goal each.

Chloe Wrigley, Church, Shannon Whale, Demi Liddle and Abby Barnden were among the standout performers for Peel.

It was an especially big effort from Ebony Bilcich who had played basketball for the South West Slammers in Bunbury the night before and went straight from Mandurah to Kalamunda to play again on Saturday night.

Mhicca Carter kicked another two goals for Claremont with Krstel Petrevski their other goal scorer.

Petrevski had a tremendous performance all day for the Tigers with Sasha Goranova, Tessa Doumanis, Marley Simmons and Sara Riou among the other good players.
 

SUBIACO 6.11 (47) defeated SOUTH FREMANTLE 5.3 (33)

It was a top against bottom affair with neither team able to move in the final game of the home and away WAFL Women's season, but Subiaco were made to work hard as South Fremantle produced their best performance of 2020.

Subiaco was guaranteed of finishing with the minor premiership for the second straight WAFLW season no matter the result of Sunday's game at Leederville Oval while South Fremantle were also anchored to bottom spot no matter the result.

That didn’t stop both teams from producing an entertaining affair with Subiaco forced to work for the win ahead of the finals while South Fremantle will take great heart from their most competitive showing of their inaugural WAFLW season.

The signs were ominous by quarter-time that it wouldn’t be a promising end to the season that South Fremantle was after.

Subiaco dominated the opening quarter with the only nine scoring shots to kick four goals and to take a 29-point advantage into the quarter-time huddle.

To South Fremantle's credit they were able to stay after the scoreless opening term and go on to outscore Subiaco in the second with two goals to one and to close the gap to 24 points by half-time.

The encouraging signs continued for South Fremantle after half-time as well with the Bulldogs kicking two goals to just one from the Lions in the third quarter, and then they kicked the only goal of the last quarter as well.

While Subiaco still won 6.11 (47) to 5.3 (33) to finish the season in top spot with a 6-1 record, South Fremantle will now be able to head into the off-season and prepare for 2021 with confidence knowing they have finished off with their best performance from their first season in the WAFLW competition.

Playing-coach Amy Lavell had a good afternoon for Subiaco with three goals to be the only multiple goal kicker in the game. Tiah Haynes, Aimee Schmidt and Maggie MacLachlan all kicked a goal each for the Lions.

Tarnica Golisano, Holly Hyder, Abbey Dowrick, Lauren Jeffers and Lindal Rohde were all strong players for Subiaco as well. 

It was a league WAFLW debut for Jeffers who has also had a distinguished basketball career including winning an SBL championship at the Perry Lakes Hawks in 2017 and spending time in the WNBL with the West Coast Waves.

South Fremantle's goals came courtesy of Sarah Wright, Chae-Lee Salbie, Jaymi Karapetkov, Lauren Vecchio and Zoe Huggett.

Tahlia McRoberts, Vecchio, Kiara Templeman, Mia Strom and Tahlia Holtze were among the other players to impress for the Bulldogs.
 

EAST FREMANTLE 3.8 (26) defeated SWAN DISTRICTS 3.5 (23)

Following Peel Thunder's win against Claremont on Saturday, reigning WAFL Women's premiers had to beat Swan Districts on Sunday to reach finals and they did so but in a thriller.

On the back of playing in last year's first ever WAFLW Grand Final, it was another game between East Fremantle and Swan Districts on Sunday with plenty on the line at East Fremantle's New Choice Homes Park.

With Peel beating Claremont on Saturday, East Fremantle was back to fifth position on the ladder with a percentage lower than the fourth placed Claremont. So the only way the Sharks could leapfrog the Tigers was to beat Swans and finish with one more victory.

It was never going to be easy against Swan Districts, though, with the black-and-whites knowing that if they won the game they would move up into second position on the ladder and they would earn the finals double chance.

So with East Fremantle needing to win just to make finals and Swan Districts hunting that top two finish, there was plenty up for grabs and the contest didn’t fail to deliver.

Swans came out and started well away from home kicking the only two goals of the first quarter. And then it was a goalless second quarter from both teams meaning that Swan Districts went into half-time with a commanding 14-point advantage.

But East Fremantle lifted in the third quarter to hold Swans scoreless and kicking two goals themselves which saw the Sharks lead by a solitary point heading into the last quarter.

And in the final quarter, both teams managed to kick a goal each but it was East Fremantle who hung on to win 3.8 (26) to 3.5 (23).

Not only did that mean East Fremantle won, but they also jumped over Swan Districts into third spot with Swans finishing fourth and Claremont missing out on finals altogether.

Alex Williams, Katelyn Catalano and Gabby O'Sullivan were the goal scorers on the day for East Fremantle.

Ruby Schleicher, Madeline Ross, O'Sullivan, Samara Pluschke and Larissa Versaci were all impressive for the Sharks too.

Ashley Sharp, Briana Hyde and Mikayla Morrison kicked the goals for Swan Districts.

Eliza Gelmi, Aimee Ralph, Emily McGuire, Mikayla Hyde and Morrison were among the best players on the day for Swans.