Optus WAFL Semi Finals PreviewSaturday, September 19, 2020 - 11:51 AM - by Chris Pike

PERTH attempts to end another hoodoo against West Perth on Sunday in its first WAFL finals appearance in 23 years while South Fremantle and Claremont lock horns for a place in the 2020 Grand Final.

The 2020 Optus WAFL Premiership Season couldn’t have possibly ended in a more dramatic and exciting way than by having East Perth just edge ahead of Subiaco in the race for fourth spot last Saturday afternoon before Perth completed its fairytale return to finals later that evening.

The Demons have not played in a WAFL final since losing the 1997 preliminary final to South Fremantle at Subiaco Oval but they return to post-season action this Sunday afternoon.

West Perth will host Perth at Joondalup's Provident Financial Oval in the first semi-final with the winner to advance to the preliminary final the following week while the season will be over for the loser.

Then it's the battle of the top two teams at the end of the home and away season with South Fremantle and Claremont playing one another in the finals for the third time in just over 12 months, this time in the second semi-final at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

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Perth hasn’t played finals since 1997 as is now well documented and it's now quite the remarkable story for the Demons to be preparing to play in a final once more, but the reward is a team that has dominated them now for a long time.

The Falcons host the Demons at Joondalup on Sunday afternoon in what will be the first finals meeting between the two teams since the first semi-final of 1976. 

On that day, Perth was victorious by 56 points and in fact the Demons have won the last five finals matches between the two, but considering the most recent of those was 44 years ago it doesn’t exactly count for a lot.

Since Perth last played finals in 1997, West Perth has played 32 finals matches and won premierships in 1999, 2003 and 2013, and played in Grand Finals in 1998, 2002, 2015 and 2018.

And also since the Demons last reached the finals in 1997, the Falcons have won 44 of the 52 match ups between the two teams with Perth only winning seven with a draw thrown in there back in Round 9, 2008 at Lathlain.

That includes the Falcons winning the last 18 matches in-a-row against the Demons with Perth not having won over West Perth since Round 18, 2011. The positive out of that was that it was at least at the Joondalup venue.

But a week after having ended the finals drought they had suffered at 22 years, the Demons will now head up to Joondalup on Sunday afternoon full of confidence they can end another hoodoo against the Falcons.

It won't be an easy task for Perth, though, with West Perth putting together another outstanding 2020 WAFL season and it was only 0.25 per cent that denied them finishing above Claremont and in second position on the ladder.

Coming into the first semi-final, while both teams' attacks are remarkably similar with West Perth averaging 70.3 points a game and Perth 69.1, the Falcons have only conceded 54.5 points a game while the Demons are giving up 69.3.

If you break down the teams quarter-by-quarter over their eight matches, little separates them too aside from in second terms where the Falcons have outscored their opponents by 67 points while Perth has been outscored by 60.

That leaves West Perth the best second quarter team in the competition and Perth the worst.

From the West Perth team that beat Subiaco last Saturday, Thomas Boyes, Sam Rotham, Kris Shannon and Troy Yukich have all been added to the squad for the first semi-final with no outs at this stage.

From the Perth line-up that won its way into the finals against South Fremantle, the Demons have elected to come into the first semi-final by bringing in Kristian Cary for his first game of 2020. Jacob Payne also returns at the expense of Mitch Henderson and Regan Clarke.

The second semi-final will then take place at Fremantle Community Bank Oval with South Fremantle attempting to reach its second straight Grand Final while Claremont is trying to get to its first since winning the premiership in 2012.

Claremont and South Fremantle are no strangers to doing battle in finals in recent times unlike the first semi-final combatants. 

They met twice in last year's finals series with both games taking place at Fremantle Community Bank Oval with South Fremantle winning the qualifying final by seven points and then the preliminary final by 30 points.

Now another Grand Final spot is on the line when they do battle at the port on Sunday afternoon at the same venue the 2020 premiership decider will be held.

The winner will move straight into the Grand Final in two weeks' time while the loser will host the preliminary final against the winner of the West Perth-Perth first semi-final.

Both teams had terrific seasons in 2020 over the eight matches with South Fremantle winning its first seven matches before a five-point loss to a desperate Perth last Saturday night.

That booked in South Fremantle to win its first minor premiership since the flag winning year of 2009 while also guaranteeing a fifth straight finals appearance on the back of reaching preliminary finals in 2016, 2017 and 2018, and then the Grand Final in 2019.

Claremont, meanwhile, won its first two games before its loss to West Perth and then won four of its last five with only a slip up against the Demons. So interestingly both teams have lost to Perth entering this finals series but beaten West Perth.

The Tigers only narrowly claimed second position ahead of the Falcons, though, with a percentage only 0.24 more. But it didn’t matter by how much, only that it was greater.

That means Claremont are now preparing to take part in a fourth straight finals series having returned to post-season action in 2017, then winning a final in 2018 and then reaching the preliminary final in 2019 since Darren Harris took over the helm.

South Fremantle's attack is ranked No. 1 with 72.9 points a game while Claremont is just fifth at 69.3 while the Bulldogs defence is clearly also the best at 43.8 per game while the Tigers are second, giving up just 53.6 points a game.

As for the quarter by quarter breakdown over the season, Claremont is the No. 1 first quarter team in the WAFL while South Fremantle is ranked third. The Bulldogs place third in second terms and the Tigers sixth while they are then also both top two for second halves.

Claremont has outscored its opponents by 71 points in third quarters and 39 in fourth terms. South Fremantle has been 40 points better than its opposition in third periods and then a monster 150 points over the eight fourth quarters.

South Fremantle and Claremont have also been the best ball winning teams for the season compared to its opponents with the Bulldogs averaging 27.8 more disposals a game and the Tigers are ranked No. 1 at 33.4.

From the South Fremantle side that lost narrowly to Perth last Saturday night for its only loss of the season, Chris Luff, Noah Strom, Blayne Wilson and Jason Makos all come straight back in to strengthen the defensive unit.

At this stage, the players they make way for in the Bulldogs side to take on Claremont in the second semi-final haven’t been named.

Claremont had the bye last weekend leading into the finals and prior to that the Tigers beat West Perth to lock in second position. 

From that team, Claremont has made just the one change with classy half-forward Alex Manuel returning for his first game since Round 4 at the expense of youngster Ed McGinty.

Meanwhile in the Reserves, Claremont plays South Fremantle in the first semi-final at Fremantle Community Bank Oval for the chance to move into the preliminary final while East Perth takes on Subiaco in the second-semi final at Joondalup for a spot in the Grand Final of 2020.

And in the Simply Energy Colts, West Perth hosts East Fremantle in the first semi-final at Joondalup with the winner to stay alive with Claremont taking on Subiaco in the second semi-final at Fremantle Community Bank Oval with the winner to advance to the Grand Final.

OPTUS WAFL PREMIERSHIP SEASON – SEMI FINALS

FIRST SEMI-FINAL
WEST PERTH (6-2, 3rd) v PERTH (5-3, 4th) – PROVIDENT FINANCIAL OVAL, SUNDAY 1.35PM
Live scores, stats  
Broadcast – Channel 7

SECOND SEMI-FINAL
SOUTH FREMANTLE (7-1, 1st) v CLAREMONT (6-2, 2nd) – FREMANTLE COMMUNITY BANK OVAL, SUNDAY 2.30PM
Live scores, stats
Broadcast – Livestream, 91.3 SportFM