Round 15 Optus WAFLW PreviewFriday, June 11, 2021 - 1:03 PM - by Chris Pike

THIS weekend is the final round of the WAFLW season with East Fremantle and South Fremantle trying to finish off on a high while all interest is on what Subiaco and Claremont do in the battle over third position.

Coming into the final round of the 2021 Optus WAFLW Premiership Season, the top two and bottom two positions are locked away and can't change no matter what happens, but that's anything but the case for the third and fourth positions.

That means that Swan Districts and Peel Thunder are already locked into the top two spots on the WAFLW ladder meaning that next week they will be playing in the second semi-final at Steel Blue Oval with a Grand Final spot on the line.

East Fremantle and South Fremantle are also locked into the bottom two spots out of finals contention and neither the Sharks nor Bulldogs can do anything to change that even with wins in the last round.

However, coming into the last round while Claremont and Subiaco are locked into play one another next week in the first semi-final, who gets hosting rights for that clash goes on the line this weekend.

Round 15 in the Optus WAFLW Premiership Season begins on Saturday afternoon with Subiaco playing host to East Fremantle at Leederville Oval.

There had been a chance this game could have been for fourth place had Subiaco lost last week, but the Lions managed to defeat Claremont by a point and that was enough to secure their finals position.

The Sharks are coming off a derby win against South Fremantle but that wasn’t enough to keep their finals prospects alive on the back of winning the 2019 premiership and then reaching the 2020 preliminary final.

Subiaco must win this game to be any chance of finishing in third position and then earning the hosting rights to next week's first semi-final against Claremont. 

Due to percentage, Subiaco then needs to hope Claremont also loses to Peel if the Lions want to leapfrog the Tigers into third spot to earn home ground advantage for that cut-throat final.

Subiaco struggled in the first half of the season but have found some impressive form lately to lock in a finals spot and now have that chance of finishing third to get a home final after the win against Claremont last week.

From that Subiaco team that beat Claremont last week, Taylisha Brown, Dahna Lee, Sara Mohamed and Sarah Walters have been added to the Lions' extended squad.

East Fremantle might not have finals to play for, but upsetting Subiaco and ending their third place hopes, and ending their own season on a winning note is sure to be enough motivation to spur on the Sharks.

From the East Fremantle team that beat South Fremantle last Saturday, Lauren O'Connor, Gabby Radojkovich and Kate Reid coming into the Sharks team to take on the Lions.

Doma Fedele, Gabby O'Sullivan and Elle Sanders go out for East Fremantle.

The other two Round 15 WAFLW matches take place on Sunday afternoon with Claremont taking on Peel Thunder at Claremont's Revo Fitness Stadium.

Peel comes into the game already locked into second position as they gear up for their premiership defence, and the Thunder are coming into this game on a high having beaten Swan Districts by 21 points last week gearing up for the second semi-final battle between those two teams.

Claremont now comes into this game against Peel needing to win or they face the prospect of losing third position and dropping to fourth and missing out on the chance of playing host to Subiaco in next week's first semi-final.

Claremont lost to Subiaco by a point last week and that set up the race for hosting rights to the cut-throat final, but all the Tigers need to do is beat Peel at home on Sunday and they will be locked into that third position just because of their vastly superior percentage.

But a loss for the Tigers and suddenly their fate is out of their hand and if Subiaco beats East Fremantle, the Lions will replace them in third spot for the end of the home and away season.

From the Claremont team that lost to Subiaco by a point last week, Adele Arnup, Hayley Colvin, Sophie McDonald and Kate Orme are the inclusions for the Tigers.

Katherine Bennett, Emily Bennett, Andie Payne and Julia Uhe go out at the same time for Claremont.

There are a couple of changes at Peel from the side that beat Swan Districts last week with Hannah Church and Greta McKinley coming into the team at the expense of Sabreena Duffy and Demi Liddle.

The final game of the home and away season in the WAFLW competition then takes place on Sunday afternoon at Fremantle Community Bank Oval with a top against bottom contest.

Neither team can move from where they are with the winless South Fremantle playing host to a Swan Districts team who has already locked in the minor premiership even after suffering their first loss of the season last week.

Coming into this last game of the 2021 season, South Fremantle remains winless in their two seasons in the WAFLW competition and it would be quite the upset if they knocked off the minor premiers to change that come Sunday afternoon.

Swan Districts has already locked in top position and the minor premiership along with the rights to host next week's second semi-final against Peel Thunder with a Grand Final spot at stake.

Despite all of that locked in no matter what happens with Swans at Fremantle Community Bank Oval on Sunday, the black-and-whites will not under any circumstances want to head into the finals on the back of successive losses.

After winning their opening 13 matches of the 2021 WAFLW seasons after reaching the Grand Final of 2019 and first semi-final of 2020, Swan Districts fell to Peel Thunder by 21 points last week.

Swans will now be determined to bounce back and enter the finals on a winning note while it would be the ultimate high for South Fremantle to finish their second season in the competition by beating the minor premiership at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

From the Swan Districts team that lost to Peel last week, Nyra Anderson, Naomi Baker, Renee Holwill, Shannan Rene, Tara Stribley and Hope Ugle-Hayward come into the squad for Sunday's game.

Stephanie Cain, Melisha Hardy, Brianna Hyde, Emma Nanut, Bianca Webb and Danielle Wright go out for the Swans.

From the South Fremantle team that lost to East Fremantle in the derby last week, Nikita Hart, Nakita Little, Melissa Silcock and Kiara Templeman have been added to the squad.

The two teams first met this season back in Round 2 with Swan Districts winning 8.11 (59) to 1.0 (6) at Fremantle Community Bank Oval. They then met again in Round 9 and this time Swans beat the Bulldogs 6.2 (38) to 0.1 (1) at Steel Blue Oval.

Meanwhile in Round 15 of the Rogers Cup competition, Subiaco plays East Fremantle on Saturday at Leederville Oval. Then on Sunday, Claremont plays East Perth at Revo Fitness Stadium, and South Fremantle takes on Swan Districts at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

OPTUS WAFLW PREMIERSHIP SEASON – ROUND 15

SUBIACO v EAST FREMANTLE – LEEDERVILLE OVAL, SATURDAY 3.00PM

CLAREMONT v PEEL THUNDER – REVO FITNESS STADIUM, SUNDAY 12.05PM

SOUTH FREMANTLE v SWAN DISTRICTS – FREMANTLE COMMUNITY BANK OVAL, SUNDAY 2.00PM