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Grand Final WAFLW PreviewFriday, July 14, 2023 - 1:33 PM - by Chris Pike
IT is the WAFLW Grand Final that this season was crying out for and it takes place on Saturday afternoon when Claremont plays East Fremantle at Mineral Resources Park with the premiership on the line.
It would have made for a heartwarming story if South Fremantle's emergence this year saw them make the Grand Final and it would have been a stirring run from Swan Districts to get there after losing the first four matches.
So it's nothing against the other teams that did make the finals at the end of the 2023 WAFLW season, but after the drama that saw Claremont beat East Fremantle in the 2022 Grand Final, it's only fitting that they get to run it through once more in a rematch this year.
Claremont stunned East Fremantle in that Grand Final 12 months ago to win the premiership and hasn't lost a game since to book in another spot in the decider. East Fremantle had to get back to the Grand Final the hard way, but now have earned the ultimate shot at redemption.
The WAFLW Grand Final for 2023 takes place on Saturday afternoon from 2.45pm at Lathlain's Mineral Resources Park.
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The WAFLW Grand Final isn’t the only big game on Saturday at Mineral Resources Park, though, with West Perth playing South Fremantle in the Rogers Cup Youth Girls Grand Final that begins at 12.10pm.
West Perth put together the perfect home and away season in the Rogers Cup winning all 14 matches by an average of 29.9 points before then beating South Fremantle in the second semi-final by 39 points.
That saw the Falcons move straight into this Saturday's Grand Final before South Fremantle beat Claremont in last Sunday's preliminary final by eight points to earn another shot at handing West Perth a first loss in 2023 in the decider at Mineral Resources Park.
WAFLW SEASON 2023 - TEAM BY TEAM REVIEW
GRAND FINAL: CLAREMONT v EAST FREMANTLE – SATURDAY 2.45PM
Claremont has the shot at back-to-back premierships and East Fremantle has earned the shot at redemption to set up the most tantalising of WAFLW Grand Finals this Saturday at Mineral Resources Park.
The stage couldn’t be set better for the 2023 WAFLW premiership decider to be won this Saturday at Lathlain with the Tigers taking on the Sharks.
You only have to go back to last year when the drama all began. East Fremantle went through the season undefeated and then beat Claremont in a hard fought second semi-final to move straight into the Grand Final.
However, in that Grand Final the Tigers were able to pull off the stunning upset to hand the Sharks their first loss of the season just when it mattered most to claim the premiership.
Now since then, it's Claremont's turn to come into the Grand Final this year as the team not having lost a game all season. The Tigers won 13 games and had one draw, ironically with East Fremantle, in 2023 before winning straight into the Grand Final with a second semi-final win over South Fremantle.
East Fremantle had to do it tougher to make the Grand Final winning against Swan Districts in the first semi-final and then South Fremantle in last Sunday's derby preliminary final at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.
But now, East Fremantle has the chance to earn redemption this Saturday and do something remarkably similar to Claremont what was done to them in 2022 while the Tigers will be throwing everything at securing back-to-back WAFLW premierships.
From that Grand Final last year, Tess Blackburn, Adele Arnup, Sarah Garstone, Kobi Nichols, Kate Orme, Rachel Ortlepp, Claire Ortlepp, Sarah Viney, Mackenzie Webb and Brooke Whyte will be backing up for Claremont trying to become back-to-back premiers this Saturday.
Beth Beckett, Laura Catherine, Taya Chambers, Doma Fedele, Zippy Fish, Ashleigh Gomes, Leanne Gubbins, Mylee Leitch, Hayley O'Donnell, Samara Pluschke, Anjelique Raison, Larissa Versaci and Sharon Wong remain from the East Fremantle team last year.
Since last year's Grand Final, the two teams met in two terrific match ups this season to set the stage for this Saturday's season decider.
It started with a Grand Final rematch in Round 1 which just happened to be played on neutral turf back at Joondalup's Pentanet Stadium with Claremont scoring the narrow 4.3 (27) to 2.9 (21) victory.
However, the Sharks did have four more scoring shots, 19 more possessions and six extra tackles in the game.
Jacinta Valentini kicked two goals from 14 possessions and six marks for Claremont with Claire Ortlepp picking up 19 possessions, Jayme Harken 17 and Kate Orme 16.
The goals from East Fremantle came from Gabby O'Sullivan and Anjelique Raison while Sharon Wong finished with 18 touches, Zippy Fish 17, Jae Flynn 16, Beth Beckett 15, O'Sullivan 15 and Leanne Gubbins 15.
The next match up took place under lights at the WACA Ground back in Round 10 and on that evening the two teams couldn't be split as they played out a draw with both finishing on 2.4 (16).
On that evening, Chloe Reilly and Raison kicked a goal each for East Fremantle with Beckett collecting 17 possessions and 13 tackles, and Georgie Cleaver 14 touches and 28 hit outs.
Claremont's goals came from Matilda Sergeant and Ella Slocombe with Sergeant gathering 18 disposals, Slocombe 17, Claire Ortlepp 17, Mackenzie Webb 16, Kobi Nichols 15 and Matilda Dyke 14 to go with 25 hit outs and nine tackles.