Semi Finals WAFL PreviewFriday, September 8, 2023 - 10:47 AM - by Chris Pike

BY Saturday evening one of East Fremantle or Peel Thunder will be the first team into the WAFL Grand Final for 2023 before Subiaco and Claremont fight to keep their seasons alive on Sunday.

It's semi-final weekend in the WAFL with the four teams left in the competition for 2023 all in action starting with a Grand Final spot on the line in Saturday's second semi-final before it's a cut-throat first semi-final on Sunday afternoon.

The finals began last weekend with Peel Thunder beating Subiaco in the qualifying final on Saturday before Claremont beat East Perth to keep its season alive and eliminate the Royals with both games taking place at Leederville Oval.

That sets the stage for semi-final weekend starting on Saturday with a Grand Final spot up for grabs with East Fremantle taking on Peel Thunder at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

The second semi-final match up will be the first time the Sharks and Thunder have both ever met in a WAFL finals clash and played one another at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

The winner will advance to the Grand Final on Sunday September 24 at Optus Stadium with the loser to host the preliminary final next weekend against the winner of the first semi-final.

Speaking of the first semi-final, that will take place on Sunday afternoon at Leederville Oval with Subiaco playing host to Claremont.

Subiaco will be attempting to bounce back from losing to Peel in last Saturday's qualifying final while Claremont will be out to keep the momentum going from last Sunday's elimination final victory against East Perth.

The winner out of the Lions-Tigers match up will advance to the preliminary final next weekend while the loser's season will be over.

WAFL TEAM OF THE YEAR 2023

WEEK 1 WAFL FINALS WRAP

COLTS

Week 2 of the Colts finals gets underway on Saturday morning at 9am at Fremantle Community Bank Oval with East Fremantle taking on Subiaco in the first semi-final.

Both teams put their seasons on the line with a preliminary final berth up for grabs with the Sharks fresh off a qualifying final loss to Claremont last Sunday while Subiaco booked in a spot in the first semi-final by beating West Perth by 37 points.

The second semi-final will then take place on Sunday also starting at 9am with Perth taking on Claremont in what should be a fascinating match up with a Grand Final spot on the line.

The two teams played off for top spot in the final round of the home and away season, but ended up playing out a draw with the Demons only finishing with the minor premiership ahead of the Tigers courtesy of percentage.

That saw Claremont have to play in a qualifying final last Sunday with the Tigers beating East Fremantle by 13 points to move into this Sunday's second semi-final battle with the Demons at Leederville Oval.

The winner will go straight into the Grand Final while the loser will play either East Fremantle or Subiaco in a preliminary final next weekend.

RESERVES

The semi-final weekend in the Reserves gets underway at 11.35am on Saturday with Subiaco and East Fremantle locking horns at Fremantle Community Bank Oval attempting to keep their seasons alive.

The first semi-final will see Subiaco attempt to bounce back to last week's 23-point defeat at the hands of Swan Districts in the qualifying final while East Fremantle stayed alive by beating Claremont by 13 points last Sunday in the elimination final.

That leads into the second semi-final on Sunday also at 11.35am at Leederville Oval with a Grand Final spot on the line with West Perth taking on Swan Districts.

West Perth earned the week off in the first week of the finals after claiming the minor premiership while Swan Districts advanced to the second semi-final after beating Subiaco last Saturday.

The winner will be the first team into the Grand Final for 2023 while the loser will play in a preliminary final next weekend against the winner of the first semi-final between Subiaco and East Fremantle.

SECOND SEMI-FINAL
EAST FREMANTLE v PEEL THUNDER – SATURDAY 2.10PM

The first team into the WAFL Grand Final for 2023 will be decided at Fremantle Community Bank Oval on Saturday afternoon with East Fremantle playing host to Peel Thunder.

The Sharks enter the finals series after earning the week off by finishing on top of the ladder as they now take on a Thunder team fresh off booking in their place in the second semi-final by beating Subiaco last week.

East Fremantle finished the home and away season two games and percentage clear on top of the ladder to win a first minor premiership since 1998 with the Sharks now attempting to win into a first Grand Final since 2012.

Peel, meanwhile, finished the season in third position before coming back from 29 points down early in the third quarter last Saturday to beat Subiaco by 10 points in the qualifying final to move to within one win of a first Grand Final appearance since the back-to-back premierships of 2016 and 2017.

MATCH-WINNING SEARS HIGHLIGHTS PEEL'S LOCAL TALENT

JUPP AND SHARKS WITH EYES FIRMLY ON THE PRIZE

Saturday's game is the 64th time that East Fremantle and Peel have played one another in the WAFL, but it's the first on a number of fronts.

First of all, it's the first final they will have played against one another and it's just the second ever time they have been in finals in the same season.

The only other occasion was last year but the two teams didn’t meet with East Fremantle playing in a second semi-final and preliminary final, and Peel in an elimination final and first semi-final. 

Peel's other finals appearances have come in 2015, 2016 and 2017 but East Fremantle didn’t play in September after the 2014 preliminary final up until last year.

East Fremantle won the first nine games against Peel from 1997 up until the Thunder broke through in 2001 with those Sharks wins coming at an average of 59.3 points.

However, since then and the battles have been relatively even with East Fremantle winning 31 and Peel 23 of the last 54 clashes including having split each of the two games the past three seasons.

That included a win each against one another in 2023 starting back in Round 1 on Good Friday in Mandurah. 

East Fremantle controlled most of the game including leading by 21 points at three quarter-time, but the Thunder overran them with the only four goals of the last term to win by four points.

Sam Sturt, Brody Wemm, Josh Corbett and Neil Erasmus all kicked two goals for Peel with Will Brodie finishing with 37 disposals, Karl Worner 27, Michael Sellwood 21, Traye Bennell 20 and Corey Wagner 20.

Luke English kicked three goals for East Fremantle with Brayden Lawler, Eddie Simpson and Tom Bennett adding two apiece while Milan Murdock had 29 touches, Kyle Baskerville 25, Cam Eardley 24, Reuben McGuire 21, Josh Schoenfeld 21, Harry Marsh 21 and Fraser Turner 20.

The return clash was Round 14 in Geraldton where East Fremantle scored the 19-point victory with Ben McGuire and Jonathon Marsh kicking two goals each with Harry Marsh delivering 32 touches, Baskerville 27, Eardley 26, Turner 26, Bennett 21, Jackson McDonald 21 and Jack Cleaver 21.

Wemm kicked three goals for the Thunder, Corbett two and Ben Middleton two with Blair Bell finishing with 24 touches, Clay Hall 23, Jacob Blight 22, Ben Hancock 20 and James Sturrock 18.

Changes are minimal for both teams coming into the second semi-final and after the week off, East Fremantle has elected to make just the two changes and they are two significant inclusions.

WAFL Team of the Year on-baller Milan Murdock returns for the Sharks after coming back in the reserves prior to the week off after missing the previous four matches with a shoulder complaint.

However, in the 10 full matches he played this season he averaged 27 possessions a game which saw him earn a place in the Team of the Year and he'll be a strong boost to the Sharks come finals time starting on Saturday.

The other player coming back for East Fremantle is Jonathon Marsh with the powerhouse forward returning after missing the last four matches of the season.

He started the season with suspension and then missed those last four matches so had an interrupted campaign, but in between showed what a match winner he can still be by kicking 20 goals in the 11 matches he did play.

While those two players are back for the Sharks, tall forward Dillon O'Reilly hasn’t made it back for the second semi-final while 138-game veteran Ryan Lester-Smith hasn’t been able to force his way into the team.

There's some hard luck stories too and none more so than defender Lennon Marlin. He has slotted into the East Fremantle team nicely in his 12 matches this season in what has likely been the most consistent run of his 57-game WAFL career.

However, he hasn’t been able to hold his spot for the second semi-final with the dynamic and hard running Chris Walker going out injured.

Meanwhile, Peel has elected to go into the second semi-final with the same group of 22 that they had to beat Subiaco in last Saturday's qualifying final.

That means Fremantle-listed AFL players Josh Corbett, Liam Reidy, Travis Colyer, Tom Emmett, Nathan O'Driscoll, Will Brodie, Corey Wagner, Hugh Davies, Nathan Wilson, Karl Worner and Joel Hamling remain in the Peel line-up.

The unlucky emergencies biding their time for a finals opportunity for Peel are Dockers pair Max Knobel and Conrad Williams, and local duo Haydn Matthews and Corey Tregenza.

 

FIRST SEMI-FINAL
SUBIACO v CLAREMONT – SUNDAY 2.10PM

Subiaco and Claremont both have premiership ambitions for 2023 but only one of them will still be alive this season after Sunday's first semi-final at Leederville Oval.

For a lot of the 2023 season the Lions and Tigers were both right in the hunt for at least a top two finish and to make a real run at the premiership.

Subiaco ended up finishing in second position to earn a home qualifying final before the Lions went on to be leading Peel Thunder by 29 points early in the third quarter.

However, the Lions couldn’t hold on to lose by 10 points and now need to win on Sunday at home to Claremont to earn the right to play in a preliminary final next weekend to keep hopes alive of a second premiership in the past three years.

ENGLAND THRIVING WITH CLAREMONT'S VERSATILE APPROACH

FOUR QUARTER EFFORT THE FOCUS FOR LIONS, HICKMOTT

Claremont was inside the top three for the majority of the season before a late four-game losing slide left the Tigers in fifth position and plenty of work to do to try and make a third Grand Final in the past four years, and to win a first premiership since 2012.

The Tigers did win a hard fought elimination final battle last Sunday against East Perth and now return to Leederville Oval needing to beat the Lions to keep their season alive.

Subiaco and Claremont are no strangers to playing finals against one another this century although Sunday's first semi-final will be their first September battle since the 2011 Grand Final which the Tigers prevailed in on the way to back-to-back premierships.

The two teams didn’t play in a final against one another for the first time until the first semi-final of 1964 and that is the only other first semi that they have played until Sunday. That was won by Claremont at Subiaco Oval.

It wasn’t until 1987 when they played in another final and they would play in both a second semi-final and Grand Final in both 1987 and 1988 splitting one premiership apiece over those two years.

They played in another double of the second semi and Grand Final in 1991, with Claremont prevailing and then it wasn’t until 2004 when they would meet in finals again.

That set off a run of them playing six finals between 2004 and 2011 against one another including the Grand Finals of 2004, 2007 and 2011. The Lions won both deciders in 2004 and 2007 while Claremont won in 2011, which remains the last final played between the two teams.

Overall, Claremont has won nine of the 13 finals against Subiaco while they have evenly split their Grand Finals with three wins apiece.

For Claremont coach Ashley Prescott, this will be the first time he's been in charge of a final for the Tigers against Subiaco since returning to the job. 

But going back to his first stint in charge and he coached Claremont to wins in the preliminary final of 2005 and second semi-final of 2007, but suffered losses in the second semi-final of 2004 and Grand Final two weeks later, and the 2007 Grand Final.

The two teams met twice during the home and away season in 2023 with a win apiece on their home grounds.

The first meeting was back in Round 3 at Leederville Oval with Subiaco beating Claremont by 24 points with Ryan Borchet kicking five goals and Ben Sokol four for the Lions.

Liam Hickmott picked up 24 touches, Drew Rohde 24, Taj Schofield 20, Galen Savigni 19 and Jaimon Alone 18.

Tyron Smallwood and Bailey Rogers kicked two goals each for Claremont with Callan England gathering 25 possessions, Lachlan Martinis 23, Ronin O'Connor 20, Teia Miles 19 and Jye Bolton a season low 11.

The return encounter was at Revo Fitness Stadium in Round 12 and on that occasion it was the Tigers scoring the seven-point victory.

Zac Mainwaring and Anthony Treacy kicked two goals each for Claremont with Bolton finishing with 25 disposals, Anthony Davis 20, Miles 19, England 18 and Ben Elliott 18.

Ben Golding, Max Walters and Schofield kicked two goals for Subiaco with Leigh Kitchin gathering 20 possessions, Liam Hickmott 20, Stefan Giro 20, Jaxon McGowan 19 and Schofield 19.

Perhaps the most fascinating matchup of Sunday's game will be in the ruck between Subiaco's Zac Clarke and Claremont's Oliver Eastland.

Both big men ended up being named to the WAFL Team of the Year and while Clarke took the starting ruck position in that side, it was actually Eastland who had the better of their battles throughout the season.

Back in Round 3, Eastland had 23 possessions, 33 hit outs, six marks, five tackles and four inside 50s while Clarke had 10 touches and 31 hit outs. Then in Round 12, Eastland finished with 11 disposals and 34 hit outs while Clarke ended up with seven possessions and 33 hit outs.

Subiaco has added five players to its squad that lost to Peel Thunder in last Saturday's qualifying final.

Taj Schofield will be a certain inclusion if he's declared fit to return while Rylie Morgan could come in to run with one of Claremont's prime movers, likely Jye Bolton or Bailey Rogers.

Jaimon Alone, Henry Berenger and Jacob Wagenknecht are then the other players added to the Lions squad with Jordan Snadden the only omission at this stage.

Claremont hasn’t named any outs at this stage coming out of last Sunday's elimination final win over East Perth but midfield pair Declan Mountford and Ronin O'Connor remain sidelined through injury.

Added to the squad for the Tigers are Ben Clarke, Coen Jackman, Anthony Treacy and Joel Western.

Each of them played in Sunday's reserves elimination final loss with Clarke having 17 touches and six marks, Jackman five kicks, four marks, four tackles and a goal, Treacy kicking three goals, and Western 27 possessions.