Preliminary Final WAFL PreviewFriday, September 15, 2023 - 11:27 AM - by Chris Pike

THERE is one position left in the WAFL Grand Final for 2023 and it's going to be either Subiaco or Peel Thunder who books in their place to battle East Fremantle after Sunday's preliminary final.

East Fremantle became the first team into the WAFL Grand Final for 2023 by beating Peel Thunder in a tightly contested second semi-final last Saturday at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

The Sharks now have the week off before attempting to win a first premiership since 1998 on Sunday September 24 at Optus Stadium.

What's now to be determined is who their opponent will be with Subiaco and Peel Thunder clashing in the preliminary final on Sunday at Mandurah's Lane Group Stadium in a rematch of the qualifying final at Leederville Oval two weeks ago.

Peel came back from a 29-point deficit early in the third quarter to win that game by 10 points before losing narrowly to East Fremantle in last week's second semi-final.

Subiaco was able to hit back with a commanding 39-point win against Claremont last Sunday in the first semi-final and now it will be the Lions and Thunder battling over a Grand Final spot in the fifth finals meeting between the two teams in the last eight years.

WAFL SEMI FINALS WRAP

COLTS

The Colts preliminary final on Sunday at Lane Group Stadium pits Perth up against East Fremantle with the game beginning at 9am.

Perth finished the home and away season as the minor premiers and earned the week off to start the finals series, but the Demons lost a second semi-final last week to Claremont by 30 points.

That means that the Tigers are the first team into the Colts Grand Final for 2023 with the week off while Perth will now play East Fremantle in the preliminary final on Sunday morning in Mandurah.

While the Demons are attempting to bounce back from that loss last week, East Fremantle hit back last Saturday defeating Subiaco by nine points in the first semi-final having lost to Claremont the week prior by 13 points in the qualifying final.

RESERVES

West Perth and Subiaco lock horns in Sunday's Reserves preliminary final at Lane Group Stadium with Swan Districts awaiting them in next Sunday's Grand Final.

The Reserves finals series began two weeks ago with Swan Districts beating Subiaco by 23 points in the qualifying final while East Fremantle knocked out Claremont with the 13-point elimination final victory.

That set up Swans to take on the minor premier West Perth in last week's second semi-final and it was the black-and-whites who prevailed by 26 points against the Falcons to be the first team into the Reserves Grand Final for 2023.

Subiaco kept its season alive as well by beating East Fremantle by 15 points in the first semi-final at Fremantle Community Bank Oval last Saturday.

That sets the stage now for this Sunday's preliminary final between West Perth and Subiaco with a spot against Swan Districts in the Grand Final on the line.

PRELIMINARY FINAL
SUBIACO v PEEL THUNDER – SUNDAY 2.10PM

Peel Thunder and Subiaco resume their finals rivalry on Sunday at Mandurah's Lane Group Stadium with a spot in the Grand Final against East Fremantle up for grabs.

Peel and Subiaco are no strangers to playing one another in finals but Sunday's clash will be the first time they have met in a preliminary final, and also the first time that they will have played a final in Mandurah.

Sunday's preliminary final will see the winner advance to play East Fremantle in next Sunday's Grand Final at Optus Stadium while the season is over for the loser.

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The two teams only met two weeks ago in the qualifying final at Leederville Oval after Subiaco finished the home and away season in second position and Peel was third.

Both teams ended up on 12-6 records and were only separated by 1.41 per cent over the course of the 18 games so precious little separated them. All signs are pointing to another tight affair with a Grand Final spot on the line come Sunday.

In that qualifying final a fortnight ago, Subiaco opened up a 28-point lead by half-time and led by as much as 29 points early in the third quarter before Peel got firing with the next six goals of the term.

The Thunder would end up winning 12.12 (84) to 10.14 (74) with Jack Sears kicking a career-best four goals with Ben Middleton and Josh Corbett adding two each.

Will Brodie racked up 28 possessions, Blair Bell 24, Ben Hancock 20, Karl Worner 18 and Michael Sellwood 18.

Ben Sokol kicked three last quarter goals for Subiaco with Max Walters and Jack Mayo adding two apiece while Stefan Giro had 26 disposals and Liam Hickmott 25.

Following that last week, Peel came home strongly in the second semi-final against East Fremantle but came up five points short at Fremantle Community Bank Oval to miss out on a chance to move straight into the Grand Final.

Subiaco, meanwhile, produced an impressive and dominant performance to beat Claremont by 39 points even though it was just a six-point ball game by three quarter-time.

Those results mean that Peel has the right to host this Sunday's preliminary final looking to reach a first Grand Final since the back-to-back premierships of 2016 and 2017 – both which saw them defeat Subiaco in the Grand Finals.

Subiaco is looking to get back to the Grand Final for the first time since 2021 which would make it 15 visits to the big day in the past 20 years with the Lions trying to win a 10th premiership in that time – to go with triumphs in 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019 and 2021.

Sunday's game will be the fifth time that the Thunder and Lions have met in a final but the first time both in Mandurah and in a preliminary final.

The first finals meeting was the Grand Final of 2016 with Peel prevailing by 23 points on the way to making history with the club's first premiership since joining the WAFL competition in 1997.

They did it all again a year later firstly in the second semi-final with Peel beating Subiaco by 24 points at Leederville Oval, and two weeks later winning by 16 points in the Grand Final to make it back-to-back premierships.

Since then, Peel hadn’t played finals again up until last year before bowing out with a first semi-final loss to Claremont and now making it back this year to be in their first preliminary final since beating South Fremantle in 2016.

Subiaco hit back from those back-to-back Grand Final losses to Peel by winning premierships in 2018, 2019 and 2021, and now will be looking for a chance to have a crack at East Fremantle next week to try and win a fourth flag in the past six seasons.

Subiaco will need to turnaround finals history, though, with Peel having won all four of the finals meetings between the two teams so far even though during the home and away season since 1997, the Lions have won 53 of the 63 meetings between the two clubs.