WAFL Preliminary Final WrapSunday, September 17, 2023 - 7:00 PM - by Chris Pike

PEEL Thunder maintained its perfect record in finals against Subiaco with a commanding preliminary final performance on Sunday to book in a WAFL Grand Final against East Fremantle with the 24-point win on Sunday.

Peel and Subiaco did battle at Mandurah's Lane Group Stadium on Sunday in the preliminary final with a spot in the Grand Final on the line against East Fremantle next Sunday at Optus Stadium.

The two teams had met two weeks earlier in the qualifying final with Peel winning by 10 points having trailed by 29 points early in the third quarter.

The Thunder then started strongly on Sunday on home turf with the first four goals of the preliminary final to set up the eventual 11.11 (77) to 7.11 (53) victory to now make it five wins from five finals match ups that Peel has had with Subiaco in the past eight seasons.

COLTS

Preliminary final day at Lane Group Stadium began with the Colts contest with Perth defeating East Fremantle 13.8 (86) to 6.6 (42) to set up a Grand Final match up with Claremont next Sunday.

Perth had finished the home and away season as the minor premiers but lost to Claremont in the second semi-final leaving the Demons to take on the Sharks in the preliminary final for a place in the Grand Final.

The Sharks started well with two goals to one in the first quarter but the Demons outscored them 12 goals to four the rest of the way to win by 44 points and set up a Grand Final with Claremont featuring the top two teams all season.

Cooper Moore, Al Al-Shuweli, Connor McDonald, Noah Cachard and Michael Hall all kicked two goals each for Perth with Kalib Dempster-Park picking up 22 possessions, Cachard 21, Tomas Waite 17 and McDonald 17.

Griffin Vladich kicked two goals for East Fremantle with James Spadanuda gathering 22 disposals, Chadd Dunscombe 18, Mitch Zadow 18 and Phoenix Knight 17.

RESERVES

The Reserves preliminary final saw West Perth defeat Subiaco 14.4 (88) to 7.9 (51) to book a place in next Sunday's Grand Final against Swan Districts.

West Perth finished the season on top of the ladder in the Reserves to earn the week off to start the finals series, but then went down to Swan Districts in the second semi-final while Subiaco had won through beating East Fremantle in the first semi-final.

That set up Sunday's match up and West Perth started on fire with six goals to one in the first quarter and from there went on to win by 37 points and set up another battle with Swan Districts with the premiership at stake next Sunday at Optus Stadium.

Logan Foley kicked four goals for West Perth, Zak Patterson three, Corey Rundle three and Zarne Robis two.

Griffith Julian collected 26 touches for the Falcons, Callum Johnson 21, Kane Bevan 21 and AFL and WAFL premiership midfielder Mark Hutchings 19 to go with eight tackles.

Keeshawn Cook and Campbell Henderson kicked two goals apiece for Subiaco with Noah Ash collecting 16 disposals, Jaxon McGowan 16 and Oskar Matthews 14 to go with 27 hit outs.

WAFL PREMIERSHIP SEASON – FINALS SERIES

PRELIMINARY FINAL – PEEL THUNDER 11.11 (77) defeated SUBIACO 7.11 (53)

Peel Thunder has booked its place in a third WAFL Grand Final to take on East Fremantle next Sunday after a complete preliminary final performance to beat Subiaco by 24 points.

East Fremantle had already booked its place in the WAFL Grand Final for 2023 next Sunday at Optus Stadium by beating the Thunder in a hotly contested second semi-final last Saturday by just five points.

Peel was able to set up a rematch with the Sharks now next Sunday after leading from start to finish in the preliminary final against Subiaco at Mandurah's Lane Group Stadium to end up prevailing 11.11 (77) to 7.11 (53) in front of a crowd of 3798.

It provides Peel with the chance to win a third premiership in the club's history and a first since 2017 while East Fremantle is attempting to end its drought that stretches back to 1998.

Peel kicked the first four goals of the game to set up the eventual 24-point win in the preliminary final with emerging local forward Ben Middleton ending up with three goals from 10 kicks and five marks.

Jack Sears, Josh Corbett and Brody Wemm all added two goals apiece as well for the Thunder, but it was their back-line that was especially outstanding.

Hugh Davies restricted Ben Sokol to one behind and four kicks with Jacob Blight keeping Luker Kentfield to five kicks and no score while having 19 touches and nine marks himself.

Joel Hamling was brilliant with 15 possessions and nine marks while holding Ryan Borchet to five kicks and two goals.

Karl Worner provided great run out of the back-line for the Thunder with 21 possessions and 10 marks with Nathan Wilson finishing with 19 disposals and six marks.

Will Brodie was terrific in the middle again with 24 possessions and eight tackles while Corey Wagner had 21 disposals, Blair Bell 18 and Brady Grey 17.

It was a tough way for the season to finish for Subiaco with Liam Hickmott racking up another 24 possessions, Leigh Kitchin 19, Galen Savigni 17, Taj Schofield 16, Stefan Giro 16 and Jordan Lockyer 16.

Peel opened the preliminary final with the advantage of the Mandurah breeze and it took less than three minutes for Ben Middleton to kick the first goal of the afternoon.

A few minutes later and the hero of the qualifying final, Jack Sears, did well to outmark Angus Dewar and kick truly. He added another at the 14-minute mark and then a minute later Traye Bennell kicked truly and it was a stunning start from the home team.

Subiaco did hit back with a couple of goals into the breeze and against the momentum through Wil Hickmott and then after a free-kick to Leigh Kitchin.

Peel, though, finished the first term with a late goal to Josh Corbett to head into the first break leading by 21 points.

Subiaco picked up the advantage of the breeze in the second quarter and while they were able to work into the game better around the ground, and spent a lot of the term attacking, the Lions couldn’t put it on the scoreboard.

The only goal came with a long bomb from the returning Taj Schofield at the nine-minute mark, but still by half-time Peel was in control having limited the damage to lead by 13 points.

It then took less than a minute for Peel to add the first goal of the second half through Brody Wemm. Josh Corbett added another soon after and then Middleton kicked his second, and Wemm his second.

Ryan Borchet did escape the clutches of Joel Hamling to keep Subiaco somewhat in touch, but four goals to one in the quarter from Peel meant they had a commanding 33-point lead by three quarter-time.

The only way Subiaco would be a chance was by throwing caution to the wind in the last term and while coach Beau Wardman tried some things by throwing Dewar forwards, Koltyn Tholstrup onto the wing and Schofield into the middle, it had little impact.

By the time Tom Emmett ran into goal for the Thunder at the 15-minute mark, the home team was up by 38 points and would end up 24-point victors to move their way into a third Grand Final in the club's history.