WAFL Semi Finals PreviewFriday, September 6, 2013 - 2:15 PM - by Chris Pike

CLAREMONT and West Perth play off for a grand final berth in Sunday's second semi-final while Swan Districts and East Perth do battle in the first semi just to stay alive at least another week in 2013.

Claremont and West Perth plays one another at Claremont Oval on Sunday with the winner into the grand final and loser to host the preliminary final the following week.

Swan Districts also hosts East Perth at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval with the winner to go into the preliminary final and the loser to start preparations for Mad Monday.

Meanwhile in the reserves, Perth plays South Fremantle in the second semi-final at Steel Blue Oval while East Perth plays West Perth in the first semi at Claremont Oval. Both matches start at 9.05am.

And in the colts, Claremont takes on South Fremantle at Claremont Oval in the second semi-final and then in the first semi, Perth plays Subiaco at Steel Blue Oval. Both those matches begin at 11.35am.

SECOND SEMI-FINAL: CLAREMONT (17-3, 1st) v WEST PERTH (13-7, 2nd) – CLAREMONT OVAL, SUNDAY 2.15PM
Selected teams

Claremont has played in six WAFL grand finals since West Perth won the 2003 premiership with the Tigers looking to qualify for a fourth straight premiership decider hosting the Falcons on Sunday.

The second semi-final takes place on Sunday afternoon at Claremont Oval, the fifth time the second semi has been at Tigerland in the last seven years, as the Tigers and Falcons do battle over a grand final berth in 2013.

Claremont and West Perth have been the two standout teams in the WAFL all season long occupying the top-two positions for most of the year, and it's deserving that it is the Tigers and Falcons fighting over being the first team into the grand final for 2013.

Claremont has won its last five games over West Perth dating back to the Falcons' last win which came by a goal in Round 16, 2011.

Claremont bounced back to win the 2011 second semi-final by a massive 85 points and then the Tigers won the two meetings in 2012 by 45 and 119 points respectively, and by 19 and 21 in the two clashes of 2013.

However, the Falcons have answered most challenges during 2013, have a good blend of youth and experience, and will be confident of throwing everything at winning the club's first final since that 2003 premiership winning side.

Beating Claremont in a second semi-final at Claremont Oval, though, is something that West Perth will have to make history to do.

Claremont beat Subiaco in the 2007 second semi by 15 points and then in 2010, beat Swan Districts by 50 points, beat West Perth by 85 in 2011 and then also beat Swans by 32 last year.

So the Tigers have won all four of their previous second semis at home by an average of over 45 points. The other final played at Claremont Oval was the 2006 first semi-final and that was also against West Perth with Claremont winning by a thumping 86 points.

West Perth might have lost all six of its finals since 2003, but the Falcons team is a vastly different one and has also been playing to a different game plan this year which has proved successful through the home and away season.

While the Falcons still have experienced 100-plus game players Andrew Strijk, Dan Hunt, Ray Bartholomew, Matt Guadagnin, Chris Keunen and Jason Salecic in their side, the improvement this year has come with the youngsters.

Shane Nelson and Aaron Black have emerged as two of the best midfielders in the WAFL while Kody Manning and Marc Crisp have stepped up in the forward-line, Nick Rodda at both ends of the ground and recruits from the last two years Trent Manzone, Jordan Jones, Shaun Marusic, Matt Fowler and Rohan Kerr are now crucial players in the Falcons team as well.

Claremont doesn’t have a team in the reserves this year after they've won the last three premierships meaning that there is nowhere for players to drop back if not selected in the league side, or for them to find form or fitness either.

The Tigers haven’t named anyone out at this stage from the team that lost to East Fremantle last Saturday, and will be without any AFL-listed players on Sunday but captain Andrew Browne looks set to be fit to play.

Hugo Breakey, Matthew Goyder and Keifer Yu are three young players at Claremont trying desperately to push their way into the final 22 as well.

West Perth's reserves did qualify for finals, though, and that could prove crucial with key defensive pair Michael Pettigrew and Luke Tedesco likely to try to play at least some minutes in the reserves first semi-final against East Perth on Sunday morning.

Important pair Laine Rasmussen (if not picked in the league side) and Matt Johnson might also get another crucial run under their belts in the reserves after injury layoffs.

The Falcons also have not named anyone out from the side that lost to Swan Districts last Saturday but Fremantle's Josh Mellington will be a natural inclusion with Joe Morrow, Rasmussen and Frank Stockley pushing for inclusion.

FIRST SEMI-FINAL: SWAN DISTRICTS (12-8, 3rd) v EAST PERTH (12-8, 4th) – STEEL BLUE OVAL, SUNDAY 2.15PM
Selected teams

Swan Districts and East Perth have every reason to think that they have teams capable of winning a premiership heading into the 2013 finals, but only one will still be alive on Sunday night.

Swans finished the home and away season in third position only percentage ahead of the Royals to qualify to host the first semi-final at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval on Sunday.

It will be the fourth final that Swans have hosted at Steel Blue Oval and they have won two of the previous three starting with a 37-point first semi-final victory over West Perth in 2009.

Swans then also beat East Perth in the 2010 preliminary final by 38 points but lost in last year's preliminary final to East Fremantle by 27 points.

The crowds have been terrific at all three of those games as well with 11,251 watching Swans and the Royals play in 2010, 5342 turn out for last year's preliminary final and then 5150 turn up for the first semi in 2009.

Finals in history between Swan Districts and East Perth have been rare, but this will be the fifth first semi-final between them. East Perth has won three of those – 1937, 1938 and 1992 with Swans' one first semi win coming in front of 31,462 at Patersons Stadium in 1963.

There has only ever been one grand final between Swans and the Royals with the black-and-whites winning by 24 points in 1961.

The Swan Districts and East Perth teams of 2013 have met just the twice during the home and away season with the Royals winning at Steel Blue Oval in Round 9 by six points and also by 12 points at Leederville's Medibank Stadium in Round 18.

Another intriguing factor in Sunday's clash is that sees Brian Dawson coach East Perth in his first final up against the team that he coached to the 2010 premiership.

Dawson coached Swans to their previous finals wins at Steel Blue Oval as well in 2009 and 2010 so he has never coached in a losing final at Bassendean, and also guided the Royals to a win at that ground earlier this season on his first visit as an opposition coach.

East Perth possesses the only true big power forward in the WAFL in Josh Smith who won the Bernie Naylor Medal after kicking 62 goals for the season, but Swan Districts could have just pulled off a potential trump card to help offset the Royals having Smith.

Ashley Hansen could very well end up playing at full-forward for Swan Districts despite having spent all of 2013 in Melbourne working in a development coaching role with the Western Bulldogs.

Hansen's last game with Swan Districts was last year's losing preliminary final but he has kicked 284 goals in his 99 WAFL games and could very well be a huge inclusion for Swans. Not to mention that by playing he will also reach 100 games with the black-and-whites.

On top of Hansen being named as an inclusion for Swan Districts, retired 250-game West Coast veteran Andrew Embley is back as is premiership star Justin Simpson to strengthen the defence. Nathan Blakely and Jarrad Blight are also in the mix if required.

East Perth has some massive inclusions as well headlined by West Coast big man Scott Lycett, retired Eagle Adam Selwood, West Coast defender Blayne Wilson and running Eagle Jamie Cripps.

Wingman Freddie Clutterbuck had played 60 straight games for East Perth before missing last Saturday's win over Subiaco but he should also be back for the first semi-final with Cameron Grover pressing for inclusion as well.

At this stage, youngsters Ashley Boyes and Callum Hart are the two players to lose their place in the East Perth line-up from last week.