WAFL Grand Final Preview – East Perth v SubiacoSaturday, September 20, 2014 - 2:49 PM - by Chris Pike

EAST Perth and Subiaco have shared a home ground for more than a decade now but will face off in a grand final for the first time since 1959 with the Royals and Lions set for a strong battle between the two standout teams of 2014.

Either side retains the right to make a late change and that remains a possibility especially with the storms predicted for Sunday so it wouldn’t be a huge surprise, but right now East Perth will go into the grand final with the same 22 that won the second semi-final against Subiaco by 32 points.

Subiaco meanwhile had three key players missing from its side that beat East Fremantle in last Sunday's preliminary final and captain Kyal Horsley, full-forward Matt Boland and half-forward George Hampson have all been named to come in for the grand final.

Young defender Dylan Elliott was a natural to make way for the returning stars with the inclusion of Boland to the forward-line meaning that Clancy Wheeler will head back to the defence and take the spot of Elliott.

However, making room for Horsley and Hampson to return created some headaches for the Subiaco match committee but in the end it was exciting, emerging talents Justin Joyce and Kyle Halligan who will make way.

The positive for those two is that they will go back and play in the reserves grand final that will see Subiaco take on West Perth. The colts grand final will feature Swan Districts playing Claremont.

East Perth won 16 of 20 games this season to finish two games and percentage clear on top of the ladder to be minor premiers for the first time since 2002.

That just happened to be East Perth's last premiership year and the Royals do have the experience of having made last year's grand final to West Perth to draw upon.

That 2002 premiership capped off a hat-trick of flags for East Perth as well but the Royals had not won a flag since 1978 until 2000. East Perth has won 17 premierships in its history but only lose three since 1978 and none now since 2012.

The Royals have been losing grand finalists on 16 occasions including last year to West Perth but not before that since losing a thriller to Claremont in 1996.

Subiaco might have only won 11 premierships in his 118-year history but seven of those have come since 1973 when the Lions broke a 49-year drought.

The Lions then won two flags in three years in 1986 and 1988 before another 16 years passed until the 2004 which was quickly followed up by their first ever hat-trick between 2006 and 2008.

Subiaco has also lost 13 grand finals including most recently in 2011 to Claremont, 2009 to South Fremantle and 2003 to West Perth. 

Subiaco and East Perth have only ever played in two grand finals previously with the Royals winning on both occasions – by 50 points in 1926 and by 23 in 1959.

Two of East Perth's losses this season came at the hands of Subiaco with the Lions the only team to have not tasted defeat against the Royals in the competition in 2014 until the second semi-final.

The first meeting was back on Good Friday and was a fascinating contest with Subiaco kicking the first six goals of the game before East Perth hit back to hold a 15-point three quarter-time advantage. The Lions hit back, though, with the only six goals of the final quarter to win by 24 points.

Then in Round 19, Subiaco again opened up a handy advantage early in the contest and then went on to lead all afternoon to win by 28 points.

The second semi-final was then the first time that the two teams have met in a final since becoming co-tenants at Medibank Stadium, and at the Leederville venue it was East Perth who kicked the only four goals of the first quarter and was in control from there ending up winning by 32 points.

Subiaco then had to bounce back in the preliminary final back at Medibank Stadium against East Fremantle, and the job for the Lions was made all the tougher when Horsley and Boland were late withdrawals joining Hampson on the sidelines.

East Fremantle then had more possessions, inside 50s and shots on goal, but Subiaco never gave in, withstood what the Sharks' threw at them and took their chances at crucial moments to come away with a brave five-point win to set up the grand final clash with East Perth.

Both teams were the standout sides of the entire season with East Perth's defence the best in the competition conceding just 72 points a game while Subiaco gave up 79 points a match.

Over the course of the season, Subiaco has been the highest-scoring team in the competition averaging right on 100 points a game, but East Perth only scored 27 points fewer throughout the 20 matches.

East Perth did have a slightly indifferent start to the season opening up with three wins but then lost to West Perth and Subiaco in successive games to hold just a 3-2 record.

However, the Royals then went on a winning streak of 10 matches to all but sew up the minor premiership before losing to Subiaco in Round 19, then winning three more games and then going down narrowly to the on-fire Claremont last Saturday in the final round.

Subiaco, meanwhile, opened up the season with five straight wins before a first loss at the hands of Swan Districts in Round 7.

Following that, Subiaco beat Perth but then suffered losses to West Perth and Claremont to have its season teetering a little. However, following a Round 13 loss to East Fremantle, the Lions went on a five-game winning streak to show their premiership credentials.

Both teams are full of outstanding talents as well, some young and some old, some having tasted premiership success before and most who haven’t, and of course East Perth with AFL-listed players.

While East Perth's team will feature Blayne Wilson, Ashley Smith, Sam Butler, Patrick McGinnity, Callum Sinclair, Fraser McInnes, Josh Hill, Dom Sheed, Adam Carter, Jacob Brennan and Brant Colledge, all have spent the majority of the season with the Royals.

East Perth then features a side including co-captains Craig Wulff and Brendan Lee including loyal servants Nathan Blee, Kyle Anderson, Dean Cadwallader, Steven Payne, Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls and Freddie Clutterbuck who desperately want to taste WAFL premiership glory.

Cadwallader, Payne, Anderson, Lee, Wulff, Smith, Oakley-Nicholls, Johnson, Wilson and Mitch Fraser all played in last year's losing grand final for East Perth while no one in the side has played in a WAFL premiership but Butler has in the AFL with West Coast, and Paul Johnson and Josh Smith have in the VFL.

Subiaco's team does still feature some premiership experience but not much with 210-game full-back Darren Rumble having played in the 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008 flags and now looking to become the first Lions player to ever take part in five premierships.

Wingman Shaun Hildebrandt played in the 2007 and 2008 premierships as well and Horsley in the 2008 flag while Wayde Twomey is a 2010 premiership player from Subiaco.

Subiaco lost to Claremont in 2011 and Rumble, Brad Stevenson, Scott Worthington, Horsley, Chris Phelan, Wheeler, Jason Bristow, Brett Mahoney and Hampson were all there that day.

LEAGUE GRAND FINAL: EAST PERTH v SUBIACO – PATERSONS STADIUM, SUNDAY 2.15PM
Selected teams
Grand final entertainment
Broadcast details
Rumble shoots for historic fifth flag with Subiaco
Cadwallader crucial to East Perth's premiership chances
Twomey excited to be in another grand final in first year at Subiaco
Successful Dawson focuses on winning flag for his Royals players

Wulff focused on trying to win flag before deciding future

RESERVES GRAND FINAL: SUBIACO v WEST PERTH – PATERSONS STADIUM, SUNDAY 11.15AM
Selected teams
Preview

COLTS GRAND FINAL: SWAN DISTRICTS v CLAREMONT – PATERSONS STADIUM, SUNDAY 8.30AM
Selected teams
Preview