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McDonald's WAFL Grand Finals PreviewSaturday, September 26, 2015 - 1:35 PM - by Chris Pike

THE showcase day of any WAFL season is always Grand Final day at Domain Stadium and this Sunday it will be headlined by the premiers of the last two years, and the two best teams of 2015 Subiaco and West Perth doing battle for the premiership.

The monster day of grand final action at Domain Stadium will begin at 8.40am with the two best colts teams of recent years Claremont and Swan Districts locking horns for the first premiership to be decided for 2015.

Then in the reserves, a dominant South Fremantle takes on the team it last lost to Swan Districts with bounce down set for 11.20am.

The main event will then see the reigning premiers Subiaco take on the premiers of 2013 West Perth in the league grand final for 2015 with bounce down to take place at 2.30pm.

LEAGUE GRAND FINAL
SUBIACO (17-3, 1st) v WEST PERTH (13-7, 2nd) – DOMAIN STADIUM, SUNDAY 2.30PM
Selected teams 
Broadcast – Channel 7, 720 ABC Perth, 91.3 SportFM, KIX Digital, 882 6PR

Subiaco and West Perth have been the standout teams in the WAFL in 2015, have shared the last two premierships, have beaten one another throughout the season and all that points to a fascinating grand final on Sunday at Domain Stadium.

The 2015 premiership will be decided on Sunday afternoon with the Lions looking to back up winning the minor premiership as reigning premiers while the Falcons are striving for a second premiership in three years after ending the season in second spot after missing the finals in 2014 in defence of the 2013 flag.

Co-captain looks for Falcons to rise to occasion 

Horsley primed for grand final after toughest year of career 

Monaghan looks for improved Falcons no matter who ends up in final 22 

Subiaco's Brett Robinson in good place on and off field 

West Perth's Aaron Black PerthNow column 

Robinson excited for chance at second flag five years in the making 

The two teams might have finished first and second on the ladder at the end of the home and away season, but have since had vastly contrasting runs into the grand final on Sunday.

Subiaco ended up four games clear as minor premiers with a 17-3 record earning the Lions the break in the first week of the finals before hosting West Perth in the second semi-final at Medibank Stadium.

West Perth started strongly, but Subiaco ended up kicking 13 of the last 16 goals in a dominant display to win by 55 points and earn another week off to prepare for the grand final.

West Perth, meanwhile, finished second with a 13-7 record and hosted Peel Thunder in the qualifying final winning by 109 points at HBF Arena and then after the second semi-final loss to Subiaco, hosted the preliminary final last Sunday against East Perth.

This time it was the Falcons who made the slow start to be 20 points down at quarter-time, but they worked their way on top of the Royals from there to end up winning by 29 points in front 8514 fans to join Subiaco in the grand final of 2015 in what will be their 12th successive match since a bye.

Subiaco has previously won 12 premierships in the WAFL but the past 12 years now has been the club's most successful ever period with the Lions winning five of their flags in that time.

Subiaco has been the dominant WAFL club this century making grand finals in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2014 and now 2015 with the Lions winning five premierships in that time – 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2014.

Remarkably, full-back Darren Rumble has played in all five of those premierships to be Subiaco's most successful ever player and Sunday will be his seventh grand final appearance with the Lions.

West Perth has won 19 WAFL premierships previously with the most recent coming in 2013 when the Falcons upset East Perth in the decider, just as Subiaco did last year.

By making the 2015 grand final, it continues a good run of success for West Perth since leaving Leederville and relocating to Joondalup at the end of 1993. That has resulted in premierships in 1995, 1999, 2003 and 2013, and grand final appearances in 1998, 2002 and now 2015.

Subiaco and West Perth have previously met four times in grand finals with the Falcons prevailing in 1935, 1995 and 2003 while the Lions one triumph came in 1973.

The two teams played one another twice during the 2015 home and away season with West Perth making a flying start in Round 4 at Medibank Stadium with four goals and holding Subiaco scoreless in the first quarter. But Subiaco kicked nine goals to two from there to win by 17 points.

West Perth then got a measure of revenge in Round 14 at HBF Arena with a 10-point victory with Subiaco suffering for kicking 15 behinds from 20 scoring shots.

Subiaco then delivered a dominant second semi-final performance at Medibank Stadium winning by 55 points in the first finals meeting between the two teams since the 2011 preliminary final also won by the Lions at HBF Arena.

With both clubs having won the last two WAFL premierships, each will feature a significant amount of premiership players.

Subiaco's team looks set to feature captain Kyal Horsley, Scott Worthington, Wayde Twomey, Chris Deluca, Matt Boland, Brett Mahoney, Chris Phelan, Lachlan Delahunty, Clancy Wheeler, Darren Rumble, Charles Le Fanu and Shane Yarran from last year's team that beat East Perth.

Rumble will be shooting for a Subiaco record extending sixth premiership with Horsley attempting to play in his third flag as is Twomey who was there for Swan Districts' premiership in 2010 alongside Brett Robinson who is attempting to play in his first flag with the Lions.

Worthington, Deluca, Boland, Mahoney, Phelan, Delahunty, Wheeler, Le Fanu and Yarran are all attempting to become dual premiership players.

Sam Menegola, Scott Hancock, Jordan Lockyer, Craig Hoskins, Kyle Halligan, Aaron Heal, Hayden Kennedy, Robinson and Michael Wood will be playing their first grand finals with Subiaco, but Menegola did play in East Fremantle's loss to Claremont in 2012.

Meanwhile, West Perth will still have Aaron Black, Andrew Strijk, Rohan Kerr, Steven Browne, Shane Nelson, Matt Fowler, Jay van Berlo, Chris Keunen, Luke Tedesco, Ray Bartholomew, Steve Potente, Nick Rodda, Kody Manning and potentially Laine Rasmussen or Jordan Jones from the 2013 premiership side.

Marcus Adams, Joe Morrow, Tyler Keitel, Michael Lourey, Aidan Lynch, Trent Manzone, Drew Rohde and Kris Shannon will be playing in their first WAFL grand finals.

That means the Falcons could still have 14 premiership players from 2013 and the Lions 12 from  2014 so experience on grand final day shouldn’t be a problem for either team.

Subiaco appears likely to enter the grand final with the same team that beat West Perth in the second semi-final despite premiership players from last year Joel Latham and Rhys Waters, along with Reece Blechynden and Simon Moore being added to the squad.

The picture isn’t quite as clear with West Perth and the Falcons will be forced to make at least make one change from the team that beat East Perth in the preliminary final after Matt Johnson tore his hamstring early in the third quarter.

Premiership veteran Ray Bartholomew appears the most likely inclusion for Johnson after ruling himself out of the preliminary final with a slight leg injury.

Vice-captain and premiership defender Laine Rasmussen remains in doubt with an ankle injury and that's where the selection dilemma exists for coach Bill Monaghan with Jordan Jones, Corey Chalmers, Luke Meadows and Blake Wilhelm all in the mix for that potential spot.

There will be plenty of crucial match-ups all over the field as well starting in the middle with the ruck battle as Subiaco's successful makeshift duo Clancy Wheeler and Lachlan Delahunty lock horns with West Perth's premiership ruckman Chris Keunen.

Subiaco's experienced big-bodied midfielders Horsley, Phelan, Kitchin, Menegola, Robinson and Hancock were all dominant in the second semi-final win but West Perth will be confident of Shane Nelson, Aaron Black, Trent Manzone, Jay van Berlo and Aidan Lynch bouncing back.

West Perth full-forward Michael Lourey is a potential match-winner leaving a big task for Rumble to try to quell his influence while the battle between Bernie Naylor Medallist Shane Yarran and West Perth's powerhouse Marcus Adams at the other end could be crucial in the final result.

RESERVES GRAND FINAL
SOUTH FREMANTLE (18-2, 1st) v SWAN DISTRICTS (14-6, 3rd) – DOMAIN STADIUM, SUNDAY 11.20AM
Selected teams 

South Fremantle has been the dominant team in the WAFL reserves competition all season long but Swan Districts is the last team to defeat the Bulldogs setting up Sunday's grand final at Domain Stadium.

South Fremantle won 18 of its 20 matches throughout the 2015 home and away season to finish four games clear on top of the ladder, and then won straight through into the grand final with a 47-point second semi-final victory over Subiaco at Medibank Stadium.

Swan Districts, meanwhile, has built some good momentum heading into the finals winning 10 of its last 11 matches before losing to Subiaco by two points in the qualifying final but then going on to beat West Perth by 32 points in the first semi-final and the Lions by 61 points in the preliminary final last Sunday.

While the Bulldogs have been the dominant team all year and enter the grand final on a nine-game winning streak and with having had played just one match in the last month entering the premiership decider, Swans will be backing themselves in of being more than competitive.

The two teams met twice during the season and it was South Fremantle who had a massive 104-point win at Steel Blue Oval in Round 14 with Paul Mugambwa kicking four goals, John Sgherza three and Ben Sokol three – and that trio will again be part of the Bulldogs forward-line on Sunday.

Things were a lot different in Round 14 at Fremantle Oval when it was Swan Districts who turned the tide winning by eight points and handing South Fremantle its second, and last defeat of the season.

South Fremantle has won 11 reserves premierships previously with the first coming in 1936 followed by triumphs in 1952, 1953, 1954, 1985, 1988, 1991, 1992, 2004, 2009 and 2013.

The 2013 team was also coached by Tony Walters and beat West Perth in the grand final by 36 points with the likes of Blaine Johnson, Kaiden Matera, Alex Grima, Jarrad Winter, Tyler Hall, Jason Maskos, Tim Kelly and Brendan Verrier starring.

Verrier, Simon Panizza, Zac Strom, James Laurino, Maskos and Shaun Bewick are the players who were part of that team now looking to be part of a second reserves premiership in three years with South Fremantle.

South Fremantle will be captained by Paul Mugambwa who will be playing his last game with the Bulldogs following a career that has seen him play 143 league matches and be a key part of the 2009 league premiership side.

It is a strong looking South Fremantle line-up with the only change likely from the second semi-final winning team being the loss of ruckman Josh Branchi due to injury leaving Zac Strom to likely to fill the void in the ruck.

Swan Districts have a strong big men brigade as well led by Troy Yukich and Justin Shand while Jake Nuich can also spend time on the ball as well.

The Bulldogs midfield is strong consisting of the likes of Verrier, Bewick, Anthony Collica, Laurino, Panizza, Tim and Kade Stewart, and Jacob Dragovich.

The back-line will be held up by Dylan Ross, Chris Luff, Nick Borovac, Mitch Carter, Adam Carter, Maskos and Mitch Banks while up forward Mugambwa, Sgherza, Sokol and Traye Bennell are all dangerous.

Swan Districts' reserves have won just four premierships in history with the first coming in 1946, the next in 1964 and then 1979 before a 27-year drought was broken in 2006 with Brian Dawson the coach.

Swans' team heading into the reserves grand final has plenty of talent led by Albert Dean, Jason Daniels, Jackson Slater, David McKay, Jesse Turner, Sean Fletcher and Ben Whitsed through the middle.

Rudy Riddoch, Nuich, Dylan Nelson and Steven Wityk help to form a strong forward-line with Josh Kirkup, Laurence Grescos and Tom Smirk solid down back, and Warrick Wilson, Nelson Ansey, Sean Fletcher and Jacob Burnham capable of playing a variety of roles.

REDiMED COLTS GRAND FINAL
CLAREMONT (14-6, 1st) v SWAN DISTRICTS (13-7, 2nd) – DOMAIN STADIUM, SUNDAY 8.40AM
Selected teams 

Claremont and Swan Districts have been the dominant REDiMED Colts teams of the past two years and now meet in a second straight grand final this Sunday morning at Domain Stadium.

Claremont is now in its third straight colts grand final as well having defeated South Fremantle in 2013 for its 13th premiership in the competition and then getting back into the decider last year.

However, last year was the season of Swan Districts in the colts and following on from that grand final in torrential conditions to open grand final day at Domain Stadium, the Tigers and Swans have gone neck and neck right throughout 2015.

Swan Districts slipped into first position with a 38-point win in Round 22 at Steel Blue Oval after Claremont won the first two meetings of 2015 between the two teams.

However, Swans had the bye in the final round and Claremont scored a big win over West Perth to end up with the minor premiership.

The result of that was that Claremont had the bye in the first week of the finals while Swan Districts took on Peel Thunder in the qualifying final, and scored a comfortable 13.12 (90) to 4.9 (33) victory.

That set up a second semi-final clash between Claremont and Swan Districts at Bendigo Bank Stadium, and it was the Tigers who ended up winning by 23 points to advance straight to the grand final.

Swan Districts then had to win through to the grand final the hard way by playing Peel Thunder in the preliminary final last Sunday at HBF Arena, but the black-and-whites proved too good ending up winning by 33 points.

Claremont had never won a colts premiership up until 1976, but following that breakthrough the Tigers have gone on to win flags in 1977, 1978, 1979, 1986, 1988, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2009 and 2013.

It has been a remarkable 40-year stretch for Claremont in the colts competition with the Tigers now the most successful club with the 13 premierships and having missed out on playing in finals just four times since that breakthrough win in 1976 that set off the first of four straight flags.

Meanwhile, Swan Districts has claimed colts flags in 1957, 1958, 1971, 1991, 2007, 2008 and 2014 with them now having the chance to back-to-back for the third time, and second time in the last decade.

There will be no shortage of exciting talent on the field for both sides either with Claremont's line-up including Bailey Rogers, Declan Mountford, Matt Guelfi, Aden Wilkins, Jeremy Goddard, Russell Wynne, Ryan Murphy, Jake Waterman, Sam Petrevski-Seton and Bailey Banfield.

And Swan Districts has plenty of emerging stars as well including Brad Lynch, John Shaw, Brayden Hackett, Josh Cipro, Levi Ridley, Tim Yorkshire, Robert Mostert, Griffen Logue, Dylan Smith, Aidan Clarke, Greg Colbung and Jesse Glass-McCasker.