Finals Analysis – East FremantleWednesday, September 7, 2022 - 7:11 PM - by Chris Pike

EAST Fremantle has waited eight years to play finals, 10 to reach a Grand Final and 24 to celebrate a premiership, and the Sharks will be hoping to end all those droughts now over the next month.

The Sharks are already guaranteed of playing finals for the first time since 2014 and it's been a tough eight years to deal with the fact that the last final they played was a game they shot themselves in the foot in by kicking 7.26 to lose to Subiaco and watch the Lions win the premiership a week later.

Only Cam Eardley, Matthew Jupp and Ryan Lester-Smith remain from that game for East Fremantle and it's been a rough stretch in between to try and get back to the finals, but they have booked in their place in 2022 and coach Bill Monaghan and the entire team deserve enormous credit for what they have been able to achieve.

First of all, a lot of the Sharks' planning for the season was around having Hugh Dixon, Luke Strnadica and Tom Joyce only to lose them to West Coast prior to the season even getting underway.

They would then lose Brynn Teakle to Port Adelaide in the mid-season rookie draft and if that wasn’t enough, Dillon O'Reilly, Cody Leggett and Blaine Boekhorst have all gone down with season-ending injuries too.

If that wasn’t enough, the redevelopment of East Fremantle Oval was meant to be well underway by now so the Sharks had to make plans to play elsewhere in 2022 and that saw them play at the WACA Ground.

However, as luck would have it with the delays to the works on their home ground, the Sharks will mark their return to the finals this Saturday by hosting Claremont in a qualifying final at New Choice Homes Park.

With East Fremantle not having played in a final since 2014, not been to a Grand Final since 2012 and not having won a premiership since 1998, you can understand why there's such excitement around the Sharks as they enter this finals series from second position.

THE SEASON SO FAR

East Fremantle's season started with them overrun by Peel Thunder in Mandurah before they finished strongly in Round 2 to beat Swan Districts at Bassendean.

The Sharks then kicked 10 goals in the first quarter in Northampton on the way to a win over East Perth before handing West Coast a 123-point hiding in Round 4.

East Fremantle kept the momentum going to beat Perth by 26 points the next week and then they beat Subiaco by 44 points to cap off a five-game winning streak.

The Sharks deserved to feel good about their chance of ending their derby drought on WA Day coming into the game on top of the ladder, but it wasn’t to be with a two-point loss before they bounced back a week later beating West Perth by two points at the WACA Ground.

The Sharks then lost the next week to Claremont also at the WACA before hitting back to win three straight against Peel, Subiaco and West Coast before earning another crack at breaking through for a derby win.

It wasn’t to be with a 14th straight loss to South Fremantle at the WACA Ground but the Sharks responded to beat Perth by 96 points.

Top spot then went on the line in Round 16 and East Fremantle started well against West Perth at Joondalup but couldn’t quite maintain it with the Falcons going on to win by 36 points.

That ended up denying the Sharks a crack at top spot but they did lock away second by finishing the season with wins against Swan Districts, Claremont and East Perth to finish up with a 13-5 record ahead of hosting Claremont in this Saturday's qualifying final.

KEY WINS OF THE YEAR

East Fremantle had already won five matches this year by the time it took on West Perth at the WACA Ground in Round 8, but the Sharks made a real statement just five days after a heartbreaking derby loss on WA Day.

East Fremantle beat West Perth by two points in a tremendous contest between the top two teams as a real signal that they were the real deal in 2022.

The next true statement from the Sharks came in Round 18 when they hammered Swan Districts in the second half to win by 78 points at the WACA Ground. That was a Swans team still fighting for a final spot, but East Fremantle blew them off the park in emphatic fashion.

Then the next week the Sharks made an even more significant statement dominating Claremont to all but wrap up a top two finish with a 45-point win in Round 19 at Revo Fitness Stadium.

MATCH UP WITH FELLOW FINALISTS

East Fremantle's match ups with West Perth in 2022 were fascinating and the Sharks ended up just half a game behind the Falcons on the ladder.

East Fremantle won the first meeting by two points at the WACA Ground in Round 8 before the Falcons dominated the second half of the return encounter at Joondalup in Round 16 to end up winning by 36 points.

Going back beyond this season and prior to East Fremantle winning in Round 21 last year, the Sharks had lost eight in-a-row against the Falcons.

Claremont had given East Fremantle plenty of grief in recent years up until their last meeting when the Sharks produced a dominant performance just two weeks ago to win by 45 points at Revo Fitness Stadium.

Prior to that the Tigers had won 11 in-a-row against the Sharks dating back to 2016 and the last time they met in the finals was the 2012 Grand Final. Claremont ended up winning by 26 points even though East Fremantle threw everything into a fightback in the third quarter.

If East Fremantle plays South Fremantle during the finals it will be the first time it's happened since the 1997 Grand Final, and it would present the Sharks with a chance to finally break their derby drought.

South Fremantle has again beaten East Fremantle twice this year by two points on WA Day and then by 33 points in Round 14 at the WACA Ground.

That means that the Sharks have lost 14 times in-a-row against the Bulldogs with their last derby win coming back on WA Day in 2016.

Then there is Peel Thunder and if the two teams do meet in the finals it would be the first time it's ever happened with this year's finals campaign being the first time the Sharks and Thunder have ever been part of the finals in the same season.

East Fremantle won the most recent meeting by 11 points at the WACA Ground but prior to that the Thunder won back in Round 1 by 32 points thanks to a strong finish in Mandurah.

Going back further and the Sharks have lost 13 of the last 17 match ups with Peel dating back to their last finals appearance in 2014.

PLAYERS TO BE EXCITED ABOUT

How can you go past Jonathon Marsh. He is the barometer of the East Fremantle team in so many ways and when he is up and about and firing, he just picks up his teammates and carries them on his back while being quite the intimidating force for the opposition. He finished the season kicking 36 goals and if he fires during the finals the Sharks could be mighty hard to stop.

The Sharks might have lost Blaine Boekhorst in the midfield, but with Milan Murdock, Kyle Baskerville, Josh Schoenfeld, Tom Bennett and Ryan Lester-Smith they are well covered through the middle.

Then down back, East Fremantle is well served with key defenders Matthew Jupp and Lachlan Bailey with support from Jamie Meade, Finn Gorringe and then Cam Eardley has had a remarkable season setting up play off half-back and cutting off opposition attacks.

If Brynn Teakle is able to return from Port Adelaide to take part in the finals he might just provide that combination of a forward target and back up ruckman to push the Sharks over the top.

KEYS TO WINNING

Being the most attacking team in the competition has become East Fremantle's great strength this season with them leading the league averaging 88.2 points a game.

It's not so much based around having a dominant forward-line but it's about moving the ball quickly, having plenty of players capable of running and carrying the ball to break the lines, and then having plenty of players capable of being goal scorers.

While the likes of Milan Murdock, Kyle Baskerville and Josh Schoenfeld do a lot of the grunt work through the middle, the attacking flair provided by Luke English, Tom Bennett, Ryan Lester-Smith and company is really what makes East Fremantle tick.

Then with Matthew Jupp the anchor in defence and Jonathon Marsh the spearhead in attack, this East Fremantle team has every area covered which is quite the feat considering the players they've lost to the AFL and to injury going back to the pre-season.

IMPORTANT STATS

1st – East Fremantle is ranked first in attack for the season having averaged a score of 88.2 points throughout 2022

4th – The Sharks have been solid defensively too throughout 2022 ranked fourth for conceding 64.2 points a game

349.7 – The number of possessions the Sharks are averaging per game this season to be leading the league in that category with 53.2 more than their opponents each week

1st – First quarters have been East Fremantle's best across the season where they are ranked second having outscored their opponents by 141 points. They are ranked third in second quarters, third in third quarters and sixth in fourth terms