WAFL Grand Final Day PreviewSaturday, September 21, 2013 - 2:26 PM - by Chris Pike

EXCITEMENT continues to build ahead of the 2013 WAFL grand final this Sunday at Patersons Stadium between West Perth and East Perth with the Falcons in a premiership decider for the first time in 10 years and the Royals the first time in 11.

The first Perth derby grand final since 2002 will get underway at 2.15pm at Subiaco's Patersons Stadium with a big crowd expected.

Meanwhile, the colts grand final will begin the day at 8.30am when South Fremantle battles Claremont and in the reserves, South Fremantle is also there to take on West Perth.

LEAGUE: WEST PERTH V EAST PERTH – PATERSONS STADIUM, SUNDAY 2.15PM
Selected teams

West Perth and East Perth have both waited a long time for another WAFL grand final appearance and now it just happens to be up against one another with the Falcons and Royals entering the premiership decider with similar form lines.

The Falcons have not played in a grand final since winning the 2003 premiership and in fact had not won a final of any type in six attempts before winning the second semi-final over Claremont at Claremont Oval a fortnight ago by four points.

West Perth was in the second semi-final after finishing the home and away season with a 13-7 record to be in second position, and then the Falcons advanced straight to the grand final with the win over Claremont that could have been by so much more if they kicked straight.

East Perth, on the other hand, only guaranteed its place in the finals with a final round victory over Subiaco and ended up finishing in fourth spot before beating Swan Districts at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval in the first semi-final.

The Royals then turned on their best performance of the whole 2013 season in last Sunday's preliminary final beating Claremont by 63 points at Claremont Oval to set up a derby grand final for the first time since 2002.

That 2002 decider where East Perth beat West Perth by 60 points was the Royals' last appearance in a grand final.

Sunday will be the seventh Perth derby grand final in history with West Perth having won four and East Perth two.

The first came in 1922 when East Perth won by 16 points with West Perth getting revenge 10 years later in 1932 with a 43-point victory.

It took 28 years for the two teams to meet in the big day again and it was West Perth who prevailed by 32 points with the then Cardinals also winning by 73 points in 1969.

West Perth also won in 1971 by 32 points before East Perth got over the line by 60 points in 2002 to complete the Royals' premiership hat-trick.

The Falcons and Royals met three times this season with West Perth scoring a thumping 75-point win in Round 1 and also winning by 30 points at Arena Joondalup in Round 19, but East Perth won the Foundation (WA) Day clash at Medibank Stadium by 19 points thanks to a huge last quarter.

Given it's a derby and the passion is so intense between both clubs, the start is sure to be on for young and old, but East Perth will have to be on guard to start well.

Over the course of the season, West Perth has been terrific in opening quarters outscoring its opposition by 45 points.

While the Falcons did also win their second and last terms over the season, they were by smaller margins but they did also dominate third quarters with a 10.21 advantage over their oppositions.

East Perth's first quarters might not have been good over the course of the 2013 season with the Royals outscored by 88 points, they have had a tendency to get better the longer games have gone on.

While losing first quarters, East Perth has won its second terms by 18 points, third by 38 and then final terms by 88 points.

There will be enthralling battles all over the field come Sunday as well starting in the middle with the ruck clash between West Perth's 129-game veteran Chris Keunen and East Perth's experienced former AFL big man Paul Johnson, who will also be helped out by Scott Lycett.

Then there will be the midfield battle at the big men's feet featuring West Perth's Mark Hutchings, Jay van Berlo, Matt Guadagnin, Shane Nelson and Aaron Black, and East Perth's Brendan Lee, Jamie Cripps, Craig Wulff, Mat Seal and Adam Selwood.

West Perth will be without full-back Michael Pettigrew due to a hamstring injury meaning the job of trying to stop Bernie Naylor Medallist Josh Smith will fall to 150-game veteran Dan Hunt.

Shaun Marusic or Nick Rodda will then share the job on Lycett or Johnson when they are forward for East Perth with Jordan Jones, Steven Browne, Andrew Strijk and whichever two are picked out of Luke Tedesco, Laine Rasmussen and Trent Manzone to get the jobs on Michael Swan, Arthur Bennell, Dean Cadwallader and other Royals small/mid-size forwards.

West Perth has a somewhat unconventional forward-line with either Marusic or Rodda to be the main target and matched up by East Perth defender Jacob Derickx. East Perth's top defender Kyle Anderson could then go to Fremantle's Josh Mellington.

There will be an incredible five radio stations plus ABC TV broadcasting the clash.

On top of ABC TV telecasting the game state-wide, 720 ABC Perth, 882 6PR, 91.3 SportFM, 990am Informational Radio and Hot Country Digital will all be providing the coverage of the 2013 WAFL grand final between the Falcons and Royals this Sunday afternoon.

RESERVES: SOUTH FREMANTLE V WEST PERTH – PATERSONS STADIUM, SUNDAY 11.15AM
Selected teams

South Fremantle and West Perth finished 2013 as the two most in-form reserves teams and as a result have made the grand final and are sure to play out a hard fought contest to determine the premiers.

The Bulldogs reserves began the season reasonably slowly as did their league side with a host of injuries and young players still adjusting to senior football, but the longer the 2013 campaign went the better the whole senior squad went.

South Fremantle's league team finished off the season with some momentum and the improved form of the main side meant that there were more quality players in the reserves line-up, and more players looking to pressing up for a league berth.

South Fremantle's reserves lost its first two games to Claremont and Perth and then again lost two more in Round 11 to East Fremantle and Round 12 to Subiaco, but since then the Bulldogs have been outstanding.

There was a hiccup against West Perth in Round 18, but aside from that South Fremantle's reserves won eight of its last nine games to finish the home and away season in second position on the ladder.

That set up a second semi-final against Perth and the Bulldogs held on to win by five points to advance straight through to the grand final.

West Perth lost its first three games of the reserves season and then sat at 1-6 after eight rounds, but things then began to turn with three straight wins and now the Falcons have not lost since going down to Swan Districts at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval in Round 15.

The Falcons won seven straight matches over Peel, South Fremantle, East Perth, Peel, Perth, East Fremantle and Swan Districts to qualify for the finals from fourth position.

And in the finals, West Perth beat East Perth in the first semi-final at Claremont Oval by nine points to book in a preliminary final berth where the Falcons downed the minor premier Perth by 42 points to book in a grand final spot on a nine-game winning run.

South Fremantle and West Perth met just twice during the season with the Bulldogs winning at Fremantle Oval in Round 4 by 19 points and then the Falcons prevailed by 34 points at Arena Joondalup in Round 18.

South Fremantle's reserves have not won a premiership since 2009 when both the Bulldogs' league and reserves sides were triumphant.

Remarkably, West Perth's reserves has not won a premiership since 1960 and also in that year both the Falcons' league and reserves teams won the flag.

Both teams are full of a combination of league experienced and youthful talent as well.