McDonald’s WAFL Elimination Finals Preview

EAST Perth and Claremont put their WAFL seasons on the line for 2015 when they do battle in the elimination final at Medibank Stadium on Sunday.

The WAFL’s new final five system introduced in 2015 now sees a first week of the finals that sees minor premiers Subiaco have the bye with West Perth and Peel Thunder playing in a qualifying final, and East Perth taking on Claremont in an elimination final.

The Royals and Tigers meet in a cut-throat clash at Medibank Stadium on Sunday with the winner to then face the loser of the West Perth-Peel clash in a first semi-final next Sunday, while the loser’s season is over.

Meanwhile, the reserves and colts elimination finals will both take place at HBF Arena with the reserves starting the day with West Perth playing East Perth, and then in the colts East Fremantle takes on West Perth.

LEAGUE ELIMINATION FINAL
EAST PERTH (11-9, 4th) v CLAREMONT (10-10, 5th) – MEDIBANK STADIUM, SUNDAY 2.10PM
Selected teams
Broadcast – 7mate, 720 ABC Perth

East Perth and Claremont have both found their best form of the season in the second half of 2015 and now the Royals and Tigers fight to stay alive when they do battle in the WAFL elimination final on Sunday at Medibank Stadium.

Yeo answers the call at Tigerland for new stars to emerge

Royals small defender Fraser a big key to finals hopes

Only one of the Royals and Tigers teams will still be alive by Sunday night but each of them are capable of doing some damage if they happen to advance.

East Perth ended up winning five of its last six matches to end the season on an 11-9 record to be in fourth position and to set up a home elimination final against Claremont as the Royals attempt to make a third successive WAFL grand final.

Prior to East Perth’s two grand final appearances, Claremont was the dominant WAFL team having won four successive minor premierships, playing in three straight grand finals and winning two flags.

Now after an absence from the finals in 2014, the Tigers are back in the mix in 2015 but it was far from an easy journey for them to make it.

Claremont lost its first five games of the season but clawed its way back and then had a chance to secure a finals berth in Round 22 by beating Swan Districts, and the Tigers led by 22 points early in the third quarter before going on to lose.

That meant Claremont had to become the first team to beat West Perth at HBF Arena this season to make the finals, and the Tigers managed to do so but only courtesy of kicking the last four goals of the game after trailing by 25 points at the 10-minute mark of the last quarter.

East Perth and Claremont have played one another twice during the home and away season, and both took place in difficult conditions.

The Tigers won the first meeting in Round 9 at the Claremont Showground by 39 points while holding East Perth to its lowest ever score against them, while the Royals bounced back with a 10-point win in Round 20 at Medibank Stadium.

Now the winner of Sunday’s clash will advance to a first semi-final next Sunday against the loser of the qualifying final at HBF Arena between West Perth and Peel Thunder either in Joondalup or Mandurah, while the loser’s season ends.

It will also be fascinating to follow whether or not a loss means the retirement of some greats of the game, which could potentially include East Perth’s Paul Johnson and Craig Wulff, and Claremont’s Mark Seaby and Brandon Franz.