WAFLW Round 16 WrapMonday, June 26, 2023 - 9:56 AM - by Chris Pike

SUBIACO put the pressure back on East Fremantle to win on Sunday to secure a finals position in the WAFLW and the Sharks were up to the task and shot up to third position in the process after the last round of the 2023 season.

Subiaco, Claremont and East Fremantle all had thumping Round 16 WAFLW victories across the weekend where they only conceded a combined three behinds over the three matches to wrap up the 2023 home and away season.

The tight contest saw South Fremantle narrowly beat Swan Districts in the battle between two teams gearing up to be part of the finals.

The focus for the final round of the season was all on Subiaco and East Fremantle, though, in the fight over the last position in the finals.

First up on Saturday and Subiaco just had to win by as much as possible against West Perth at Yanchep's Splendid Park to be any chance. The Lions held up their end of the deal with the 5.7 (37) to 0.1 (1) victory.

That turned the pressure back on East Fremantle who had to beat Peel Thunder on Sunday at Mandurah's Lane Group Stadium to make it and knock out Subiaco. The Sharks couldn’t have been more emphatic in doing so, ending up winning 8.10 (58) to 0.0 (0).

The other two matches in the last round of the WAFLW season for 2023 saw Claremont confirm its undefeated season with just the draw thrown in by keeping East Perth winless with the 6.5 (41) to 0.2 (2) victory at Leederville Oval.

It was a much tighter affair between two finals bound teams on Sunday at Steel Blue Oval with South Fremantle ending up beating Swan Districts 3.2 (20) to 2.5 (17).

What it all means is that Claremont is the minor premiers in the WAFLW for 2023 with South Fremantle finishing second, East Fremantle third and Swan Districts fourth.

Meanwhile, the final round of the Rogers Cup season started on Saturday with Subiaco beating Perth 8.7 (55) to 2.3 (15) at Mineral Resources Park.

It was a good finish to the season for the Lions in the battle of the bottom two teams with Kennedy Thorpe kicking three goals and Sunni-Quay Peters two. Perth's goals came from Paige Bower and Mowana McKenzie.

Also on Saturday, East Perth defeated Claremont 4.9 (33) to 0.4 (4) at Leederville Oval. The Royals confirmed their finals position with the victory with Makayla Rogers kicking two goals, and one each to Hannah Challender and Jorja Schell.

The other two matches took place on Sunday with East Fremantle winning a thriller 7.2 (44) to 5.9 (39) against Peel Thunder at Mandurah's Lane Group Stadium. 

Despite missing out on a finals position, the Sharks scored the win with Madison Evans kicking two goals while Lucy Kane kicked two for the Thunder.

South Fremantle then also defeated Swan Districts 8.5 (53) to 0.3 (3) at Steel Blue Oval on Sunday. 

The Bulldogs confirmed second position and a finals double chance with the win with Annalie Polimeno, Rosie Anderson, Alira Fotu and Nicole Taylor-Thorpe kicking two goals apiece.

 

WAFLW PREMIERSHIP SEASON – ROUND 16

WEST PERTH 0.1 (1) lost to SUBIACO 5.7 (37)

Subiaco put the challenge back to East Fremantle by taking care of their side of business in the final round of the WAFL season beating West Perth by 36 points on Saturday.

The Lions just had to beat the Falcons on Saturday at Yanchep's Splendid Park and then hope for a minor miracle on Sunday if Peel Thunder could beat East Fremantle.

While that didn’t end up happening and Subiaco just missed out on playing finals for a second straight season, it was a commanding finish to the season against a West Perth team that has been vastly improved in 2023.

The Lions kicked the only five goals of the contest to end up winning 5.7 (37) to 0.1 (1).

Hayley Corlett kicked another two goals for Subiaco from nine kicks, four inside-50 entries and three marks.

Tiah Toth racked up another 17 possessions while kicking a goal for the Lions with Tarni Golisano gathering 16 touches, Eva Popovsky 13, Meg Brown 13 and Tess Lyons 10 along with 32 hit outs in the ruck.

Taylor Ferguson finished the season for West Perth with a strong showing made up of 14 possessions, three tackles and two marks.

Kayla Van Den Heever also gathered 12 touches to go with four tackles for the Falcons while Elissa Price had nine disposals and Karla Stagg eight with Karry Plummer finishing with 15 hit outs.

West Perth did get the first score of the game with a rushed behind but unfortunately for the Falcons that would be their only score of the afternoon.

A couple of minutes later and Subiaco had the first goal of the game thanks to Fina Dethlefsen, but the Lions were only leading by that goal at quarter-time.

It took just 45 seconds for Subiaco to add a second goal to start the second term thanks to Eva Popovsky. Hayley Corlett added another in the second term and the Lions went into half-time in control leading by 20 points.

It took another three minutes into the second half for Subiaco to add a fourth goal thanks to Tiah Toth. The Lions would add just the one more goal which came in the last term with a second to Corlett on the way to the 36-point win to close the season.

 

EAST PERTH 0.2 (2) lost to CLAREMONT 6.5 (41)

Things went to plan when the unbeaten Claremont took on the winless East Perth at Leederville Oval on Saturday.

It was hardly the ideal way for East Perth to end its inaugural season in the WAFLW competition up against the league-leading Claremont who is looking to make it back-to-back premierships and couldn’t be budged from top spot again in 2023.

Claremont would kick the only six goals of the afternoon on the way to the 6.5 (41) to 0.2 (2) victory.

Adele Arnup kicked another two goals to finish the season with 26 heading into the finals. She again made the most of her chances from four kicks and three marks to be the only multiple goal scorer in the game.

Matilda Sergeant continued her impressive form in the midfield as well for Claremont by picking up 23 possessions to go with seven tackles, four inside 50s and three marks.

Jayme Harken also racked up another 21 touches for the Tigers, Sarah Viney 18, Taylah Angel 18, Claire Ortlepp 15, Taylah Orzel 15 (10 tackles), Rachel Ortlepp 14, Bec Anderson 13 and Kobi Nichols 13 (20 hit outs).

Matilda Bennett produced another strong performance in the last game of the season for East Perth finishing with 10 possessions, 45 hit outs and four tackles in the ruck.

Jorja Elisseou also picked up 17 touches and six tackles for the Royals while Melisha Hardy gathered 16 disposals, Julia Uhe 11 and Madeleine Goodman 10.

Claremont and East Perth might have been locked into their positions no matter the result on Saturday, and it did take the Tigers more than 11 minutes to kick a first goal which came from Rebecca Tuckey.

That would be the only goal of the first term as well with Claremont leading by five points and by half-time the Tigers had extended that advantage to 12 points with just the one more goal from Jacinta Valentini.

It took just over five minutes into the second half for Claremont to kick a third goal of the day which came from Adele Arnup. Rachel Ortlepp added another and the Tigers were out to a 27-point advantage by the last break.

Claremont added another two goals in the final stanza from Arnup and Brooke Whyte to end up winning by 39 points.

 

PEEL THUNDER 0.0 (0) lost to EAST FREMANTLE 8.10 (58)

East Fremantle just had to win on Sunday in Mandurah to make the finals this WAFLW season and the Sharks couldn’t have been more emphatic in holding Peel Thunder scoreless in a 58-point win.

After Subiaco beat West Perth on Saturday, the challenge was up to East Fremantle to win at Lane Group Stadium to make the finals or else depending on percentage, there was still a chance the Lions would replace the Sharks in the top four.

However, East Fremantle was not going to allow that to be a possibility with last year's grand finalists not only booking in a finals place, but improving to third position with the 8.10 (58) to 0.0 (0) victory.

Elsie Simpson, Tiani Teakle and Mylee Leitch all kicked two goals apiece for East Fremantle with Leitch also ending up with 16 touches, eight marks, four tackles and four entries inside the forward 50.

Beth Beckett continued her standout form in the midfield for East Fremantle with another 23 possessions and seven tackles while Ashleigh Gomes collected 21 disposals, Zipporah Fish 21, Larissa Versaci 19 and Georgie Cleaver 19 to go with 23 hit outs and a goal.

Despite the loss and her team going scoreless, Peel captain Ebony Dowson was outstanding once more off half-back with 26 possessions, five marks and three tackles. 

Evie Cowcher was equally impressive with 29 disposals, eight marks and five tackles while Greta McKinley also ended up with 16 touches and 10 marks with Kaitlyn Srhoj collecting 14 possessions, Dakota Sexton 13 and Abby Barnden 13 to go with 11 tackles.

East Fremantle just had to win to guarantee a place in the finals and the Sharks started well with a goal inside the opening four minutes to Anjelique Raison.

Tiani Teakle soon added a second and the Sharks would go into quarter-time on top by 14 points.

The Sharks added just the one more goal in the third quarter at the 15-minute mark to Elsie Simpson which saw them on top by 25 points at the major break.

Another goal to Simpson in the third term saw that East Fremantle advantage grow to 31 points before the Sharks then got rolling in the fourth stanza with four goals and having kept Peel scoreless the entire game, they went on to win by 58 points.

 

SWAN DISTRICTS 2.5 (17) lost to SOUTH FREMANTLE 3.2 (20)

South Fremantle and Swan Districts geared up for their finals appearances in the WAFLW by playing out a hard fought contest at Steel Blue Oval on Sunday, with the Bulldogs holding on to win by three points.

Both the Swans and Bulldogs were guaranteed of taking part in the finals no matter the result on Sunday afternoon at Steel Blue Oval, but with a win Swan Districts did have the chance to secure third position and a home first semi-final against East Fremantle.

South Fremantle was already guaranteed of a second-place finish and a finals double chance heading into the Sunday match up which would see the Bulldogs kick the first three goals of the contest.

It took until the last five minutes of the game for Swan Districts to kick a goal, but two in quick succession set up a thrilling finish before South Fremantle held on to win 3.2 (20) to 2.5 (17).

South Fremantle's goals for the game were kicked by Hunter Cronin, Ella Matthews and Bethany Bond.

Teenager Renee Morgan continued the brilliant start to her WAFLW career late in the season for South Fremantle with another 23 possessions, eight marks, six tackles and four inside-50 entries.

Kahra Sprlyan also picked up 18 touches for the Bulldogs, Luci Gilchrist 17, Molly O'Hehir 17 and ruck Ariana Hetherington 16 along with 23 hit outs and three marks.

Taylah Edwards kicked both of the goals late in the contest for Swan Districts to go with her seven kicks, two marks and two inside-50 entries for the afternoon.

Ruby Mahony continued her strong form in the midfield for Swans by collecting another 15 possessions to go with six tackles and three marks.

Demi Liddle also finished with 14 disposals for the black-and-whites to go with five marks, five tackles and two inside-50 entries.

Indiana West collected another 13 possessions, Jaime Henry 13, Isabella Edgley 12, Kayley King 11 and Naomi Baker 11 to go with nine tackles.

While Swan Districts had the first two scoring shots of the game, they were behinds to Courtney Zappara and Cassie McWilliam and it was the Bulldogs who kicked the opening goal thanks to Ella Matthews.

South Fremantle then kicked the only goal of the second term as well thanks to Hunter Cronin and that meant the Bulldogs were leading by 11 points at the main break.

Neither team could manage a goal in the third quarter and then South Fremantle locked away the win with the first goal of the last quarter thanks to Bethany Bond.

However, Swan Districts did spring to life late. Having not kicked a goal the entire afternoon, Taylah Edwards delivered two goals in the last four minutes of the contest.

That made it a three-point game to set up a frantic finish but South Fremantle was just able to hold on for the three-point win in an entertaining affair between two finals bound teams.