WAFL Semi Finals WrapSunday, September 10, 2023 - 10:54 PM - by Chris Pike

EAST Fremantle is the first team into the WAFL Grand Final for 2023 after beating Peel Thunder on Saturday before Subiaco set up a preliminary final against them by overpowering Claremont on Sunday.

It was semi-final weekend in the WAFL with the last four teams left in the competition for 2023 all in action after Claremont was able to eliminate East Perth in the elimination final the previous Sunday.

East Fremantle entered the finals on Saturday after earning the week off to start proceedings on the back of claiming the minor premiership with a two game and percentage advantage on the rest of the competition.

East Fremantle played host to Peel in a second semi-final at Fremantle Community Bank Oval on Saturday and the Sharks would open up a 28-point lead early in the fourth quarter.

They had to then withstand the Thunder kicking the last three goals of the game to prevail 9.6 (60) to 7.13 (55) to move into the Grand Final for the first time since 2012 as the Sharks chase a first premiership since 1998.

Peel is still alive and will host the preliminary final in Mandurah next Sunday with their opponent decided in Sunday's first semi-final between Subiaco and Claremont at Leederville Oval.

The Lions built a lead as big as 29 points midway through the third quarter before the Tigers kicked the next four goals to make it a six-point ball game at three quarter-time.

Subiaco had been overrun the previous two weeks but were able to turn the tide on Sunday with five goals in the last quarter and holding Claremont scoreless to end up prevailing 12.16 (88) to 8.1 (49).

What all that means is that East Fremantle has another week off having qualified for the Grand Final at Optus Stadium on Sunday September 24 with Peel Thunder to host Subiaco in this Sunday's preliminary final at Lane Group Stadium.

COLTS

The Colts action got underway with the first semi-final on Saturday at Fremantle Community Bank Oval with East Fremantle winning a tight affair 11.11 (77) to 10.8 (68) against Subiaco to keep their season alive.

Jack Cocking kicked four goals for East Fremantle, Dante Wiseman two, Tyler Messina two and Griffin Vladich two. James Spadanuda racked up 23 touches, Zac Petersen 20 and Harry Pickett 18.

Lance Collard kicked five goals for Subiaco and Malakai Champion two with Riley Wills gathering 27 possessions, Tyler Senge 20, Cruz Woodley 20, Lachlan O'Keefe 18 and Oscar Dees 18.

Perth then played Claremont in the second semi-final at Leederville Oval on Sunday with the two teams having played out a thrilling draw two weeks earlier with the Demons claiming top spot ahead of the Tigers courtesy of percentage.

However, Claremont turned the tide on Sunday winning 11.8 (74) to 6.8 (44) to move straight into the Grand Final while the Demons will have a second chance to qualify in the preliminary final.

Sam Van Rooyen kicked three goals for Claremont, Sullivan Moody two and Hamish Davis two. Riley Disisto gathered 23 touches, Joe Fonti 22, Ashton Bryant 21, Bailey Banfield 20 and Kai Dehavilland 18.

Perth only had single goalkickers with Jake Watson picking up 24 disposals, Oscar Hine-Baston 20, Brodie McLean 17 and Kalib Dempster-Park 17.

RESERVES

The second week of the finals in the Reserves began on Saturday with the first semi-final at Fremantle Community Bank Oval with Subiaco prevailing 10.4 (64) to 7.7 (49) against East Fremantle.

Campbell Henderson kicked two goals from four kicks in the win for Subiaco with Lachlan Vanirsen finishing with 22 touches and 12 tackles. Lachlan Henderson also had 18 disposals, Noah Ash 17, Jordan Snadden 16 and Connor Faraone 16.

Austin Ball kicked two goals for East Fremantle with Lachlan Blakiston dominant in the ruck with 25 possessions and 29 hit outs. Matt Williamson also had 20 disposals, Max Murphy 18, Orien Kerr 18 and Elijah Burrows 18.

The second semi-final then took place on Sunday at Leederville Oval with Swan Districts booking in a spot in the Grand Final by defeating West Perth 9.11 (65) to 5.9 (39).

Ayden Cartwright and Tom Smith kicked two goals each in the win for Swan Districts with Lawson Humphries amassing 31 disposals, Mitch Bain 28, Jiah Reidy 25, Lewis Tester 24, Ben Hewett 20, Tarir Bayok 20 and Max Chipper 19.

Zarne Robis kicked two goals for West Perth while Callum Johnson amassed 30 possessions, Blake Wilhelm 19, Blake Garraway 19, Luke Reilly 18, Daniel Gathercole 17, Rohan Scurria 16 and Mark Hutchings 16.

WAFL PREMIERSHIP SEASON – FINALS SERIES

SECOND SEMI-FINAL – EAST FREMANTLE 9.6 (60) defeated PEEL THUNDER 7.13 (55)

East Fremantle is into its first Grand Final for 11 years to now have the chance to win a premiership for the first time this century having held out a fast finishing Peel Thunder to win by five points on Saturday.

The Sharks hosted the Thunder in the second semi-final on Saturday in what was both the first ever finals meeting between the two clubs, and the first ever time they had faced one another at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

East Fremantle had the week off to open the finals having earned the minor premiership two games and percentage ahead of the rest of the pack while Peel earned a spot in the second semi-final by coming from behind to beat Subiaco in the qualifying final at Leederville Oval.

The Sharks found themselves 28 points in front early in the last quarter but the Thunder controlled the rest of the contest and kicked the last three goals, but five other behinds and a couple of shots that went out on the full proved costly.

East Fremantle held on to win 9.6 (60) to 7.13 (55) and advance to a first Grand Final since 2012 with a chance to become premiers for the first time since 1998.

Peel has another chance to still play in the Grand Final when it hosts Subiaco in next Sunday's preliminary final at Lane Group Stadium.

Josh Schoenfeld might have had just six kicks for the game but made a valuable contribution with two goals for East Fremantle with Hugh Dixon also kicking two as the game's only other multiple goalscorer to go with 18 touches, eight marks and five tackles.

Milan Murdock marked his return to the East Fremantle midfield after missing a month with a shoulder injury and then having one game back in the reserves. He finished with 31 possessions, seven tackles and five marks.

Cam Eardley had another strong performance down back for the Sharks with 30 disposals and 10 marks with Fraser Turner tremendous on the wing once more with 29 touches, eight marks and a goal.

Kyle Baskerville also finished with 21 disposals, Harry Marsh 20, Jackson McDonald 20 and Tom Joyce 17 while Reuben McGuire was superb in the ruck up against both Liam Reidy and Riley Smith for 20 possessions and 26 hit outs.

Ben McGuire produced a strong defensive forward performance limiting the dangerous Nathan Wilson to just six kicks for Peel while down back, Matthew Jupp and Lachlan Bailey were tremendous limiting the influence of Josh Corbett and Ben Middleton.

Peel's seven goals came courtesy of Brady Grey, Liam Reidy, Joel Hamling, Ben Middleton, Jack Sears, Josh Corbett and Brody Wemm.

Will Brodie produced another strong performance on the ball for Peel finishing with 27 possessions and seven tackles.

Corey Wagner also gathered 23 disposals, Brady Grey 21, Karl Worner 18, Nathan O'Driscoll 17 and Blair Bell 17.

Down back, Jacob Blight did well to keep Jonathon Marsh to six kicks and one behind with 16 possessions and five marks himself.

It had been a long two-week wait for East Fremantle to open its finals campaign after finishing the home and away season two games clear on top of the ladder, and the Sharks started well with the first goal of the second semi-final courtesy of Hugh Dixon.

Peel was able to respond soon after with good work from Liam Reidy out of the ruck contest to snap from congestion, but the Sharks had started well and managed the next two goals from Josh Schoenfeld and Jackson McDonald.

However, the Thunder managed to kicked two goals in the last four minutes of the opening term through Brody Wemm and Jack Sears to close the East Fremantle lead to just two points by quarter-time.

The scoring dried up considerably in the second quarter but East Fremantle managed the only two goals thanks to Cam Eardley and Fraser Turner. The Sharks also limited the Thunder to just two behinds and East Fremantle went into the half-time interval leading by 13 points.

East Fremantle then threatened to blow the game open with the opening two goals in the first six minutes of the second half through Dixon and Cody Legett.

That saw the Sharks lead eventually out to 27 points and Peel needed to respond, but the Thunder had come back from a 29-point deficit at a similar stage in last week's qualifying final against Subiaco.

Peel did get a goal back from Josh Corbett but East Fremantle answered thanks to Alex Montauban and that meant the Sharks were 21 points to the good at three quarter-time.

When East Fremantle kicked the first goal of the last term as well through Schoenfeld, the game looked out of the reach of Peel with a 28-point deficit, but the Thunder weren’t done with yet.

Joel Hamling was thrown forward with immediate reward with a goal for Peel and a minute later Brady Grey also kicked truly to make it a 15-point game.

Peel kept peppering the goals and managed another through Ben Middleton to make it a seven-point game with plenty of time on the clock.

The Thunder continued to dominate the last 10 minutes of the game and had several golden opportunities for a go ahead goal, but ultimately misses from Riley Smith, Will Brodie and Travis Colyer denied Peel and East Fremantle held on to win by five points to advance to the Grand Final.

FIRST SEMI-FINAL – SUBIACO 12.16 (88) defeated CLAREMONT 8.1 (49)

Subiaco has earned another crack at trying to beat Peel Thunder in the finals for a first time by dominating the last quarter to beat Claremont in Sunday's first semi-final by 39 points.

Subiaco finished the home and away season in second position but despite leading Peel by 29 points early in the third quarter in the qualifying final, the Lions lost to the Thunder by 10 points to mean they hosted Claremont in the first semi-final at Leederville Oval.

It was a tight affair by three quarter-time too with Subiaco clinging to a six-point lead after four late goals to Claremont in the third term.

The Lions had given up winning positions in the second half the last two weeks to lose to East Fremantle and Peel as well, but this time they dominated the final term with five goals and holding the Tigers scoreless to win 12.16 (88) to 8.1 (49).

That sees Subiaco advance to next Sunday's preliminary final against Peel in Mandurah with a Grand Final spot on the line, and the Lions attempting to beat the Thunder in the finals for the first time in five attempts.

Ultimately the major difference in the game was Subiaco's ability to not only get the ball forward with 24 extra inside-50 entries than Claremont, but also to have key forward targets who could put a score on the board.

The Lions' inaccuracy was threatening to be costly by three quarter-time, but in the end Ryan Borchet and Ben Sokol combined to kick six of the 12 goals for Subiaco.

Claremont, on the other hand, only had nine scoring shots for the game and continued to struggle for a key forward target especially in the absence of Jack Buller and Max Minear, and with Kieran Gowdie going off hurt in the opening half.

Borchet ended up kicking three goals for Subiaco from 12 touches and 10 marks with Sokol's three goals all coming in the final quarter to go with his eight kicks and four marks.

Fresh off making the WAFL Team of the Year for a second straight season, Liam Hickmott came up huge for Subiaco in the second semi-final with 36 possessions, six inside 50s, three marks and three tackles.

Fellow Team of the Year member Stefan Giro also had 28 disposals while Leigh Kitchin finished with 19 touches, Michael Braut 17 and ruckman Zac Clarke 16 to go with 28 hit outs and a goal while earning seven free kicks.

Jaimon Alone returned to the Subiaco team and had 17 possessions and kicked a goal, but his bigger impact came in restricting Claremont's Jye Bolton to 13 touches for the day.

Josh Robbins and Koltyn Tholstrup also took their turns limiting Teia Miles to 13 possessions down back for Claremont while former Tiger Rylie Morgan returned for Subiaco and ran with ex-teammate Lachlan Martinis, and held him to just 11 disposals on the wing while having 12 touches and a goal himself.

Angus Dewar was also outstanding defensively for Subiaco holding Alex Manuel to four kicks and one behind.

Callan England and Zac Mainwaring kicked two goals apiece for Claremont to be handy ground level contributors, but in the end what the Tigers will be left to stew over is not having a key marking target in attack to step up after Jack Buller's departure to the Sydney Swans.

Anthony Davis had a fascinating battle with Borchet down back for Claremont but had a strong game himself with 27 possessions and 13 marks.

Jack Lewsey also had 21 touches and nine marks for the Tigers while England had 20 disposals, Ben Edwards 17, Oliver Eastland 17 (36 hit outs), Ben Elliott 17, Bailey Rogers 16 and Sam Alvarez 16.

Subiaco had the advantage of the breeze to start the contest and took full advantage dominating the first 20 minutes of the second semi-final starting with a goal after five minutes to Ryan Borchet.

Jaimon Alone had the job of running with Jye Bolton for the afternoon, but he managed a goal of his own next up for the Lions before Koltyn Tholstrup added another.

When Josh Robbins banged one through from the goal line, the Lions were well on top and even more so when Rylie Morgan had a moment to enjoy against his former team with a goal to put Subiaco 33 points up heading into time on of the opening term.

Claremont did manage to pull a couple of goals back, though, leading into quarter-time from Callan England and Zac Mainwaring to cut the Subiaco lead to 22 points by quarter-time.

The niggle picked up throughout the second quarter with no love lost between the two teams with the battle of Alone attempting to tag Bolton, but Bolton looking to shake it by matching up on Subiaco captain Leigh Kitchin providing quite the side show.

In the end, there was only one goal in total in the second quarter which went the way of Claremont courtesy of Bolton and by half-time, the Tigers had only narrowly cut the Lions lead to 21 points with Subiaco managing six behinds and missed a host of opportunities into the tricky breeze.

Claremont needed to respond in the third quarter with its season on the line and the Tigers did change things up a little, but still by halfway through the term after Subiaco goals to Kitchin and Zac Clarke, the Lions were in control leading by 29 points.

The Tigers then got their running game going and were more direct going into attack, and as a result the last 15 minutes of the third quarter was their best period of play for the match.

It resulted in goals to England, Ben Elliott, Mainwaring and Oliver Sheldrick and as a result the margin was just six points at three quarter-time and it was game on.

Both teams were fully aware of Subiaco being overrun the past two weeks against East Fremantle and Peel, but it wasn’t to happen again and the Lions completely dominated the final term.

So much so that the Tigers weren’t able to score at all and Subiaco piled on five goals including three to spearhead Ben Sokol with the other two from fellow key forward Borchet and the Lions ran out 39-point winners to advance to a preliminary final against Peel in Mandurah.