Semi Finals WAFL PreviewFriday, September 6, 2024 - 11:15 AM - by Chris Pike

ONE of East Perth or Swan Districts will be the first team into the 2024 WAFL Grand Final by Saturday night while Peel Thunder and Claremont battle on Sunday to keep their seasons alive.

We are down to four teams left in the race for the 2024 premiership after Claremont eliminated the reigning premiers East Fremantle in Sunday's elimination final while Swan Districts won the qualifying final against Peel.

The finals action continues this weekend with East Perth hosting Swan Districts first up on Saturday in the second semi-final before Peel Thunder is at home to Claremont in the first semi-final.

The winner of the Royals clash with Swans at Sullivan Logistics Stadium will advance to the Grand Final and earn the week off with East Perth fresh having earned the week's break as finals started on the back of securing the minor premiership.

East Perth comes into the finals on a four-game winning run and having won three of the last four against Swans, but the black-and-whites did win the last meeting by a point at Steel Blue Oval back in Round 12.

The Royals will be without reigning Sandover Medallist Hamish Brayshaw while Swans will be missing key midfield pair Jesse Turner and Aidan Clarke along with star forward Tom Edwards as they look to back up last week's win in Mandurah over Peel.

Swan Districts midfielder Josh Cipro tasted the first finals win in his 93-game career last Saturday and is confident of achieving his dream of reaching a Grand Final even without Turner, Clarke and Edwards while fully aware how tough East Perth will be.

"They finished top of the ladder for a reason obviously and they are a very good team, and all teams playing at this point of the year obviously are," Cipro said.

"From the outside looking in, you can see they are a team that's very well balanced across all three lines, and it will be obviously a tough game and nothing is going to be easy from here on in.

"We'll go in with a plan on trying to neutralise certain players and the way that they play, and also try to focus as much as possible on how we want to play.

"Sometimes in finals it comes down to who can get to the ball first or who is the hardest team on the day because the intensity is always up. So hopefully that can be us and we're very excited about the opportunity."

Peel will then host Claremont at Lane Group Stadium with the winner to take on the loser of the second semi-final next week in a preliminary final while the season will be over for the loser.

The Thunder finished second before last week's loss also at home to Swans while the Tigers finished fifth but were impressive beating East Fremantle last week and have now won 10 of the past 12 games.

Claremont's 18-year-old excitement machine Hamish Davis is fresh off kicking four goals in last Sunday's win and is looking forward to continuing this finals chance just six games into his WAFL career.

"It's unreal and if you told me I would be playing in a league final at the start of the year I wouldn’t have believed you so it's awesome," Davis said on 91.3 SportFM.

"To be playing some good footy at this time of the year is obviously very enjoyable."

SECOND SEMI-FINAL: EAST PERTH v SWAN DISTRICTS – SULLIVAN LOGISTICS STADIUM, SATURDAY 2.30PM

FIRST SEMI-FINAL: PEEL THUNDER v CLAREMONT – LANE GROUP STADIUM, SUNDAY 2.10PM