Semi Finals WAFL Preview

IT'S semi finals time in the WAFL and one team will book in a place in the 2022 Grand Final on Saturday afternoon while another will be eliminated on Sunday in what shapes as a fascinating weekend.

The 2022 WAFL finals series got underway last weekend with East Fremantle putting in a terrific qualifying final performance to beat Claremont on Saturday to put the Sharks into the second semi-final.

The elimination final then took place at Fremantle Community Bank Oval on Sunday and that saw Peel Thunder kick the last two goals of the game to come from behind to end the season of South Fremantle.

That sets up this weekend's match ups which sees West Perth and East Fremantle fight over a spot in the Grand Final on Saturday while Claremont and Peel is just battling to stay alive.

The Falcons will play host to the Sharks at Joondalup's Pentanet Stadium on Saturday with the winner to go straight through to the Grand Final while the loser will land in next week's preliminary final.

Then on Sunday afternoon at Revo Fitness Stadium, the Tigers will play host to the Thunder with the winner to move into the preliminary final while the season will be over for the losers.

Meanwhile in the reserves, the second semi-final will also be at Pentanet Stadium on Saturday with West Perth battling Claremont for a spot in the Grand Final.

The first semi-final will take place Sunday at Revo Fitness Stadium with South Fremantle up against Subiaco.

And in the colts, West Perth will also host the second semi-final on Saturday at Joondalup up against Peel Thunder while on Sunday, Subiaco plays South Fremantle in the first semi-final at Revo Fitness Stadium.

WAFL PREMIERSHIP SEASON 2022 – SEMI FINALS

SECOND SEMI-FINAL – WEST PERTH v EAST FREMANTLE

The first spot in the 2022 WAFL Grand Final will be determined when West Perth takes on East Fremantle at Joondalup's Pentanet Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The Falcons and Sharks finished the home and away season as the top two teams on the WAFL ladder and it's only fitting they lock horns with a spot in the Grand Final on the line on Saturday.

The winner of the second semi-final will earn the week off to prepare for the Grand Final on Saturday October 1 at Leederville Oval while the loser will have a second chance to qualify by playing in next week's preliminary final.

Only two points separated the two teams at the end of the home and away season with West Perth claiming the minor premiership with 13 wins, four losses and a draw. East Fremantle was only half a game behind with a 13-5 record.

That meant that West Perth earned the break in the first week of the finals while East Fremantle locked horns with Claremont in the qualifying final at New Choice Homes Park.

The Sharks put in a terrific performance to beat the Tigers by 48 points to set up Saturday's second semi-final match up.

It's the first time that West Perth and East Fremantle have met in the finals since the Falcons won a five-point thriller in the first semi-final of 2002, but that was 20 years ago.

That's the only final the two teams have played since the 1998 Grand Final which also happened to be East Fremantle's last premiership while since then West Perth has won premierships in 1999, 2003 and 2013.

The coaches of those last two flags for the Falcons will be in opposite coaches' boxes on Saturday too adding to the intrigue of the contest. 

Darren Harris coached West Perth to the premiership in 2003 and is now in his second season back in charge at the Falcons while Bill Monaghan took them to the 2013 flag. 

Monaghan remains the longest-serving and winningest coach in West Perth history, but he's now in his fourth season at East Fremantle and has done a tremendous job to get them to being within one win of a first Grand Final since 2012.

The two teams split their match ups throughout the season as well with East Fremantle winning a two-point thriller back in Round 8 at the WACA Ground.

The return encounter took place at Pentanet Stadium in Round 16 and West Perth scored the 36-point win on the back of a strong finish which ultimately went a long way to securing the Falcons a first minor premiership since 1993.

The Sharks will need to turn around their recent history at the Joondalup venue too in order to move into the Grand Final straight away. The Falcons have won eight straight home matches against East Fremantle dating back to a last win for the Sharks in Round 20, 2014. 

That just happened to be the last time East Fremantle also played finals while West Perth missed out despite being minor premiers of playing finals in 2014.

West Perth coach Darren Harris was happy that his team earned the week off to await their second semi-final opponent, but what he saw from East Fremantle means he knows the Falcons will need to be at their best to win on Saturday.

"We're excited. You work pretty hard to get these opportunities so it's up to us to go and perform now. We're definitely excited because you work so hard to get into this position so now we just have to try and be the best version of ourselves," Harris said.

"I think East Fremantle have just won a lot of respect. I know I have enormous respect for the way they go about it. They are really competitive, they fight really hard with their tackle pressure, body work and their heat on the opposition.

"I think the last two times they've played Claremont that's been at its absolute best and we've seen how that's gone, and they've been able to touch them up. We know that they go at the game and they are the No. 1 scoring team in the competition, and they score massively from stoppages.

"Even though they are fifth in the comp for clearances, they are No. 1 with scores from stoppages so they really go at their game. That's where their midfield with Murdock, Baskerville, Lester-Smith, Bennett, Schoenfeld, English and McDonald are all in really good form.

"Then they have some leaders who have really stepped up too and I think Eardley and Jupp down back have been critical to their performances, and then they have Marsh up forward with Jansen. They have a great mix and we are going to have really be on our game to be a chance to win this week."

East Fremantle vice-captain Jarrad Jansen has settled into a role as the second marking option in attack this season alongside Jonathan Marsh. 

The fairest and best winner has enjoyed that role, but more than anything has enjoyed seeing the pressure and intensity around the ball the Sharks have been bringing, and wants to see it continue with a Grand Final spot on the line.

"It was a good weekend and it's really exciting for the footy club going forward so the spirit level is pretty high at the moment," Jansen said.

"I think our contest work was really good early and then to finish off in the last quarter. The pressure around the ball was really good and probably set the standard for where we want to be at going into the pointy end of the season. We were able to really put a lot of pressure on around the ball so that sort of set up our ball movement on the back of that.

"We now just have to bring that same pressure around the ball this week and have to be really strong around the contest. That's our major focus because there's no use having a good ball movement system if we can't win it at the source. So we are focusing on our contest and pressure work, and letting the rest take care of itself."

FIRST SEMI-FINAL – CLAREMONT v PEEL THUNDER

Claremont and Peel Thunder will both deservedly feel like their best football could win the WAFL premiership over the next three weeks, but the reality is the season will be over for one of them by Sunday night.

Claremont and Peel come into Sunday's first semi-final at Revo Fitness Stadium in opposing form following the opening to the finals series last week.

The winner of the contest will advance to the preliminary final to play the loser of the second semi-final between West Perth and East Fremantle while the season will be over for the loser.

The Tigers finished the home and away season in third position on the ladder only percentage behind the second placed East Fremantle. 

That earned them the finals double chance which they will now be hoping to capitalise on following a disappointing 48-point loss to the Sharks last Saturday at New Choice Homes Park.

Meanwhile, Peel found itself 22 points down in the third quarter last Sunday in the elimination final against South Fremantle at Fremantle Community Bank Oval with their season hanging by a thread having just qualified for the finals in fifth spot after a big last round win against Swan Districts.

The Thunder got rolling, though, and ended up kicking the last two goals of the contest to win by nine points for their first finals victory since the 2017 Grand Final to keep their season alive.

Claremont is playing in a fifth straight finals series while still chasing a first premiership since 2012, but the Tigers have been knocking on the door the past four years reaching the Grand Final in 2020, preliminary finals in 2019 and 2021, and the first semi-final in 2018.

Peel is playing in its first finals series since winning back-to-back premierships in 2016 and 2017 with the Thunder having now won the last eight finals that they have played in.

It took the Thunder until 2015 to qualify for the finals for the first time and they lost in straight sets that year to West Perth and East Perth. However, the Thunder then won four finals in 2016 and three in 2017 on the way to winning two straight premierships.

They then made it nine straight finals victories with the win against South Fremantle last week with Peel and Claremont now gearing up to play in the finals for the first ever time.

The two teams split their match ups during the season as well with Peel winning at home in Mandurah by 22 points in Round 6 before Claremont hit back to win by 15 points more recently in Round 18 at Revo Fitness Stadium.

Claremont will be looking forward to being on home turf with the Tigers having won five straight at home against Peel along with 11 of their previous 13 overall against all opponents.

Claremont has also enjoyed playing finals at home in recent times having never lost at the redeveloped Claremont Oval with an elimination final win in 2018 over East Perth, first semi-final win in 2019 against West Coast, and first semi-final win last year against West Perth.

Peel hasn’t won at Revo Fitness Stadium since Round 9, 2018 but there would be no better time to break that drought than on Sunday.

Claremont milestone man Ryan Lim has had an outstanding season as he now prepares to earn life membership by playing his 150th game on Sunday. 

However, all his focus is on helping the Tigers get a win to keep that season alive as they chase a first premiership in a decade and while last Saturday's performance was disappointing, Lim knows what his team is capable of.

"It's definitely the mindset thing on game day. We're prepared incredibly well by coaching staff and all the support staff throughout the week, and they put us in a really good position to come out and perform every week," Lim said.

"Us as players have to take the brunt of the blame for the poor performances we have dished up this season when we essentially haven’t come to play. It's disappointing that we did that in such a big stage in a qualifying final which could have set us up for the double chance to make it into the Grand Final. 

"Now we've lost that and the feeling that there is no tomorrow if we don’t show up again could be an extra motivator this week. We've really got to come out of the blocks firing and we know our best footy will get it done."

Peel Thunder coach Geoff Valentine liked the way his team fought to overcome South Fremantle on Sunday and will now look to try and replicate the pressure that East Fremantle applied on Claremont in Sunday's cut-throat clash. 

"South Fremantle were at their best early and they really dragged us into the trenches with their contested style of play with a lot of stoppages so we couldn’t get going. But the boys hung tough and we wrestled back a bit of momentum in the second half there," Valentine said.

"East Fremantle really took it to Claremont and their pressure around the ball was really strong, and they just denied Claremont their game and forced them into a happy handball game, and caused them to turn the ball over.

"There was a lot to learn from how East Fremantle did their work defensive and then what they did on offensively on the back of that. We'll go to work on that and see if we can't do the same now this week."