Qualifying Final Preview v West Perth

IT'S a big day at Fremantle Community Bank Oval on Saturday with South Fremantle's league side hosting West Perth in the qualifying final while the colts play East Fremantle in an elimination final.

The day gets underway at Fremantle Community Bank Oval on Saturday from 9.15am with the colts elimination final between South Fremantle and East Fremantle with the Bulldogs coming off an impressive win at East Fremantle Oval over the Sharks a week earlier.

Then following a reserves elimination final between West Perth and Swan Districts, South Fremantle plays West Perth in the league qualifying final for a second time in three years at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

All season long the Bulldogs and Falcons have been battling it out to see not only who could finish the season in second position on the WAFL ladder, but also be the biggest challenger for the undefeated and seemingly invincible Subiaco.

That has led to two close battles with South Fremantle winning by eight points at HBF Arena in Round 3 and then just five points in Round 18 at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

Because of the closeness of those two results this year it suggests there is little between the teams, but the reality is South Fremantle has had the wood over West Perth for three years now.

Going back to the start of 2016, South Fremantle has now won eight consecutive matches against West Perth with those victories coming at an average of 41.5 points.

That included a 52-point victory in the qualifying final of 2016 that was also held at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

Now they meet once more in Saturday's opening to the 2018 WAFL Finals Series with the game to begin at 2.40pm and to be broadcast live on Channel 7 from 2.30pm.

Radio coverage will also be provided by ABC Perth, 91.3 SportFM, KIX Digital, Noongar Radio and Footy Radio.

The winner of Saturday's qualifying final at Fremantle Community Bank Oval will move into the second semi-final next Sunday against Subiaco at Leederville Oval with a chance to book a spot straight into the 2018 Grand Final at Optus Stadium.

The loser on Saturday will go on to host a first semi-final next Sunday as well against the winner of this Sunday's elimination final between Claremont and East Perth at Claremont Oval.

The game will be fascinating all over the field and none more so in the middle starting with the ruck battle between South Fremantle's Brock Higgins and West Perth's Chris Keunen with 325 games of WAFL experience between the pair.

South Fremantle's midfield will be led by Shane Hockey, Nick Suban, Marlion Pickett, Haiden Schloithe, Jacob Dragovich, Ryan Cook and Dylan Main with them facing West Perth's Shane Nelson, Aaron Black, Luke Meadows, Trent Manzone, Corey Chalmers, Mitch Peirce and Dean Munns.

It's a distinctly different-looking South Fremantle forward-line without Ben Saunders and Blaine Johnson, but Mason Shaw has kicked 12 goals the past two weeks heading into the finals while Cory Dell'Olio, Matthew Parker, Ashton Hams, Zac Strom, Brandon Donaldson and even Main are dangerous.

West Perth's forward-line possess the shared Bernie Naylor Medal winners of 2018, Andrew Strijk and Tyler Keitel who kicked 43 goals apiece. Noah Strom has done well both times so far this season on Keitel while Strijk will likely be matched up on by South Fremantle's Jason Maskos.

South Fremantle comes into the finals on the back of four straight victories against West Perth, Swan Districts, Perth and East Fremantle to end the season on a 13-5 record to finish in second position for a third straight season.

West Perth finished third with an 11-7 record to have now qualified for a fourth straight finals campaign and the Falcons had the bye in Round 21 on the back of an impressive win against East Perth that stopped a two-game losing slide.

Behind Subiaco, South Fremantle (93.8 points) and West Perth (89.7) are the second and third best attacking teams in the competition while the Bulldogs (69.5) are second best defensively and the Falcons (76.5) fourth.

In terms of quarter performances throughout the season, the teams are remarkably close too with West Perth better in first quarters by five more points against their opponents than South Fremantle with the Bulldogs 98 points better in second terms, 74 points better in third quarters and then 32 points better in last quarters.

What that all suggests that with a win taking one of the teams within one more win of reaching the 2018 Grand Final, it's set to be a tremendous contest at Fremantle Community Bank Oval on Saturday.

South Fremantle coach Todd Curley is expecting his Bulldogs team to need to be at their best to overcome West Perth on Saturday.

"The thing they are this year is they are really well organised playing really selfless footy. They have probably gone back to basing themselves around defence and they've been a really good defensive team," Curley said.

"Then they have some really talented forwards with Keitel and Strijk who will share the goalkicking. Knott has bobbed up too and there's guys like Chalmers so they have a lot of guys that can score but two real key forward targets. 

"They defend really well as well and make it hard for you to score so we've had two good battles this year and I'm sure this week will be the same."

Aside from Ben Saunders who is sidelined with a knee injury, South Fremantle is just about back to full strength for the qualifying final on Saturday.

Ruckman Brock Higgins returns from a concussion suffered two weeks ago against Perth while Ryan Cook, Marlion Pickett, Cory Dell'Olio, Ashton Hams and Brandon Donaldson all come straight back into the team having missed last Saturday's 113-point win against East Fremantle.

Last week's debutants Blair Della Franca and Regan Spooner both go straight out of the team for South Fremantle despite encouraging performances against the Sharks with Jarrod Parry also out after his third league appearance of 2018.

West Perth's team is also significantly strengthened from the line-up that beat East Perth a fortnight ago with Mark Hamilton, Michael Lourey and Jay van Berlo coming straight back into the team.

Rudy Riddoch and Scott Nelson are also in the mix at the selection table for the Falcons while Dylan Yem and Jacob Turner go out of the side.

QUALIFYING FINAL
SOUTH FREMANTLE v WEST PERTH – FREMANTLE COMMUNITY BANK OVAL, SATURDAY 2.40PM
Broadcast – Channel 7, ABC Radio, 91.3 SportFM, KIX Digital, Noongar Radio, Footy Radio

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