Optus WAFLW Round 14 WrapTuesday, June 8, 2021 - 12:12 PM - by Chris Pike

THE final four in the WAFLW competition for 2021 is now set but it's going to be quite the cracking finals series based on the action we saw on Saturday with the lower ranked teams winning their match ups.

Coming into Round 14 of the Optus WAFLW Premiership Season, there was still an outside chance of 2019 premiers East Fremantle sneaking into fourth position with two rounds to go, but Subiaco snuffed out that chance for the Sharks with their own win on Saturday.

That means that Swan Districts, Peel Thunder, Claremont and Subiaco will be the four teams taking part in the WAFLW finals series this year, but all four appear to have a genuine chance at taking out the premiership.

Round 14 got underway on Saturday afternoon at Mandurah's David Grays Arena with Peel Thunder handing Swan Districts its first defeat of the season after 13 straight wins, prevailing 6.3 (39) to 2.6 (18).

East Fremantle then proved too good in the derby to keep South Fremantle winless so far in the WAFLW competition winning 13.7 (85) to 2.3 (15) at East Fremantle's New Choice Homes Park.

Subiaco then guaranteed its finals position and kept alive their hopes of still finishing third to host the first semi-final with a thrilling 4.4 (28) to 4.3 (27) win over Claremont at Claremont's Revo Fitness Stadium.

The Round 14 results mean that with one week of the WAFLW season remaining, Swan Districts (13-1) is still clear out on top ahead of Peel Thunder (10-4) who are also locked into second position ahead of their second semi-final match up.

Claremont's (7-7) hold on third position is now precarious with he Tigers only percentage ahead of Subiaco (7-7) with home ground advantage in their first semi-final clash still to be determined.

East Fremantle (5-9) and South Fremantle (0-14) are the two teams out of finals contention.

In Round 14 of the WAFLW Reserves, East Fremantle beat South Fremantle 16.13 (109) to 0.1 (1) at New Choice Homes Park while Peel Thunder defeated Swan Districts 5.5 (35) to 3.8 (26), and Claremont overpowered Subiaco 11.7 (73) to 0.3 (3) at Revo Fitness Stadium.

And in the Youth Girls Rogers Cup, South Fremantle beat East Fremantle 4.6 (30) to 1.3 (9), West Perth won big 10.0 (60) to 0.1 (1) against East Perth, Peel Thunder defeated Swan Districts 4.18 (42) to 2.1 (13) and Claremont thrashed Subiaco 11.10 (76) to 1.1 (7).

OPTUS WAFLW PREMIERSHIP SEASON – ROUND 14

PEEL THUNDER 6.3 (39) defeated SWAN DISTRICTS 2.6 (18)

Peel Thunder set the stage for a cracking second semi-final by handing Swan Districts its first loss of the 2021 season with the 21-point win at home on Saturday.

Both Swan Districts and Peel are locked into the top two positions no matter how results go over the last couple of rounds, but that made Saturday's game at Mandurah's David Grays Arena fascinating just two weeks ahead of their inevitable second semi-final.

They will be playing off for a Grand Final berth to open the finals series and Peel will be feeling good about their prospects after the reigning premiers delivered a 21-point victory on home soil on Saturday.

Peel started off in tremendous fashion on Saturday afternoon against the undefeated Swan Districts with the three goals to one in the first quarter.

Both teams then kicked a goal apiece in the second quarter which saw the Thunder head into the half-time interval leading by seven points.

Peel was able to kick away further with another two goals in the third quarter while keeping Swan Districts scoreless as they opened up a match-winning advantage.

The Thunder went on to score the 6.3 (39) to 2.6 (18) victory to give Swan Districts their first loss of the season and just two weeks out from that second semi-final meeting between the two teams.

The impressive win from the reigning premiers saw Kate Barlett kick another two goals for Peel while Ella Roberts, Kaitlyn Hayes, Aisha Wright and Kira Phillips all kicked one apiece.

Hayes, Cassie Davidson, Sabreena Duffy, Ebony Bilcich and Tanisha Anderson all had terrific performances in the win for the Thunder.

It was the first taste of defeat for 2021 for Swan Districts with Kloe Taylor and Sarah Wielstra kicking a goal apiece.

The best players on the afternoon for Swans included Wielstra, Eliza Gelmi, Mikayla Hyde, Taylor and Stephanie Cain.
 

EAST FREMANTLE 13.7 (85) defeated SOUTH FREMANTLE 2.3 (15)

It was derby day on Saturday and East Fremantle proved too good once again for South Fremantle recording the 70-point victory even with both teams out of finals calculations.

East Fremantle played host to South Fremantle at New Choice Homes Park on Saturday in the second last round of 2021 Optus WAFLW Premiership Season, and the Sharks again proved too strong.

The miracle East Fremantle still needed to be a finals chance ended with Subiaco also beating Claremont on Saturday so the Sharks were no longer playing to keep their season alive but they also didn’t want to be the first team beaten by the Bulldogs in the WAFLW competition.

East Fremantle had put the game out of reach of South Fremantle by quarter-time with six goals in the first quarter with the Sharks holding the Bulldogs scoreless.

South Fremantle did manage to kick a goal in the second quarter but East Fremantle managed three more to be in control leading by 52 points at half-time.

It was more of the same after the break too with the Sharks holding the Bulldogs scoreless in the third term while kicking another three goals themselves.

It was then a goal apiece in the final quarter as East Fremantle ran out 13.7 (85) to 2.3 (15) winners in the second last game of 2021 for both teams.

The win might not have been enough to keep East Fremantle in the finals race but the 70-point margin still saw them play some impressive football on their home turf against the arch-rival.

Roisin Walsh, Chloe Reilly, Kahra Sprylan, Alex Williams and Gabby O'Sullivan kicked two goals each for East Fremantle with Lea Caccamo, Hayley O'Donnell and Madeline Ross adding one each.

Philipa Seth, Sprylan, Ross, O'Sullivan and Ashleigh Gomes were among the standout players in the big win for East Fremantle.

Chae Salbie and Liusaidh Gilchrist were the goalkickers on the derby afternoon for South Fremantle at Shark Park.

The Bulldogs still had some impressive performers who fought hard during the game including Lauren Wafker, Gilchrist, Ebony Clarkson, Sarah Wright and Ella Higgins.
 

CLAREMONT 4.3 (27) lost to SUBIACO 4.4 (28)

Subiaco beat Claremont by a point in one of the best WAFLW games of the season so far and it could just be a taste of things to come.

Subiaco needed to win the game on Saturday at Claremont's Revo Fitness Stadium to guarantee themselves a finals spot, but what it also did was keep their hopes alive of replacing the Tigers in third spot.

Claremont and Subiaco are now guaranteed of finishing either third or fourth at the end of the WAFLW season, and they are now locked in to doing battle in the first semi-final when the finals start in two weeks' time.

But now what Saturday's win for Subiaco does is leave the door open as to which team will finish third and who will get home ground advantage for that first semi-final.

Claremont started the game on fire with an impressive first quarter made up of three goals to one from the Lions.

Neither team managed to kick a goal in the second quarter with the Tigers still leading by 14 points at half-time.

Claremont then didn’t manage to score in the third quarter while Subiaco kicked two goals to set up the thrilling finish with the Tigers' lead cut to a point.

Both teams kicked a goal each for the last quarter but the two behinds Subiaco added ended up being enough for them recording the 4.4 (28) to 4.3 (27) victory.

Subiaco's four goals all came from different sources with a goal apiece from Madizen Wilkins, Amy Hunt, McKenzie Dowrick and Kia Buckley.

The best players for Subiaco in the eventual one-point win included McKenzie Dowrick, Jessica Ritchie, Ashtyn Cowie, Abbey Dowrick and Caitlin Walker.

Claremont kicked four goals for the match and they were made up of two apiece from Tessa Doumanis and Amy Franklin.

The standout performers in the one-point loss for the Tigers included Jessica Low, Emily Bennett, Emily Elkington, Sarah Garstone and Tessa Doumanis.