West Australian Football

Claremont Colts midfielder Tom Ledger was honoured last night as the overall winner of the Colts fairest and best Jack Clarke Medal, which was presented during an AAMI WAFL Colts dinner presentation at Subiaco Oval.

The agile, high endurance midfielder, who positions himself well and finds a lot of the football, polled 36 votes to win the award ahead of Peel Thunder’s Joel Beasley on 34 votes, and East Perth’s  Ryan Maldenis and Swan’s Adam Faulkner on 33 votes each.

Ledger, who also possesses quality decision making skills, is renowned for his terrific work ethic and is greatly respected and liked by his team mates.

EAST Perth co-captain Michael Swan is pumped after the Royals' pulled off a massive finish to the season to make the finals but he knows that now they are there, there's no point not making a big impact.

The Royals looked virtually no chance of making the finals for just the third time since the hat-trick of premierships between 2000-02, but turned it around after a disastrous 2-7 start to put a host of dramas behind them to win the last six games to finish in fourth spot.

That will see East Perth travel to East Fremantle Oval to take on the Sharks in Sunday's first semi-final and it came after the Royals became just the second team all year to beat Claremont last Saturday at Medibank Stadium.

KEY Swan Districts play-maker Wayde Twomey is having a third straight outstanding WAFL season, this time with the added responsibility of stopping roles as he prepares for Sunday's second semi-final with Claremont at Claremont Oval.

Twomey arrived at Swan Districts from VFL club Werribee and over three seasons has established himself as one of the most creative players and best users of the ball coming out of defence.

While more time in the midfield might be something he craves, he has made the role across half-back his own and after being able to basically roam free in 2008 and 09, he has done some good stopping roles on dangerous forwards as well this year.

THE East Fremantle Football Club League side has waited eight years, since 2002, to participate in a WAFL finals series but the wait is over and to make the occasion even more momentous the 1st Semi Final will be played at Shark Park in what will be the first home final that the club has ever hosted at the ground.

In his third year at the helm, coach Shane Woewodin's hard work is starting to bear fruit. The League side was under pressure five weeks ago as they headed into a bye with four straight losses.

Having dropped out of the final four with four games remaining and they needed to win all four remaining home and away games, starting with a home derby versus South Fremantle, to guarantee a spot in the final series.

THE 2010 WAFL Grand Final will be played at 2.15pm on Sunday, September 19, following the Reserves Grand Final at 11am. The Colts Grand Final will be played the previous day (Saturday, September 18), kicking off at 5.30pm, with an under 23 All-Stars game to be played as the curtain-raiser at 2.45pm.

Tickets to the Grand Final are available for pre-purchase through Ticketmaster, with everyone that purchases a ticket given the opportunity to win 2 x tickets to see Bon Jovi live in concert on Wednesday, December 8, 2010 at Subiaco Oval.