CLAREMONT and East Fremantle are finalising preparations for their first grand final meeting since 1994 this Sunday at Patersons Stadium, and both coaches have some tough decisions to make with three AFL-listed players set to return for the premiership decider of 2012.Sunday, September 23 - Patersons Stadium, Subiaco
Colts: 8.30am - South Fremantle v East Fremantle
Reserves: 11.15am - Claremont v East Fremantle
League: 2.15pm - Claremont v East Fremantle
Broadcast: ABC TV, ABC Radio, 990AM, Sport FM 91.3, 882 6PR
For more information on tickets and fixtures - http://www.wafl.com.au/finalsClaremont is set to regain Fremantle's Nick Suban, and East Fremantle will get back Dockers ruckman Jonathon Griffin and Eagles defender Jacob Brennan, meaning as always there will be some hard luck stories on either side.
Earlier on Sunday, South Fremantle will play East Fremantle in the colts grand final starting at 8.30am while Claremont and East Fremantle will also do battle in the reserves grand final with bounce down set for 11.15am.
Claremont qualified for the grand final by beating Swan Districts in the second semi-final at Claremont Oval two weeks ago by 32 points. That was on the back of the Tigers claiming a third straight minor premiership and now Sunday will be their third successive grand final.
Following the heartbreak of the 2010 grand final loss by a point to Swan Districts that was only emphasised by the grand final losses in 2004, 05 and 07 as well, Claremont won its first premiership last year since 1996 beating Subiaco by 56 points.
East Fremantle is currently experiencing the club's biggest ever premiership drought dating back to the last success in 1998. Since then, the Sharks made a grand final in 2000 and then lost first semi-finals in both 2002 and 2010.
That meant that coming into 2012, the Sharks had not won a premiership for 13 years, not been in a grand final for 11 or won a final of any description in 11 years either.
The Sharks have been building, though, in recent years. There was a first semi-final appearance in 2010 and then for most of 2011 they looked set to play finals before losing the last two games of the season to eventual finalists Subiaco and South Fremantle.
However, this season East Fremantle recorded a 14-6 record to finish in third position on the ladder and then beat East Perth in the first semi-final at East Fremantle Oval by 37 points and Swan Districts in last week's preliminary final at Steel Blue Oval in 27.
Even though Claremont has dominated the WAFL in recent seasons, the Tigers haven’t had an easy time against the Sharks.
Claremont did have a big win in Round 1 last year by 81 points, but East Fremantle then won the next two encounters by 25 and 45 points respectively.
Then in Round 3 this year in East Fremantle's first game of the season, the Sharks came from 36 points behind at half-time to beat Claremont by 34 points. Then it wasn’t until Round 19 for the next meeting and Claremont won that clash by 92 points at Claremont Oval.
Selection decisions for any grand final are never easy and can always lead to some stories of heartbreak and fairytale.
For Claremont captain Andrew Browne he is the heartbreaking story for the Tigers after hurting his hamstring in the second semi-final win over Swan Districts a fortnight ago.
The premiership player of last year replaced Clancy Rudeforth as captain for 2012, but it took him until Round 21 to overcome his injury problems to play his first league game for the season.
When he came in, he was in tremendous form averaging 23.5 possessions over the last four games of the home and away season, but then he hurt his hamstring in the win over Swans and now will miss Sunday's grand final.
Fremantle's Nick Suban looks set as the automatic replacement for Browne after his commitments with the Dockers for 2012 ended with last Friday night's semi-final loss to Adelaide.
With Claremont's reserves team in the grand final, there is a host of other players pressing for selection but will find it hard to break in to the league side given the form of all 21 left from the second semi-final win.
Jarryd Morton has had a good season since returning to Claremont this year and played 18 games up until losing his place in Round 24.
Brandon Franz and Alroy Gilligan are both premiership players from last year but only have played 10 games between them in the league side this year while Jack Bradshaw has shown some outstanding form kicking 19 goals from 10 games.
However, with the likes of Medhurst, Richardson, Foster and Walton in such good form, he hasn’t been able to find a spot since Round 21.
East Fremantle forward Jack Perham copped a big knock in a collision with Tallan Ames in the Sharks' win over Swan Districts last Sunday, and hasn’t come up in time to keep his spot for the grand final.
Fremantle's Griffin is right to come back for the Sharks, though, after hurting his hamstring after East Fremantle's first semi-final win over East Perth.
He is the natural replacement for Perham and with him being able to play in the ruck, it gives coach Steve Malaxos the opportunity to keep Griffin in the ruck with support from Russell Gabriel and to leave Rob Young permanently forward for the day to stretch Claremont's defence.
There is another tough call for Malaxos to make, though, with West Coast's Jacob Brennan set to return to the side also after playing for the Eagles in last Saturday night's loss to Collingwood at the MCG.
Given he will play in the back-line, someone will be desperately unlucky to miss out. Mitch Brown, Steven Dodd, Andrew Stephen, Tom Howlett and Brad Cooper were all outstanding in last week's win over Swans, leaving James Bayliss and Jayden Schofield as the two vulnerable.
Like Claremont, East Fremantle has a host of other players also still holding hope of a grand final call up in the league side including Mitch Boyle, Adam Waight and Scott Jansen.
There is set to be fascinating battles all over the field as well that will end up going a long way to deciding the WAFL premiers of 2012.
Claremont likely has the league's best forward-line and East Fremantle the strongest defence. Brown looks set to get the job on Tom Lee after the Claremont centre half-forward finished the year with 53 goals despite starting the season at centre half-back.
Steven Dodd will likely go to Chad Jones with Andrew Stephen the likely match-up for Ian Richardson, Brennan likely set for Medhurst and Howlett expected to take on Claremont young big man Jeremy McGovern.
At the other end of the ground, Claremont's James Thomson, Jess Laurie, Lewis Stevenson, Aaron Holt, David Crawford and company will have their work cut out against East Fremantle forwards Brock O'Brien, Young, Leith Teakle, Luke Weller, Sam Menegola and Brad Dick.
Then in the midfield, Mitch Andrews has a massive job in the ruck up against Griffin, Gabriel and Young.
At their feet, the inside contest between Claremont's Luke Blackwell, Byron Schammer, Jake Murphy and Tom Swift, and East Fremantle's Mark McGough, Richard Hadley and Koby Stevens will be pivotal.
Both sides have outstanding running prowess as well with Claremont led by Sandover Medallist Kane Mitchell, Andrew Foster and Weedon, and East Fremantle by Rory O'Brien, Cameron Sutcliffe, Bradd Dalziell and Sean Henson.
