Can the Black Ducks topple flag favourites Claremont in WAFLW Grand Final?Friday, August 22, 2025 - 10:44 AM - by Denholm Melrose - Perth is OK!

It’s a tale of two uniquely different stories this weekend as the WAFLW approaches its final siren in the 2025 Grand Final at Mineral Resources Park on Sunday.

Claremont, who have been the dominant side all season long, are vying for their third WAFLW premiership in their fourth consecutive Grand Final appearance. The Tigers, who spent just three weeks atop the ladder, could not be split from Subiaco through the opening 11 weeks of the season, each side undefeated and having drawn their only matchup of the year to that point.

Both Claremont and Subiaco would drop two games in the back half of the season, including both going down to South Fremantle. Subiaco’s percentage held them over the Tigers until their second matchup of the season in the final round, where Claremont would deliver a dominant performance, defeating the Lions and holding them to a single point to claim the minor premiership.

GET YOUR WAFLW GRAND FINAL TICKETS HERE

The two teams would then do battle again the next week for the right to advance straight to the big dance. In one of the most thrilling games in WAFLW history, Subiaco led when the final siren sounded, but a dubious late free kick saw Megan Green taken back to the goal square to goal after the siren, tie the score and send the game into extra time. Claremont escaped two late shots by the Lions to move on by just one point.

For Swan Districts it’s been a test of determination. The clear biggest rival to the top two sides, the Black Ducks spent 12 of the last 13 weeks of the season third on the ladder, nipping at the heels of the Lions and Tigers but unable to conquer either in their matchups.

Tasked with a two-goal deficit at three-quarter time in their own elimination final against East Fremantle, swans would pull off a miraculous comeback kicking 2.1 in the final quarter and holding the Sharks scoreless to win a thriller, also by a single point.

Then, Swan Districts made all the early running against Subiaco in last weekend’s preliminary final, protecting a lead for almost the entirety of the game, before the Lions came storming home. Stalwart Emily McGuire did plenty of damage with two goals, while Summer Adjuk added to her fine season with a late major of her own, as did Kayley King.

Swans would hold on, running out two-point victors to send Subiaco home and advance to their third WAFLW Grand Final. In their two appearances since the competitions 2019 inception, they have gone to East Fremantle and Peel Thunder by 23 and 21 points respectively.

Swans have been a stalwart of women’s football though, including four premierships in five years during the 2010s, but this will be their first grand final appearance since 2021.