Royal upset in Qualifying Final kickstarts WAFL finals seriesSaturday, August 30, 2025 - 5:12 PM - by Jordan McArdle

East Perth pulled off a massive upset over Claremont at Revo Fitness Stadium in Saturday’s Qualifying Final.

The Royals booked a Second Semi-Final date with minor premiers South Fremantle at Fremantle Community Bank Oval next Saturday with a hard-fought 13-point win.

The 10.6 (66) to 7.11 (53) result was a remarkable turnaround for East Perth after doing down to Claremont by nine points just a week earlier.

Sandover medallist Hamish Brayshaw was instrumental in the victory, racking up a game-high 31 disposals to go with four tackles and a goal.

Brayshaw was one of several players rested last week in what proved to be a masterstroke from coach Ross McQueen and the selection committee.

Fellow co-captain Christian Ameduri also starred after a week off last week, booting two goals from 24 disposals to go with eight tackles.

Zac Raykos continued his strong form with 26 touches and a whopping 11 tackles, while former Eagle Coby Burgiel provided a forward spark with two majors.

Claremont’s recent trend of slow starts continued with East Perth kicking the opening two goals of the contest and three of the first four with Brayshaw in everything.

But the Tigers bounced back to level the scores at 19 apiece with Zac Mainwaring nailing a tough shot from the boundary after Jye Bolton kickstarted the surge.

Goal-kicking became difficult in the second term with Claremont unable to capitalise on their scoring shots, kicking 1.6 to East Perth’s 1.2 to cut the five-point quarter-time margin to one at the main break.

East Perth made their move in the third quarter, taking all of 15 seconds to open the scoring through speedster Burgiel who kicked a beauty on the run.

Key forward Kieran Gowdie was trying to keep Claremont in it with two third-quarter goals on the way to a game-high three majors.

The Royals’ lead was up to 20 points midway through the final term when Ameduri kicked his second.

Gowdie’s third made things interesting but East Perth hung on for a memorable win to kickstart their Sullivan Logistics WAFL finals campaign.

The Royals also prevailed in the reserves, keeping their premiership hopes alive with a 42-point Elimination Final win over Perth earlier in the day.

In the EGT WAFL Colts Qualifying Final, East Fremantle defeated Claremont by 25 points to setup a Fremantle derby Second Semi-Final clash against South Fremantle next Saturday.

Sharks young gun Finlay Yeo took one of the marks of the season, while West Coast father-son prospect Charlie Banfield starred in a losing cause for the Tigers with 33 disposals and two goals.

Finals action continues on Sunday at The Good Grocer Park with East Fremantle hosting Perth in the league Elimination Final from 2.10pm.

In the reserves Qualifying Final, South Fremantle take on Swan Districts from 11.25am, while West Perth take off against the Black Ducks in the EGT WAFL Colts from 8.50am.

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