WA Football Commission

Grand Finals PreviewWednesday, August 24, 2016 - 11:06 AM

2016 WAWFL League Grand Final: East Fremantle v Swan Districts

Game Preview
Both comfortable finishers inside the top four, East Fremantle and Swan Districts have been dominant forces of the WAWFL for season 2016. East Fremantle will be hungry to break their five year premiership drought, having won their last flag in 2011. On the other end, Swan Districts will be chasing history to win three flags in the space of four years.
Despite their previous encounter in June at ATOM stadium, which saw the Sharks defeat the Swans by 13 points, the Sharks will head into this match as the underdogs.

Head to Head in 2016
Round 3: ATOM Stadium  
Swan Districts def East Fremantle
9.8 (62) to 4.8 (32)
No home ground advantage didn’t bother the Swans, as they had their biggest win over East Fremantle for 2016 only three rounds into the season with a telling five goal victory.

Round 5: Steel Blue Oval
Swan Districts def East Fremantle
8.6 (54) to 5.4 (34)
Asha Price & Kellie-Maree Gibson kicked five goals between them to help Swan Districts to a healthy 20 point win over the Sharks in round five.

Round 10: ATOM Stadium
East Fremantle def Swan Districts
5.10 (40) to 4.3 (27)
Despite being an inaccurate day for the Sharks on the scoreboard, Jessica Wuetschner, Belinda Smith, Emma Swanson, Latoya Wallace & Gabrielle O’Sullivan had the goal scoring goods to help the Sharks over the line by 13 points in round 10.

The finals road to the grand final
East Fremantle sent South Fremantle packing with a 78 point demolition in the first week of the elimination-finals at Dianella Open space, automatically winning them a spot in the preliminary final at Lathlain Park. Not only did they back up their stellar performance from the week earlier, but they overcame their underdog status with a convincing win over the minor premiers the Coastal Titans by 27 points.Having finished in second position, the Swans needed to only secure a win in the semi-finals to progress strait into the grand final, with a 23 point win over the Coastal Titans winning them a grand final spot and a deserved week off before the big decider.  

WAWFL premiership history
Swan Districts: 2013, 2014.
East Fremantle: 2009, 2011.  

2016 Ladder Finishes
Swan Districts: 2nd - 11 wins, 3 losses, 1 draw 
East Fremantle: 3rd - 9 wins, 6 losses 

Reserves: Coastal Titans v Joondalup Falcons

The finals road to the grand final
A low scoring affair for the history books; the Coastal Titans defeated the Joondalup Falcons by the slimmest of margins in their preliminary final, escaping one point winners to progress into the grand final against the Joondalup Falcons, winning 2.5 (17) to 2.4 (16). A week earlier, the Falcons muscled their way past a fired up Coastal Titans to confirm themselves a well-fought out spot in the 2016 WAWFL Reserves Grand Final. The occasion was met with four quarters of fast paced, high quality football from both sides, but it was the Falcons with all the answers as they ran out 31 point winners.

The Grand Final
The Titans will regroup and will hope to take the momentum and confidence from their heroic one point victory into Sunday's grand final. Having completed season 2016 as the minor premiers atop the WAWFL reserves ladder, the Falcons reserves will look to back up that impressive feat with their first flag since 2007. Taking place at 12pm following the youth girls, it sure is shaping up to be an unmissable grand final.

Youth Girls: Peel Thunderbirds v Swan Districts

Taking place at 10:00am before the reserves take the stage at Medibank Stadium, the Peel Thunderbirds will take on Swan Districts in the Youth Girls grand final for 2016.

The Thunderbirds flew past the Angels in their qualifying final to come out 44 point winners and secure themselves a 2016 grand final spot. Their opponents were determined a week later, as Swan Districts held on to defeat the Angels by 5 points in a heart-stopper. This game shapes up to be a fierce grand final and a true snapshot of the women’s football stars of tomorrow.