G’day friends! It’s a particularly happy Monday for East Fremantle after claiming a WAFLW flag that few people expected down in Freo yesterday.
I took the family down and the vibes were great. If you haven’t been to a WAFLW decider, chuck it in the diary next year. It was certainly a better use of time than watching a strange, semi-lifeless round 24 in the AFL.
And speaking of deciders, if you’re heading to the WAFL GF in a few weeks, keep an eye out, we’re planning something pretty cool pre-game.
In today’s newsletter: Pain over for Eagles, breakout game from a Freo forward, the WAFLW grand final upset, Axel’s big day out in the ressies and a Freo NGA goes crazy in his colts debut.
Let’s get stuck in.
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WEST COAST
Hawks 16.11 (107) def Eagles 6.9 (45)
The positive to take out of this is that the pain is over. The Eagles finish the year on an 11-game losing streak and all out of gas.
I think when there’s a bit if distance, West Coast fans can look at this season as one where things started to get better, rather than worse, for the first time. The first half of the season was good. There’s plenty of kids and mature-aged finds running through the 23. And there’s more high picks to come.
One of those mature-aged finds finished with a bang. Milan Murdock had one of his best games against the Hawks. Three goals, 24 disposals, seven score involvements.
FREMANTLE
Blues 18.11 (119) def Dockers 12.10 (82)
This was a weird round and a weird game. The result was annoying, but the Dockers had nothing to play for and it showed.
Freo’s qualifying final match-up has been sorted. They’ll play the Hawks at Optus Stadium - times and days are TBC but it sounds like it’s likely to be the Thursday.
Losing Brennan Cox will hurt. We’re still yet to hear the extend of his calf injury, but he’ll miss the Hawks game at the very least. Oscar McDonald is there to replace him, but Cox at his best is better than McDonald, and it generally takes a while to get back to your best after a calf.
AFLW
After a disappointing first-up loss in round one, the Dockers did a complete 180 and looked full of run and dangerous when going forward. From the bounce against the Pies, Freo were in control to run out 20-point winners.
This was Bella Smith’s breakout game. The key forward kicked three and had a major say in proceedings. She had a tough first year last season after joining the Dockers from Sydney, but looks to have found her groove.
When Freo are up and going, so much points back to Mim Strom. The All-Australian ruck was the leading possession-getter on the ground. She finished with 28, nine clearances, a goal and 28 hit-outs. Elite and still getting better.
The Eagles will be doing some soul-searching this week. Gold Coast have a lot of young talent, but the Eagles should have been able to handle them on their own deck. Instead the Suns belted them by 35 points.
Amy Franklin was a bright spark. She had one of her best games at the level, finishing with three goals.
WAFLW GRAND FINAL
East Fremantle 3.5 (23) def Swan Districts 2.7 (19)
Going into finals, if anyone told you they predicted this, they would have been lying. The Sharks were up and down through they year. They defended better than most other teams, but were generally a rung below Swans and Claremont. Now they are premiers, after knocking both of those teams off in an outstanding finals run.
The grand final came down to the last quarter. Swan Districts led for most of the game, but Sharks started to gain control of the ball and the momentum late - and that translated to two goals, including the winner from Sienna Jezierski-Brow with three minutes to go.
It’s not the medal she wanted on the day, but Jaime Henry capped her outstanding year with the Lou Knitter Medal as best-on, polling eight of a possible nine votes. She finished with 31 disposals and 11 tackles.
It was the opposite result in the Rogers Cup. They had to go to golden point, but Swan Districts claimed the win over East Fremantle by one point. And it was Sharks tall Avuya Nomlatyu taking home the best on ground medal in a losing side.
WAFL
A crazy final round. The live ladder was jumping all over the place, but in the end Perth, South Fremantle and East Perth made finals and Subiaco and West Coast missed out.
Heath Mellody is very good at footy. In his second league game, the likely top-10 pick had 33 disposals, 10 tackles and seven inside-50s in a win over West Coast. He did as he pleased, and even kicked a beautiful goal on the run from 45m that killed off any chance of an Eagles comeback in the fourth quarter. One of the best game you’ll see from a teenager at the level.
Told you Trey Ruscoe was a game-changer for Souths. They had a nail-biting win over Peel Thunder to claim their finals spot and Ruscoe kicked five. Chad Pearson held strong in defence too, in a very nice showing.
Subiaco did everything they could but it wasn’t enough. They beat East Perth by 35 and Stefan Giro filled the stat sheet with 26 disposals, six tackles, six inside-50s and a goal.
Tyler Keitel has claimed his sixth Bernie Naylor Medal, kicking two goals to Aaron Clarke’s two behinds. The Demons got the win, and a top-three finish, so I’m sure Clarke isn’t that cut up about it.
Tasmanian target Axel Walsh ended up playing reserves for East Perth and did a bit of everything. Three goals, 19 disposals, 23 hit-outs. Could a league debut in a final be looming this weekend?
WAFL COLTS
A draw with Perth was enough for West Perth to claim fifth spot and a finals berth. East Freo finish top, joined by Souths, Claremont, Subiaco and the Falcons.
16-year-old forward Jed McGuane starred for the Falcons in the draw, kicking five goals in a breakout performance.
The Sharks are in incredible form. They rolled Swan Districts 133-15 and two Fremantle NGA players were leading the charge. Finlay Yeo had one of the games of his life with four goals from 30 disposals. Under-16 All-Australian Aiden Martignago was the other - he had 36 disposals and three goals in his colts debut.
Over at Subiaco it was Sam O’Brien filling his boots with two goals from 37 disposals in a win over East Perth.
That’s us all caught up.
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Catch you next week.