WAFL Round 9 – So that was the Dee-plan
Finally a reason for Demon celebration!
Remember all of those WAFL final four shaping scenarios we speculated about last week? Well they all happened.
Saturday started with Subiaco in fourth place and needing a win over West Perth to be secure and a competitive effort to make finals fairly certain. By three quarter time the Lions were down by 46 points and in danger of giving East Perth an unlikely look at the finals. Subi kicked five goals to one in the last quarter to go down by 19 points.
Meanwhile at Leederville, East Perth were on top but not dominating a plucky Peel. They led by 25 points at three quarter time when perhaps they got the message the season could be extended. In the last quarter the Royals scored 7.4 to nothing.
Scott Jones marks close to goal for East Perth.
When the calculators stopped clicking at about 4.50pm East Perth had jumped over Subiaco and were in fourth place… by 0.7%.
Subi’s late revival hadn’t done them any good, but it had harmed West Perth who missed second spot by 0.2% to Claremont.
But there was more to come.
In the late game Perth needed to beat the undefeated South Fremantle to make the finals for the first time in 22 years.
The Demons were down by nine points at three quarter time but scored 1.8 to nothing in the last quarter to pull off the victory. It really would have been more fitting and Demon-like for Perth to score ten behinds to wipe off the deficit.
In the Sunday game Swan Districts finished the season with a flurry with a 31-point win over East Fremantle. It was the last game for East Fremantle captain Jonathon Griffin and Swan Steven Payne (East Perth’s Fairest and Best winner in 2014).
Round 9
West Perth 12.5 (77) d Subiaco 8.10 (58)
East Perth 15.11 (101) d Peel 4.6 (30)
Perth 8.18 (66) d South Fremantle 9.7 (61)
Swan Districts 11.9 (75) d East Fremantle 6.8 (44)
Finals Week 1
First Semi: West Perth v Perth (Arena Joondalup)
Second Semi: South Fremantle v Claremont (Fremantle Oval)
A farewell to Jonathon Griffin & Steven Payne.
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About Les Everett
A Footy Almanac veteran, Les Everett is the author of Gravel Rash: 100 Years of Goldfields Football and Fremantle Dockers: An Illustrated History. Co-founder with Vin Maskell of scoreboardpressure.com. Founder of australianrules.com.au and the Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/abandonedcricketpitches/
Terrific WAFL season. Getting rid of the AFL parasites made it a much more even comp – where every team was trying to win rather than “develop players”. I’ve seen Swan Districts against all the finalists and Claremont looked the most impressive for mine. Haiden Schloithe was a standout when we played SF but the rest of them didn’t impress me and their recent form is sketchy.
Things about WAFL I love:
– the grounds are big and dry;
– players are fit and talented but not so mega-fit for constant rotations and a dozen players at every contest;
– skill errors create turnovers so teams have to take the game on with run and long kicking (a la 80’s and 90’s AFL) and can’t play mindless ring a rosie possession tactics:
– good spirit in crowds where fans from both sides have to co-exist (two team towns make for Colliseum moronic fans);
– fans are happy at WAFL games; angry at AFL games (constant idiots screaming for frees – who embarrassingly support your team).
-– West Perth
— Daylight
23 years Les! As told to me by me old mate and Demons stalwart, Hassa Allen. Man was he up and about. Great for the club.
What a great year for the WAFL and what a finish for the home and away season, the competition and for stats fans everywhere.
Cheers
Rick… I used calculus