WAFL – BULLDOGS LEAGUE, COLTS INTO GRAND FINAL

The South Fremantle league and colts teams won their second semi-final match ups on Saturday at Fremantle Community Bank Oval to book their place already in the WAFL grand finals at Optus Stadium.

It was a massive day of finals football at Fremantle Community Bank Oval on Saturday beginning with the colts with South Fremantle winning the second semi-final derby 7.17 (59) to 4.5 (29) against East Fremantle.

The season was then ended for the reserves with East Perth beating South Fremantle 9.5 (59) to 5.10 (40) but then the league team was dominant to book in a grand final place where the Bulldogs beat the Royals 12.7 (79) to 3.2 (20).

Finals goals might not count towards the Bernie Naylor Medal but Trey Ruscoe is now the leading goalkicker for 2025 with five goals from 10 kicks and five marks in the second semi-final win.

Brandon Donaldson made the most of his three kicks by kicking two goals while ruckman Hamish Free was outstanding with 18 disposals, 40 hit outs and two goals.

There were plenty more big time performers for South Fremantle with Jake Florenca gathering 31 possessions, Isiah Winder 30, Tom Blechynden 20, Matthew Parker 20, Lewis Rayson 16, Matt Ward 15 and Roan O’Hehir 15.

The rain was tumbling down to start the second semi-final at Fremantle Community Bank Oval but Trey Ruscoe gave South Fremantle the perfect start with a goal on the run from inside the centre square that bounced home.

Brandon Donaldson added another goal later in the first quarter and by quarter-time it was the Bulldogs leading by eight points.

South Fremantle then held East Perth scoreless in the second term while Ruscoe kicked a second goal and Matt Ward added another to see the Bulldogs go into the half-time on top by 20 points with the Royals having one scoring shot for that lone goal.

South Fremantle took further control to open the third quarter with goals to Hamish Free and Ruscoe in the first nine minutes before Jake Florenca added another to push that advantage out to 39 points.

Free kicked a second for the quarter as well and as a result the Bulldogs were well in control leading by 40 points at three quarter-time.

South Fremantle then made sure there would be no East Perth comeback with early fourth quarter goals to Ruscoe and Roan O’Hehir. Ruscoe then added a fifth and Donaldson a second with the Bulldogs booking in a grand final spot with the 59-point victory.

The day’s action at Fremantle Community Bank Oval got underway with a derby in the colts second semi-final with a spot in the grand final going on the line with South Fremantle playing host to East Fremantle.

Only percentage separated the two teams at the end of the home and away season so the stage was set for a tremendous contest.

It took more than 12 minutes for the first goal of the second semi-final and that went the way of South Fremantle thanks to Jack McAuliffe.

That would prove the only goal of the opening term as well with the Bulldogs going into the quarter-time break leading by seven points.

South Fremantle then also kicked the first goal of the second quarter through Taj Longmuir before East Fremantle got on the board with their first of the game at the 17-minute mark.

Cian Bushe-Jones closed the half with South Fremantle’s third goal, though, and that saw the home team head into the half-time break on top by 11 points.

East Fremantle then made the flying start to the second half with two quick goals in the opening five minutes to briefly grab the lead, but it wouldn’t last long with South Fremantle controlling the rest of the stanza.

That included a goal to Fred Rodriguez and on the back of that the Bulldogs went into three quarter-time still leading by 12 points.

The Sharks got back within seven points early in the fourth quarter, but South Fremantle continued to have the answers and goals to Toby Whan, Ryda Luke and Longmuir sealed the 30-point win and to be the first team into the grand final in two weeks at Optus Stadium.

Taj Longmuir kicked two goals with 14 possessions and eight tackles in the win for South Fremantle with Lucas Robinson best on ground with 35 disposals, 12 tackles, seven marks and six inside 50s.

Toby Whan also picked up 27 touches, Max Thomas 20, Fred Rodriguez 20, Lucas Cattalini 17, Zac Godwin 17, Jack McAuliffe 16 (10 tackles) and Jacob Donald 15.

That led into the first semi-final of the reserves also at Fremantle Community Bank Oval with the seasons going on the line for both South Fremantle and East Perth.

With both teams having their league teams in the finals too, they had strong line-ups and it was East Perth who started on fire with three goals in the opening eight minutes of the contest.

The Royals added a fourth just before quarter-time and as a result were leading by 24 points at the first change.

East Perth also kicked the first goal of the second quarter before South Fremantle eventually got on the board at the 19-minute mark thanks to Mitch Geier.

Geier then added a second just before half-time which cut the Royals lead back to 20 points at the main break.

East Perth were back to a 26-point lead with the first goal of the third quarter too and that would be the only major of the term with the Royals leading by 21 points still by three quarter-time.

East Perth came out to kick the first two goals of the last quarter too to open up a 34-point lead before South Fremantle were back within 13 points following a couple of goals to Dylan Main and another to Jordan Boullineau.

East Perth, though, held on for the 19-point win to end the season in the reserves for the Bulldogs.

Dylan Main and Mitch Geier kicked two goals apiece for South Fremantle with the latter also having 18 possessions and 10 tackles for the game.

Nick Stuhldreier also gathered 23 possessions for the Bulldogs, Robbie Turnbull 15, Jacob Whan 15, Connor McDonald 15, Brady Alvaro 15, Toby McQuilkin 14 and Josh Branchi 14 to go with 37 hit outs in the ruck.

SULLIVAN LOGISTICS WAFL FINALS SERIES – SECOND SEMI-FINAL

SOUTH FREMANTLE                        2.2          4.2          8.5          12.7        (79)

EAST PERTH                                       1.0          1.0          2.1          3.2          (20)

SOUTH FREMANTLE – Goals: Ruscoe 5; Donaldson, Free 2; Florenca, Ward, O’Hehir.

Best: Winder, Free, Florenca, Ruscoe, N Strom, Blechynden, Parker, Ward.

EAST PERTH – Goals: Burgiel, Schofield, Graham.

Best: Wright, Tedesco, Baker, Scott, Brayshaw.