Colts Second Semi-Final Preview v Claremont

SOUTH Fremantle’s colts have won the last two premierships and will be looking to make it back to another grand final heading into Sunday’s second semi-final against Claremont.

The Bulldogs colts side has had yet another strong 2013 home and away season finishing in second position on the ladder to set up a second semi-final clash on Sunday against Claremont at Claremont Oval at the later bounce down time of 11.35am.

The colts teams of the past two years have produced some outstanding AFL and WAFL talent as well.

From the 2011 side that beat Claremont by 44 points in the grand final, Haiden Schloithe, Adam Carter, Mason Shaw, Shane Kersten and Josh Bootsma are now in the AFL.

On top of that, Shannon Burnett, Jason Maskos, Brendan Verrier, James Laurino and Jacob Martinez have all played league football with South Fremantle.

The Bulldogs’ colts then made it back-to-back flags last year with a thumping 58-point grand final win over East Fremantle with Shaw and Sam Rundle kicking five goals apiece.

Marvin Warrell, Brendan Verrier, Adam Carter, Sean Lynch, Simon Panizza, Shaw, Dale Hamilton, Emmanuel Collard and Robert Thompson all played in both premiership teams meaning they have all stepped up into being senior footballers to open up room for other youngsters to step up.

Jacob Dragovich, Bailey Matera, Tim Stewart, Braden Fimmano and Jakeb Tartaglia are among those players to step up and become key players in the South Fremantle colts team of 2013.

Matthew Ah Siu has been the Bulldogs colts leading goalkicker with 25 from 20 matches but Willie Rioli came home with a rush booting 24 in just six games after beginning his season playing in the reserves.

Jermaine Lewis and Ben Sokol have both kicked 21 goals apiece for the colts side in 2013 while Cameron McCarthy kicked 20 in eight matches before going down injured.

Coming off the last two premierships and with a healthy turnover of players, South Fremantle’s colts did lose its first two games of the season against Claremont and Perth.

They bounced back with a win over West Perth but then again lost by just three points to Swan Districts.

It was then two straight wins against Subiaco and East Fremantle before another hiccup in Round 8 against East Perth.

There were then two more wins over Peel Thunder and Claremont before successive losses in Rounds 11 and 12 against East Fremantle and Subiaco.

Three straight wins had South Fremantle back on track and then after a loss to West Perth in Round 18 at Arena Joondalup, the Bulldogs finished the season with five straight victories against East Fremantle, Subiaco, Peel, East Perth and Perth.

Now if South Fremantle is able to beat Claremont in Sunday’s second semi-final at Claremont Oval the Bulldogs will be into another grand final. A loss will mean a preliminary final against the winner of the first semi-final between Perth and Subiaco being played at Steel Blue Oval.

SOUTH FREMANTLE TEAM:

Callum Ah Chee, Mathew Ah Siu, Mitchell Banks, Traye Bennell, Jordan Comeagain, James Culleton, Jye Depane, Jacob Dragovich, Braden Fimmano, William Frampton, Jarrod Garlett, Matthew Gundry, Josh Hall, Connor MacDonald, Dylan Main, Bailey Matera, Joel McComb, Bradley McPhail, Daniel Moore, Matthew Nicholson, Jarrod Pickett, Willie Rioli, Oliver Sexton, Ben Sokol, Tim Stewart, Jakeb Tartaglia, Josh Tucker, Tom Vandeleur.

CLAREMONT TEAM:

Thomas Barrass, Isaac Baum, Jack Beeck, Maximillian Bentley, Samuel Bevan, Aaron Birch, Darcy Cameron, Jack Carruthers, Harrison Court, Joel Ebert, Steven Edwards, Lawrence Evans, Joel Fiegert, Jared Hardisty, Benjamin Higgs, Timm House, Elijah Howard, Sam Humphry, Jordan Law, Ryan Lim, Harrison McCracken, Sam Petrevski-Seton, Rowen Powell, Bailey Rogers, Luke Rosher, Eddie Simpson, Nicholas Steens, Harry Taylor, Alec Waterman, Francis Watson, Mason Whitehead, Jyrin Woods.

By Chris Pike