WAFL ELIMINATION FINAL MATCH REPORT

WAFL | BULLDOGS JUST FALL SHORT

South Fremantle made a strong start and finish to the elimination final on Sunday but it wasn’t quite enough with East Perth ending up winning by five points to end the WAFL premiership defence of the Bulldogs.

It was a Grand Final rematch from last year to open the 2026 WAFL finals series on Sunday afternoon with South Fremantle playing host to East Perth at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

The Bulldogs made a flying start with the first two goals of the elimination final and then also kicking the last goal of the contest and continuing to attack late.

But it wasn’t quite to be with East Perth holding on for the 8.9 (57) to 7.10 (52) victory to advance to a first semi-final against Perth while ending the premiership defence of South Fremantle.

Isiah Winder put in a brilliant individual performance all afternoon for South Fremantle finishing with 31 possessions, 10 marks, three inside-50 entries and two goals.

The South Fremantle back-line held up strongly even in the absence of Noah Strom and Ethan Hughes with Lewis Rayson finishing with 27 possessions and 13 marks, Chad Pearson 26 touches and 10 marks, and Jacob Whan 21 disposals and 12 marks.

Matthew Parker also ended up with 26 possessions, Tom Blechynden 25, Jake Florenca 24, Jamaine Jones 19, Aaron Drage 18, Toby Dodds 17, Jacob Sax 16 and ruckman Hamish Free 15 to go with 25 hit outs.

South Fremantle made the perfect start to the elimination final with a goal out the back to Kyle Russell inside the first 30 seconds.

The Bulldogs then had the first two goals of the contest with some nifty work from Trey Ruscoe on the goal line to keep the ball in play to put it in the path of Brandon Donaldson who was able to grab it and kick truly.

That saw the Bulldogs leading by 14 points after the first 11 minutes with the first four scores of the game but East Perth answered with two goals before quarter-time to get that lead back to two points.

It was tough going for both teams in the second quarter and the only goal ended up being kicked by the Royals through Ben Middleton just before half-time which gave the visitors the three-point lead going into the main break.

East Perth then also kicked the first two goals of the second half to push out to a 14-point advantage before South Fremantle eventually got their third goal thanks to Isiah Winder at the 14-minute mark of the third quarter.

Winder then added a second four minutes later and Lucas Robinson kicked another before after the three quarter-time siren Tarkyn Etherington kicked truly to give the Bulldogs the momentum and a three-point advantage.

But East Perth again kicked the first two goals of the last quarter to end up leading by 11 points before South Fremantle pulled it back to five at the 20-minute mark with a goal to Aaron Drage.

The Bulldogs continued to attack and Ashton Ferreira hit the post at the 23-minute mark and the Royals ended up holding on for the five-point win.

And going back to Saturday morning, South Fremantle’s Colts took on Claremont in a qualifying final at Revo Fitness Stadium and despite a big fourth quarter it was the Tigers holding on to win 11.9 (75) to 10.7 (67).

Claremont kicked four goals to two in the first quarter before another four to two in the second term to go into the half-time break leading by 26 points.

It was another three goals to two in favour of the Tigers in the third quarter to see them leading by 32 points at three quarter-time.

That left the Bulldogs with plenty to do in the last quarter but they gave it their best shot kicking the only four goals but ending up falling eight points short in the finish.

Sam Hookham ended up kicking four goals for South Fremantle with Ayrton Howard and Cam Maynard kicking two apiece.

Chance Vanderhoek collected 21 possessions for the Bulldogs, Hudson Graham 18, Zac Godwin 16, Kaidan Freight 15, Elijah Nathan 14 and Byron Foster 14 to go with 14 hit outs, five marks, five tackles and five inside-50 entries.

South Fremantle will now take on West Perth this Saturday morning in the first semi-final at Mandurah’s Lane Group Stadium with the winner to advance to a preliminary final against either East Fremantle or Claremont.

SULLIVAN LOGISTICS WAFL PREMIERSHIP SEASON – ELIMINATION FINAL

SOUTH FREMANTLE                        2.2          2.5          6.8          7.10        (52)

EAST PERTH                                       2.0          3.2          6.5          8.9          (57)

SOUTH FREMANTLE – Goals: Winder 2; Etherington, Drage, Robinson, Donaldson, Russell.

Best: Winder, Parker, Rayson, Pearson, Whan, Blechynden, Florenca.

EAST PERTH – Goals: Middleton 2; Craven, Schofield, Kuek, North, Ameduri, Graham.

Best: Brayshaw, Tedesco, Soutar, Foley, Ameduri, Van Diemen, North.