Colts First Semi-Final Preview v East Perth

SOUTH Fremantle's colts begin its quest for a fourth straight WAFL grand final when the Bulldogs take on East Perth in a cut-throat first semi-final at Medibank Stadium this Sunday morning.

South Fremantle's colts won premierships in 2011 and 2012 before again making the grand final in 2013 and falling just short of a hat-trick of flags by going down to Claremont.

Things haven’t completely gone the Bulldogs' colts way in 2014 with a combination of key players moving on, others being injured, State duties and then in the second half of the season a host of players moving up to play reserves and league football with South Fremantle.

However, the Bulldogs team still managed to do well to win 13 games during the season with an outstanding percentage of almost 145 to only narrowly miss out on Claremont's second position and the finals double chance.

That means that South Fremantle will have to make the grand final the hard way firstly needing to beat East Perth this Sunday morning and then winning next Sunday's preliminary final against the loser of this week's second semi-final between Swan Districts and Claremont.

It is a strong line-up that South Fremantle will take into the clash on Sunday, though with the likes of Jarrod Pickett, Bailey Matera, Jarrod Garlett, Jacob Dragovich, Jack McMaster, Grant McLeod and James Culleton all returning after playing senior football recently.

Then there is the exciting and talented colts players including half-back Brad McPhail, wingman Matthew Ah Siu, ruckman Billy Frampton and full-forward Cameron Loersch who were all named in the WAFL Colts Team of the Year during the week.

South Fremantle's colts started the 2014 season impressively winning seven of its opening eight games before dropping five of seven matches between Rounds 10 and 18 when the playing stocks were depleted.

The Bulldogs rediscovered some strong form to close out the season, though, winning four of their last five matches to end up in third position to set up a clash with East Perth in the first semi-final on Sunday.

The Bulldogs and Royals met twice in the colts during the season with South Fremantle winning by 43 points at Fremantle Oval in Round 3 before also winning by 15 points at Medibank Stadium in Round 12.

COLTS FIRST SEMI-FINAL
Medibank Stadium, Sunday 9am

SOUTH FREMANTLE
C Ah Chee, M Ah Siu, S Bolton, D Brown, D Cabassi, B Collier, J Culleton, J Depane, B Donaldson, J Doubikin, J Dragovich, B Fimmano, J Florenca, J Foster, W Frampton, J Garlett, C Loersch, B Matera, J McComb, G McLeod, J McMaster, B McPhail, J Mirco, D Moore, A Nodari, L Pearson, J Pickett, A Robinson, C Salmon, K Stewart, N Strom, B Truss

EAST PERTH
C Allsop, J Anderson, T Bayok, C Borowski, K Chrisp, K Decke, B Della Franca, Z Dent, A Di Placido, J Gare, C Giblett, T Gorter, K Hadden, M Henneker, J Hick, S Hille, C Hodgson, T Ipsen, T Kalimeris, T Keitel, S Kingi, M Marinoni, J Migro, B Miller, P Modica, R Oxtoby, T Pittaway, L Smith, M Vader, M Walsh, W Young, M Zambotto