WAFL Preliminary Final PreviewFriday, September 12, 2014 - 2:41 PM - by Chris Pike

SUBIACO and East Fremantle meet in Sunday's WAFL preliminary final at Medibank Stadium with the winner to advance to the grand final against East Perth while the season will be over for the loser.

The Lions and Sharks face off on Sunday with bounce down set for 2.15pm while the colts' preliminary final sees Claremont face South Fremantle with Claremont and West Perth then doing battle in the reserves' preliminary final.

East Perth's league side along with Subiaco's reserves and Swan Districts' colts have already qualified for the grand finals in 2014 set for Sunday September 21 at Patersons Stadium.

PRELIMINARY FINAL: SUBIACO v EAST FREMANTLE – MEDIBANK STADIUM, SUNDAY 2.15PM
Selected teams

Subiaco and East Fremantle lost the 2011 and 2012 grand finals respectively and now they play off for the chance to meet an East Perth team who lost the 2013 decider when the Lions and Sharks meet in Sunday's preliminary final at Medibank Stadium.

The game will not only be broadcast live on television on ABC1 from 2pm, but also on radio via 720 ABC Perth, 91.3 SportFM and Hot Country Digital.

Last week, Subiaco had a chance to move straight into the grand final but lost the second semi-final to East Perth by 32 points while East Fremantle came from 30 points down at three quarter-time to beat Swan Districts by 23 points in the first semi-final at East Fremantle's ATOM Stadium.

Subiaco and East Fremantle have met three times already in 2014 with the Lions winning emphatically in Round 2 by 56 points at the newly named ATOM Stadium before the Sharks got a win back in Round 13 by nine points at Medibank Stadium.

Subiaco then won by 25 points two weeks ago at home in the final round of the season but with both teams having virtually nothing to play for.

East Fremantle and Subiaco last met in a final in the 2000 preliminary final which the Sharks won to qualify for the grand final and then to go on to lose to East Perth in the decider.

Since then, though, Subiaco has dominated winning three of four games in 2001 and 2002 before then winning 20 straight matches from Round 21, 2002 up until East Fremantle finally ended the drought in Round 21, 2010 with an 11-point win at Medibank Stadium.

Subiaco responded by winning the next five, though, before the last two years has seen the Lions win two and the Sharks four in their six meetings.

By the end of the home and away season, Subiaco finished in second position on the ladder with a 14-6 record to earn the finals double chance while East Fremantle had a 12-8 record to end up 0.72 per cent clear of Swan Districts to finish third and earn the home first semi-final.

Throughout the entire 2014 season, Subiaco was the best side in attack in the competition averaging 100 points a game while East Fremantle averaged just 81 points. Both sides were even defensively with the Sharks conceding 80 points and the Lions 79.

Subiaco was also the best first quarter team in the competition outscoring its opponents by a total of 129 points over the season while East Fremantle was the second worst starting team scoring 100 points less than their opponents.

Both were strong performing teams in second quarters, lacklustre in third quarters and then in final terms, East Fremantle outscored its opponents by 34 points and Subiaco theirs by a massive 233 to be far and away the best finishing team in the WAFL.

Subiaco's reserves dominated the whole season including last Sunday's second semi-final against West Perth with several players pushing up for selection.

The most notable is Kyle Halligan who booted six goals in last Sunday's big win in the reserves while experienced half-back Scott Worthington took another step closer to returning to the league side with a solid performance on the comeback from injury.

Ruckman Frank Stockley played 16 of 20 league matches during the season for Subiaco but lost his place for the second semi-final against East Perth with Jarrad Schofield electing to go with the one ruckman and Andrew McDougall fought hard up against Paul Johnson and Callum Sinclair.

However, Stockley looks set to return for the preliminary final, though, meaning it will be the first time that he and McDougall will have played together.

That pair, particularly if the weather is fine, will leave a big job for East Fremantle big men Rob Young and James Bristow in the middle, and also for a Sharks defender to take either McDougall or Stockley while they are resting forward.

Dangerous half-forward George Hampson has had an outstanding season with Subiaco averaging almost 20 possessions a game and kicking 34 goals before missing the last two weeks through injury.

However, he looks set to return to face East Fremantle.

At this stage, Alliston Pickett is the only confirmed player out of the Subiaco team that lost to East Perth but Abe Davey, Josh Deluca, Shaun Hildebrandt and Charles Le Fanu are right on the edge of selection.

East Fremantle has not named anyone out from its team that beat Swan Districts in remarkable fashion last week, but several players are in the mix to come into the line-up.

If declared fit, State midfielder Jamie McNamara will be an automatic inclusion for the Sharks but he still has to prove that he has overcome his shoulder injury suffered in the Round 23 loss to Subiaco.

Versatile big man Danny Chartres was forced out of the team last week for the first semi-final against Swan Districts and he did well in the reserves' loss to Claremont with 26 possessions.

If Subiaco plays with both McDougall and Stockley as well as key position players Matt Boland, Lachlan Delahunty, Clancy Wheeler and Brad Stevenson, then it might open the door for East Fremantle to bring Chartres back in.

Tim Bristow and Michael Edwards are two more options in attack who East Fremantle will consider as well.