GRAND FINAL PREVIEW V SUBIACO

WEST Perth has the chance to win a second WAFL premiership in three years to give the Falcons a 20th flag in the club's rich history when Sunday's grand final at Domain Stadium gets underway.

The two teams might have finished first and second on the ladder at the end of the home and away season, but have since had vastly contrasting runs into the grand final on Sunday.

Subiaco ended up four games clear as minor premiers with a 17-3 record earning the Lions the break in the first week of the finals before hosting West Perth in the second semi-final at Medibank Stadium.

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West Perth started strongly, but Subiaco ended up kicking 13 of the last 16 goals in a dominant display to win by 55 points and earn another week off to prepare for the grand final.

West Perth, meanwhile, finished second with a 13-7 record and hosted Peel Thunder in the qualifying final winning by 109 points at HBF Arena and then after the second semi-final loss to Subiaco, hosted the preliminary final last Sunday against East Perth.

This time it was the Falcons who made the slow start to be 20 points down at quarter-time, but they worked their way on top of the Royals from there to end up winning by 29 points in front 8514 fans to join Subiaco in the grand final of 2015 in what will be their 12th successive match since a bye.

West Perth has won 19 WAFL premierships previously with the most recent coming in 2013 when the Falcons upset East Perth in the decider, just as Subiaco did last year.

By making the 2015 grand final, it continues a good run of success for West Perth since leaving Leederville and relocating to Joondalup at the end of 1993. That has resulted in premierships in 1995, 1999, 2003 and 2013, and grand final appearances in 1998, 2002 and now 2015.

Subiaco and West Perth have previously met four times in grand finals with the Falcons prevailing in 1935, 1995 and 2003 while the Lions one triumph came in 1973.

The two teams played one another twice during the 2015 home and away season with West Perth making a flying start in Round 4 at Medibank Stadium with four goals and holding Subiaco scoreless in the first quarter. But Subiaco kicked nine goals to two from there to win by 17 points.

West Perth then got a measure of revenge in Round 14 at HBF Arena with a 10-point victory with Subiaco suffering for kicking 15 behinds from 20 scoring shots.

Subiaco then delivered a dominant second semi-final performance at Medibank Stadium winning by 55 points in the first finals meeting between the two teams since the 2011 preliminary final also won by the Lions at HBF Arena.

With both clubs having won the last two WAFL premierships, each will feature a significant amount of premiership players.

Subiaco's team looks set to feature captain Kyal Horsley, Scott Worthington, Wayde Twomey, Chris Deluca, Matt Boland, Brett Mahoney, Chris Phelan, Lachlan Delahunty, Clancy Wheeler, Darren Rumble, Charles Le Fanu and Shane Yarran from last year's team that beat East Perth.

Rumble will be shooting for a Subiaco record extending sixth premiership with Horsley attempting to play in his third flag as is Twomey who was there for Swan Districts' premiership in 2010 alongside Brett Robinson who is attempting to play in his first flag with the Lions.

Worthington, Deluca, Boland, Mahoney, Phelan, Delahunty, Wheeler, Le Fanu and Yarran are all attempting to become dual premiership players.

Sam Menegola, Scott Hancock, Jordan Lockyer, Craig Hoskins, Kyle Halligan, Aaron Heal, Hayden Kennedy, Robinson and Michael Wood will be playing their first grand finals with Subiaco, but Menegola did play in East Fremantle's loss to Claremont in 2012.

Meanwhile, West Perth will still have Aaron Black, Andrew Strijk, Rohan Kerr, Steven Browne, Shane Nelson, Matt Fowler, Jay van Berlo, Chris Keunen, Luke Tedesco, Ray Bartholomew, Steve Potente, Nick Rodda, Kody Manning and potentially Laine Rasmussen or Jordan Jones from the 2013 premiership side.

Marcus Adams, Joe Morrow, Tyler Keitel, Michael Lourey, Aidan Lynch, Trent Manzone, Drew Rohde and Kris Shannon will be playing in their first WAFL grand finals.

That means the Falcons could still have 14 premiership players from 2013 and the Lions 12 from 2014 so experience on grand final day shouldn’t be a problem for either team.

Subiaco appears likely to enter the grand final with the same team that beat West Perth in the second semi-final despite premiership players from last year Joel Latham and Rhys Waters, along with Reece Blechynden and Simon Moore being added to the squad.

The picture isn’t quite as clear with West Perth and the Falcons will be forced to make at least make one change from the team that beat East Perth in the preliminary final after Matt Johnson tore his hamstring early in the third quarter.

Premiership veteran Ray Bartholomew appears the most likely inclusion for Johnson after ruling himself out of the preliminary final with a slight leg injury.

Vice-captain and premiership defender Laine Rasmussen remains in doubt with an ankle injury and that's where the selection dilemma exists for coach Bill Monaghan with Jordan Jones, Corey Chalmers, Luke Meadows and Blake Wilhelm all in the mix for that potential spot.

There will be plenty of crucial match-ups all over the field as well starting in the middle with the ruck battle as Subiaco's successful makeshift duo Clancy Wheeler and Lachlan Delahunty lock horns with West Perth's premiership ruckman Chris Keunen.

Subiaco's experienced big-bodied midfielders Horsley, Phelan, Kitchin, Menegola, Robinson and Hancock were all dominant in the second semi-final win but West Perth will be confident of Shane Nelson, Aaron Black, Trent Manzone, Jay van Berlo and Aidan Lynch bouncing back.

West Perth full-forward Michael Lourey is a potential match-winner leaving a big task for Rumble to try to quell his influence while the battle between Bernie Naylor Medallist Shane Yarran and West Perth's powerhouse Marcus Adams at the other end could be crucial in the final result.

LEAGUE GRAND FINAL
SUBIACO (17-3, 1st) v WEST PERTH (13-7, 2nd) – DOMAIN STADIUM, SUNDAY 2.30PM
Selected teams 
Broadcast – Channel 7, 720 ABC Perth, 91.3 SportFM, KIX Digital, 882 6PR