Demi excited, hungry, ready for Grand Final

Swan Districts co-captain Demi Liddle knows that her team has put in all the work to give themselves another chance in Sunday’s WAFL Women’s Grand Final and now she just can’t wait to get to Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

Liddle is in her fifth season with Swan Districts and settled into her captaincy role nicely alongside Eliza Gelmi as they prepare to lead the side into Sunday’s WAFLW Grand Final against East Fremantle at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

While the memories of last year’s heartbreak against Claremont are always still in the back of the mind, all Liddle is focused on is the job ahead of Swans because of the amount of dedication and effort it’s taken them to get back to another Grand Final.

“Excited, hungry and ready,” Liddle said.

“We’ve put a lot of work into our preparation this year and I think we can really trust the work we’ve done to get ourselves here.

“Now it’s about going out there on Sunday and getting the job done against a strong competitor.”

Double Grand Final day

Not only is Liddle and her Swan Districts’ WAFLW team preparing for a Grand Final on Sunday, but so are the Rogers Cup team and both just happen to be taking on East Fremantle.

One of the great positives of that is that the Rogers Cup players who have had chances in the WAFLW team this season, even if they haven’t quite held their spots, have a Grand Final still to look forward to playing in come Sunday.

“Having both teams in the Grand Final is something we definitely don’t take for granted,” Liddle said.

“We’ve worked really closely together throughout the year, starting in preseason when we brought a large group of Rogers Cup players up to train with the League squad.

“I think that’s really helped create that connected culture across the whole program. We’ve got incredibly talented players across both sides, and a number of the Rogers girls have stepped seamlessly into League football when they’ve had their opportunity.

“That experience will only help them heading into their own Grand Final this weekend.”

Getting another shot at it

As soon as Swan Districts suffered last year’s one-point heartbreaking Grand Final loss to Claremont, all they wanted was another shot at it in 2026.

Just wanting something doesn’t guarantee anything, though, and Swans had to put in an enormous amount of work to finish the home and away season in top spot and then beat Claremont in a second semi-final by a solitary point.

Now that the chance is ahead of them this Sunday, all Liddle is focused on is what’s in front of her and the team, and not looking back.

“Last year is part of our story and I think there are definitely things we’ve learnt and grown from, but it’s not our focus this week,” Liddle said.

“This is a new year, a different group and another opportunity. Our focus is completely on what we need to do on Sunday.”

The Sharks as Grand Final opponents

It might have been easy for people on the outside to be expecting Claremont to end up being the opponents in the Grand Final for Swan Districts again, but none of those thoughts crept inside the playing group.

Liddle and everyone at Swans are fully aware that anything can happen come finals time and East Fremantle have always been a dangerous opponent in 2026 so she’s not surprised they are who the Grand Final opponent now is.

However, seeing that preliminary final decided with the golden score rule where the winning goal was kicked by Tiani Teakle as the Sharks sunk Claremont’s tilt at a third straight premiership sure made for some enthralling viewing.

“You really never know with finals football,” Liddle said.

“We probably proved that ourselves last year when we were able to get over Subiaco in the preliminary final. East Fremantle are a really strong side and they pushed Claremont all the way, so it was an incredible game to watch.

“I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a final decided under Golden Score rules before, so from the outside looking in it was pretty exciting.

“In terms of who we were going to face though, we weren’t too caught up in it. We knew whoever came through was going to be a quality side and that our focus needed to stay on us.”

Teammate facing former side

Liddle has experience of playing against her former team having crossed from Peel Thunder to join Swan Districts back in 2022.

She’s enjoyed plenty of wins against her former team ever since, but she can somewhat put herself in teammate Chloe Reilly’s shoes now ahead of Sunday’s Grand Final who has only joined Swan Districts from East Fremantle as of 2026.

Reilly has instantly fitted in at her new club and played an instrumental role in Swans reaching the Grand Final. Liddle is expecting nothing less than a strong showing from her again come Sunday and that would be the same no matter the opponent.

“There’s definitely a slightly different feeling when you come up against your old club and people you’ve played a lot of football with,” Liddle said.

“I’ve experienced that myself, so I understand there can be an added element to it but Chloe is an incredible professional and competitor.

“She knows exactly what her focus is this weekend and we’ve got complete confidence that when the ball is bounced, she’ll be ready to do her job for this team.”

Last thoughts ahead of Grand Final

The overriding feelings for Liddle as Grand Final week progresses is to embrace the occasion and to understand that it’s a position you have no guarantees of being in again, and that some players never get to experience in their careers.

As a result, Liddle is enjoying the experience and the excitement is building, and she can’t wait now for the game to come around on Sunday.

“I’m feeling really good. I’m backing in all the work that this group has put in throughout the year and I have so much belief in us — not just in the talent we have, but in our resilience and our ability to stay in the fight when games get tough,” Liddle said.

“Personally, I’m just incredibly grateful and excited to have another opportunity to prepare for a Grand Final with such a special group of players and staff.

“These opportunities don’t come around very often, so I really want to embrace the week, enjoy it and then be ready to go on Sunday.”