Round 18 Women’s Preview v Perth

Swan Districts are all but guaranteed of the minor premiership heading into the last round of the WAFLW season when they host Perth at Steel Blue Oval on Sunday.

Coming into the WAFLW clash on Sunday at Bassendean beginning at 12:10pm and Swan Districts remain in top position a game and significant percentage clear of Claremont.

That would mean that it would take something beyond what’s even possible for Swans to not retain first position with even a loss for them by a big margin and a massive win for Claremont against South Fremantle wouldn’t likely be enough to change the order.

That doesn’t mean that Swan Districts won’t still be going all out to close the home and away season on a winning note when they take on a Perth team that are still a chance to make finals themselves.

Coming into the final round and Perth are sitting in fifth position with eight wins, six losses and a draw for the season to be one game behind the third ranked South Fremantle and just half a game behind the fourth placed East Fremantle.

The Bulldogs have a tough one against Claremont on Sunday while the Sharks take on West Perth so a loss for either of those teams, and win for the Demons against Swans, and they will end up in the top four and play finals for the first time in their WAFLW history.

The two teams played earlier this season back in Round 5 at Lathlain’s Mineral Resources Park and that saw Swan Districts score the 4.7 (31) to 1.11 (17) victory against Perth.

Chloe Reilly, Sienna Gerardi, Summer Yarran and Ash Sharp all kicked a goal each in that win for Swans with Jaime Henry racking up 39 possessions with 16 tackles while Reilly had 18 disposals, Makaela Grau 17, Jess Cox 16 and Luka Davis 15.

One of the teenage guns grabbing her opportunity through the second half of the season with Swan Districts is Rhenae Beagley and coming into this last round, she’s loving the whole feel around the club with both the WAFLW and Rogers Cup teams getting ready for finals.

“The energy around the club and both teams have been really great and it is a privilege to be a part of Swan Districts,” Beagley said.

“We are training harder than ever as we are aware there is still a bit to go and our job is not done yet.”

The action on Sunday for the last round of the home and away season gets underway at Steel Blue Oval in the morning with the Rogers Cup match up between Swan Districts and Perth beginning at 10:05am.

Coming into the last round in the Rogers Cup and Swan Districts do remain in second position on the ladder but they are equal with a 13-2 record with the top placed Claremont.

Should both teams win on Sunday then Claremont will claim the minor premiership because of their better percentage, but if the Tigers lose to South Fremantle and if Swans beat the Demons, it will be Swan Districts ending up with top position.

Swan Districts can’t finish lower than second no matter what happens on Sunday while they take on a Perth team in fifth position but they can break into the top four themselves with a win and providing Subiaco loses at the same time to East Perth.

The Swans are fresh off beating Peel Thunder by 107 points last Saturday also at Steel Blue Oval while Perth had a big loss last week against East Fremantle by 71 points.

It will be the second time the teams have faced off so far this year and the first meeting was back in Round 5 at Mineral Resources Park where Swan Districts scored the 8.5 (53) to 3.9 (27) victory against Perth.

In that win, Keira Fawcett kicked four goals, Lara Sherborne two, Jaya Abbott one and Penelope Punaivaha one.