Semi Finals Women’s Preview v Claremont

It’s the opening match up to the WAFL Women’s finals that has looked inevitable all season long and now Swan Districts takes on Claremont this Sunday in the second semi-final.

The second semi-final match up will take place at Steel Blue Oval on Sunday beginning at 11:45am between Swan Districts and Claremont with the winner to be the first team through to the 2026 WAFLW Grand Final that will be at Fremantle Community Bank Oval on Sunday August 23.

The two teams played off in the WAFLW Grand Final last year and it was a one-point win for Claremont on that occasion as they made it back-to-back premierships.

But ever since then, the two teams have been the standouts throughout the 2026 WAFLW season to be occupying the top two positions to have been on a collision course all along to this Sunday’s second semi-final.

Swan Districts finished the home and away season winning the minor premiership with a 14-2 record to be a game and percentage ahead of the second placed Claremont who were 13-3 as they attempt to win a third straight premiership.

Since that Grand Final meeting last year, the two teams met one another twice during the 2026 season starting in Round 1 when it was Swan Districts winning 7.9 (51) to 1.4 (10) at Revo Fitness Stadium.

In that victory, Ash Sharp kicked three goals for the Swans with Jaime Henry racking up 32 possessions with 12 tackles while Alana Barba had 20 disposals, Jess Cox 17, Isa Edgley 16 and Jemma Sly 15.

The second clash was in Round 8 at Steel Blue Oval with Claremont winning on that occasion 6.7 (43) to 1.4 (10) even with 24 possessions and 11 tackles from Henry along with 16 disposals and 23 hit outs with six tackles in the ruck from Lauren Quaife.

Swan Districts coach Jason Burton is fully aware of how tough an opponent Claremont is going to be now that finals are here and his focus is on not letting them control the game through their possession game in the middle.

“The key is definitely the midfield and they own the ball with high possession and the likes of Jayme Harken lead the way in there, but there’s fringe players in amongst that as well and they’ve added a couple of ex-AFLW players out on the wings,” Burton told 91.3 SportFM.

“So they’ve just got some class and they’re going to win a lot of the ball and we just have to make sure that’s not damaging to us as best as we can.”

The Swan Districts WAFLW team isn’t the only one in action to start the finals on Sunday with the Rogers Cup also taking part in a second semi-final against East Fremantle.

That will also take place at Steel Blue Oval starting at 9:30am on Sunday with the first spot in the Rogers Cup Grand Final for 2026 on the line.

While East Fremantle did finish on top of the Rogers Cup ladder and Swan Districts second, they were just percentage ahead with both teams ending up on 14-2 records.

But with the Swans’ WAFLW team earning hosting rights to open the finals, it means that the Swans get to play at Steel Blue Oval in the Rogers Cup too against the Sharks.

The two teams met twice during the home and away season starting back on a Friday night evening in Round 3 with Swan Districts beating East Fremantle 7.8 (50) to 6.5 (41).

The return encounter at Steel Blue Oval took place in Round 14 and that was also a win for the Swans. They beat the Sharks 8.6 (54) to 4.1 (25) and should they do it again on Sunday morning, they will advance to the Rogers Cup Grand Final for 2026.