Swans Colts Advance To Grand Final

SWAN Districts colts have put together a tremendous preliminary final performance to win Sunday's preliminary final over Peel Thunder and book a place in this Sunday's Grand Final at Optus Stadium.

With Subiaco having already booked themselves into the Colts Grand Final for 2018 with a win over Swan Districts in the second semi-final at Leederville Oval, it came down to the preliminary final at Fremantle Community Bank Oval to determine their opponents.

Swan Districts opened up a match-winning advantage through the second and third quarters kicking seven goal to just two from Peel and that was enough to see Swans win 10.12 (72) to 7.8 (50).

That means that Swan Districts advances to play Subiaco in the Colts Grand Final of 2018 next Sunday at Optus Stadium.

Swan Districts colts coach Greg Harding couldn’t be happier with his team's performance.

"They were good too.  We were challenged early and responded, and I thought the back end of the first quarter when the opposition had kicked a couple and got away they responded well," Harding said.

"They were certainly a lot harder and lower at the ball early but the way we were able to turn that around and grab control of the game was really impressive. They sort of never relinquished it after that which was good. For a bunch of young men, I thought they did a really good job."

Peel Thunder and Swan Districts finished second and third respectively on the ladder at the end of the home and away season before doing battle in the qualifying final at Claremont Oval.

Swans won that tight affair by nine points to advance to the second semi-final against Subiaco. But the Lions proved too strong last Sunday winning by 46 points at Leederville Oval.

Peel was able to bounce back from its loss in that qualifying final to beat East Fremantle by two points last Sunday at Joondalup Arena to set up a preliminary final rematch with Swan Districts.

With a spot in the Grand Final on the line, it was a tight opening quarter at Fremantle Community Bank Oval with two goals apiece but Swan Districts was working its way on top with five scoring shots to two.

Swans were more able to turn their advantage into a lead on the scoreboard in the second quarter booting three goals to one for the term to head into half-time with a 17-point advantage over Peel.

The black-and-whites pulled further away in the third quarter kicking four goals to one and that saw Swan Districts open a match-winning 27-point advantage by three quarter-time.

Peel was never going to give up after the strong season the Thunder had in the colts, and they did manage to outscore Swans with three goals to one in the last term, but it wasn’t enough with Swan Districts winning by 22 points to move into the Grand Final.

Riley Garcia delivered a best on ground performance for Swan Districts finishing with 27 possessions, four tackles and two goals.

Nathan Ireland also kicked two goals for Swans from six kicks, four marks, three tackles and three entries inside the forward 50.

Jackson Beck also collected 25 disposals to go with six marks and six inside 50s while Denzel More racked up 18 touches, Blake Pescud 17, Graydon Wilson 17, Seb Bright 16 and Joel Curtis 14.

Atem Deng did some exciting things in his 13 possessions and seven tackles while Matthew Germs finished with 33 hit outs in the ruck.

Tyrone Thorne delivered an impressive performance for Peel with 18 possessions, five marks, five inside 50s, four tackles and three goals.

Tyson Powell also kicked two goals for the Thunder and one each to Bailey Taylor and Jack Sears.

James Sturrock finished the game with 24 possessions, seven tackles and six marks for Peel.

Michael Randall gathered 20 disposals, Jarvis Pina 20, Jake Howes 17, David Yaccob 16 and Billy Chambers 13 to go with 26 hit outs and six tackles in the ruck.

The 2018 WAFL Colts Grand Final will be played at Optus Stadium on Sunday from 11.40am between Subiaco and Swan Districts.