Notwithstanding that East Fremantle weren’t at full strength (but neither were we, with eight first-choice players missing), I thought our first three quarters were very good, Lucky.
I agree that Coby Burgiel was impressive yesterday, while our quartet of tall forwards took some good grabs and our defence was as always resolute.
With Perth and South Fremantle losing, it’s now a case of five teams fighting for three spots (although, with one extra win, the Demons and Bulldogs are in the driver’s seat).
This is the most interesting finish to a WAFL season in many years.
Arch, our 4th quarter yesterday was horrendous, but thankfully East Fremantle weren’t much better. If we play anything like that again, we will struggle to win any of our final 3 matches.
Always happier with Pebbles in the team, bit saddened with Screaigh omitted. Really pleased to see young Mr Barnard making his reserves debut. well deserved. Someone to watch in the reserves is Conor Cole, 20 possessions week and has shown a constant improvement.
Screaigh is injured,and young James looks like being the 5 th Barnard to grace the mighty black and blue jumper,and hopefully Thomas in the colts will be the sixth,and we’ll keep an eye on Cole who maybe another league prospect.
Thanks, Southy, from a Royals’ perspective, it’s always good to win at Fremantle Oval, as historically (like most visiting sides) we’ve struggled at the port.
I had this nagging fear that a few “touched on the line” scoring efforts in the third quarter would come back to bite us on the bum, but the defence was very resolute in the last quarter and a couple of late goals iced the cake.
I was worried about our capacity to play wet weather football Archie,but thankfully I was pleasantly surprised with our skill level,as well as our overall decision making where our short kicking turnovers were rare,and Jonesy as expected enabled us to control the stoppages and dictate the tempo of the game
Burgiel has shown his midfield worth and Lindberg is starting to find a bit of league level consistency,and I thought little Jayden Peake played his best league game,and young rookie Guillani chipped in with a couple of handy goals,and our backline was outstanding today and there might be a sense of timing with our run to the finals,particularly when you look at the quality of players ready to resume in the coming weeks.
Timing is everything, Lucky, as we showed way back in 1978.
Inconsistency has plagued us in 2026, with our longest winning run only being two games, so I hope the boys are as focused against our fiercest rivals next week as we were against South today.
I’m not sure what happened to Christian Ameduri late in the game, but the claret was flowing freely from a facial injury as he and the team left the ground.
It was a very good win and confirmed a few things for me, one is that Mitch Schofield is a truly great player for us in any conditions, secondly, I have changed my opinion of Brugiel, he played a very good game and given it was 2 in a row that makes a difference. Lindberg, Cassidy and Peake all made massive contributions to the win. What happens next is still up in the air but the coaches have or are putting us in a great position.
No offence, Grassy, but I don’t think any team goes into a grand final NOT intending to “have a major throw at the stumps”.
The WAFL has plenty of examples of upset GF wins, with recent instances including South Fremantle (2020), Subiaco (2014) and Swan Districts (2010), with the trio having being well beaten in the second semi-final.
East Perth almost joined that list in 2025 - as you say, it’s “what happens on the day” that counts.
However, if Fremantle was to put a few fringe players in “cotton wool” or send them off for late-season surgery, bringing Peel back to the field, I think few would complain.
And I’m sure whichever team plays Peel (assuming that they qualify) in the GF will make them earn it (better still, make the Thunder lose it).
Anything can happen in the next 6-7 weeks, with Peel’s prospects affected by the prospect of injuries and/or suspensions to both their own line-up and Fremantle higher up in the food chain.
Remarkably nine of the remaining 10 WAFL games have final ladder positions hinging on them, a far cry from this time last year.
I guess East Perth’s immediate focus will be dealing with it’s biggest foe, with quite literally,their tails’ up,confidence up and the knowledge,that they were tripped up by the Red and The Blue.
Who would love nothing more than to put a serious spoke in the Royals’ wheels for 2026.
I know Royals Supporters would love nothing more than a BRUTAL Put down of this year’s WOODEN SPOONERS,who could be sans Aaron Black for this week.
I don’t think Aaron Black would suscribe to a rest this week.He’ll want to play this one!
I reckon Ross McQueen will be working overtime just to get East Perth the 4 points,starting with quelling Tyler Keitel’s influence on this Big Perth Derby!
Deserves a Good Crowd,especially if the Weather is in complete contrast of Saturday just gone.
