Fremantle players Ryan Murphy, Paul Duffield, Darren Rumble and the recently retired Shane Parker will battle it out on Sunday to keep their WAFL seasons alive as South Fremantle and Subiaco square off in the Preliminary Final at Subiaco Oval.
The Bulldogs won through to the penultimate finals match after a comfortable 49 point win over East Perth, while Subiaco get to use their second chance after falling 15 points short against Claremont last Sunday.
Fremantle and Bulldogs forward Ryan Murphy had a valuable role in South’s win over the Royals with three goals, 11 kicks and seven marks at Fremantle Oval last Sunday.
Player Development Coach Steve Malaxos said there was a strong chance Murphy would be pitted against one of his Fremantle colleagues this Sunday with Subiaco defenders Rumble and Parker certain starters for the Lions.
“I think the inclusion of Rumble, and Parker having another game under his belt will really help Subiaco. They are both pretty good match ups for Murphy because they both play pretty tight,” Malaxos said.
“Darren and Shane have had injury interrupted second halves to the season while Ryan hasn’t missed much at all so if he uses his fitness against them then he could get away.
“As we all know he doesn’t need many opportunities to hurt you on the scoreboard. But obviously with the forwards it depends a reasonable amount on how much footy is coming down and what quality. If South are on top in the midfield then Ryan is pretty hard to stop.”
While Fremantle’s South Fremantle and Subiaco quartet battle it out for the right to face Claremont in the Grand Final, Tigers midfielders Byron Schammer and Andrew Browne will watch with interest to see who of their Fremantle team mates they will clash with in the premiership match.
Byron had 34 possessions, three marks and a goal in Claremont’s victory over Subiaco last weekend, while Andrew was restricted to 15 possessions, one mark and a goal due to being closely tagged.
Malaxos said both players would be gearing up for stronger showings in the Grand Final on Sunday 23 September.
“Andrew will be looking to improve his game and if Byron can put another game like that together he will have been a star in the finals,” Malaxos said.
“It’s a good effort from Byron to play like that for a WAFL team because he is from South Australia and he has only played 10 games with Claremont.
“To play with the attitude like he did last week is a credit to him in particular but also a credit to Claremont to be able to get players who don’t really know the club at all to engender that type of spirit. It’s terrific.”
Sunday, September 16
Preliminary Final
Subiaco v South Fremantle
Subiaco Oval
2:15pm
