2023 WAFL season

2023 WAFL season
2023 WAFL season
Teams	10
Premiers	East Fremantle; 30th premiership
Minor premiers	East Fremantle; 34th minor premiership
Sandover Medallist	Hamish Brayshaw; (East Perth – 26 votes)
Bernie Naylor Medallist	Tyler Keitel; (West Perth – 57 goals)
	← 2022 2024 →

The 2023 WAFL season was the 139th season of the various incarnations of the West Australian Football League (WAFL). The season commenced on 7 April and concluded with the Grand Final on 24 September.^[2]

After easily winning the minor premiership, East Fremantle won their 30th WAFL premiership breaking a 25-year drought, defeating Peel Thunder in the Grand Final at Optus Stadium.

Ladder

For the list of regular season results, see here

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	D	PF	PA	PP	Pts	Qualification
1	East Fremantle (P)	18	14	4	0	1650	1118	147.6	56	Finals series
2	Subiaco	18	12	6	0	1536	1168	131.5	48
3	Peel Thunder	18	12	6	0	1474	1133	130.1	48
4	East Perth	18	12	6	0	1656	1275	129.9	48
5	Claremont	18	12	6	0	1509	1225	123.2	48
6	West Perth	18	11	7	0	1523	1271	119.8	44
7	Swan Districts	18	8	10	0	1329	1333	99.7	32
8	South Fremantle^[a]	18	6	12	0	1190	1227	97.0	16
9	Perth	18	2	15	1	1119	1725	64.9	10
10	West Coast	18	0	17	1	973	2484	39.2	2

Source: WAFL.com.au
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for.
(P) Premiers
Notes:

^ South Fremantle were fined $25,000 and stripped of eight premiership points after breaching the WAFL salary cap during the 2021 WAFL season.^[3]^[4]

Finals series

Week one – Qualifying and elimination finals


	Qualifying final
Saturday, 2 September (2:10 pm)	Subiaco 10.14 (74)	def. by	Peel Thunder 12.12 (84)	Leederville Oval


	Elimination final
Sunday, 3 September (2:10 pm)	East Perth 9.6 (60)	def. by	Claremont 11.6 (72)	Leederville Oval

Week two – Semi-finals


	Second semi final
Saturday, 9 September (2:10 pm)	East Fremantle 9.6 (60)	def.	Peel Thunder 7.13 (55)	Fremantle Community Bank Oval


	First semi final
Sunday, 10 September (2:10 pm)	Subiaco 16.12 (108)	def.	Claremont 8.1 (49)	Leederville Oval

Week three – Preliminary final


	Preliminary final
Sunday 17, September (2:10 pm)	Peel Thunder 11.11 (77)	def.	Subiaco 7.11 (53)	Lane Group Stadium

Week four – Grand Final


	2023 WAFL Grand Final
Sunday 24 September (3:00 pm)	East Fremantle	def.	Peel Thunder	Optus Stadium, Perth (crowd: 27,104^[5])	Stats Report
	3.5 (23) 6.6 (42) 9.11 (65) 12.13 (85)	Q1 Q2 Q3 Final	2.0 (12) 4.4 (28) 5.7 (37) 6.10 (46)	Umpires: Gibb, Jago, McPhee, Laycock^[6] Simpson Medal: Milan Murdock (East Fremantle) Television broadcast: Seven Network


Schoenfeld 2, McGuire 2, Murdock, English, Joyce, Marsh, McGuire, Bennett, Montauban, Dixon		Goals	Colyer 2, Middleton, Sears, Smith, Wemm
Murdock, Turner, Eardley, Jupp, Joyce, Marsh, R McGuire, Marlin, Bailey.		Best	Wagner, Davies, Blight, Wilson, Hamling, Brodie, Hancock.
Nil		Injuries	Nil
Nil		Reports	Nil

Notable events

Perth's Kristian Cary kicked for goal after the siren against West Coast in Round 13, but his kick fell short the huge pack competing on the goal line saw the ball forced through for a rushed behind. The draw ended West Coast's losing streak for the season.^[7]
West Coast's Harry Barnett missed a shot on goal in Round 15, allowing Swan Districts to bring the ball back into their forward 50, where Tom Edwards marked and kicked truly.^[8]