WAFL 2023: West Perth to open the season against Claremont as grand final venue still up in the air

A venue for this year’s WAFL grand final is still yet to be decided after the 2023 season fixtures were released today. Last year’s decider was held at Leederville Oval when the original venue Optus Stadium became unavailable after Twenty20 International between Australia and England was rescheduled there. This year’s grand final is earmarked for Sunday, September 24 but a decision on the venue will be made in the coming weeks at a WAFC meeting, with several clubs wanting it to return to Optus Stadium, where 29,879 attending the 2021 decider. The grand final rematch will kick off the season, with reigning premiers West Perth to host Claremont at Pentanet Stadium on Good Friday. It will also likely mark the debut of former West Coast and Claremont forward Zac Langdon for the Falcons after he chose to head to the powerhouse side in one of the big signings of the off-season. One of the new coaches Ross McQueen and Andrew Pruyn will get a first-up win when East Perth start their season by hosting Swan Districts at Leederville Oval, while Peter German will take on the team he took to two premierships when Perth meets Subiaco. West Perth have a a good early fixture with five of their first seven games to be played at home. The two traditional derbies will again be played on WA Day on June 5, with East Fremantle hosting South Fremantle at the WACA Ground and East Perth taking on West Perth at Leederville Oval. East Fremantle will return to the WACA Ground again this year because of the redevelopment of New Choice Homes Park, with their first game at the cricket venue to be played against Perth in round four. State selectors will have six rounds before picking a team to travel to Adelaide to take on South Australia on May 20, with the rest of the competition to have a bye. There will also be two lots of split rounds, the first coming from rounds 10 to 12 and the next from rounds 15 to 17. Claremont will host East Fremantle in Broome on May 27.