ROUND 15 PREVIEW V EAST FREMANTLE

IT is a big day at HBF Arena on Saturday with West Perth celebrating its 1941 premiership team for Heritage Round as the Cardinals take on Old Easts with East Fremantle coming to Joondalup for a crucial contest.

West Perth and East Fremantle both suffered disappointing losses last week and while it didn’t affect their positions in the top five another loss this Saturday could.

West Perth remains in third position despite its seven-game winning run coming to an end last Saturday at the hands of South Fremantle at HBF Arena.

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East Fremantle also stayed in fourth place despite an 11-point defeat at the hands of Perth at Lathlain Park.

The Falcons now hold an 8-5 record and the Sharks are 7-6 so a win will keep the victor at least in the hunt of a top two spot behind South Fremantle and Subiaco while the loser will remain locked in a battle over a finals spot particularly if East Perth manages to beat South Fremantle.

The two teams last met back in Round 4 and that was with West Perth yet to warm up this season. East Fremantle took full advantage with a dominant 50-point win at ATOM Stadium.

The day will also serve as one of celebration for West Perth with the club commemorating the 75-year anniversary of the 1941 premiership team by wearing specially designed jumpers representing those worn by that side.

West Perth coach Bill Monaghan wasn’t happy with several areas of his team's performance last week against South Fremantle and knows it must improve on Saturdya against East Fremantle.

"In some ways we were lucky with Peel and East Fremantle going down as well so we were able to hold on to third spot, but next week's game is ultra-critical for both clubs," Monaghan said.

"We can open up a two-game gap on East Fremantle or we will slip behind them with their percentage advantage over us. Peel has the bye and then we play them the week after.

"The challenges keep coming and whilst I've been really proud of the way the players have been able to turn around a 1-4 start, we can't now rest and think we've done enough. There are a certain amount of games we need to get to and we are well short of that at the moment."

West Perth lost for the first time in eight games last week against South Fremantle and now the Falcons will be without 333 games of experience this Saturday against East Fremantle with Luke Tedesco and Andrew Strijk both out of the side.

Tedesco returned last week for his 150th game to earn life membership at the Falcons but he hasn’t been able to keep his place in the side while Strijk will be a significant loss after kicking another four goals last week, and seven majors in the past two weeks.

Laine Rasmussen should be an automatic inclusion for West Perth after he was a late withdrawal against South Fremantle last week.

Seva Mozhaev made way in the side for the returning Chris Keunen last week as well, but Mozhaev could be back to help out in the ruck against the Sharks and to potentially give the Falcons another option in attack.

With Nick Rodda still missing in the back-line, Ben King could return to help out the Falcons.

West Perth could also look at a couple of debutant to try and spark things in the forward-line in particular with Kael Coleman and Tyson Moulton in the mix. Last week in the reserves, Moulton kicked three goals while Coleman worked hard for 17 possessions and five tackles. 

East Fremantle's losses the past two weeks has certainly been in a large part due to the loss of key players in the midfield.

Now George Hampson, Cameron Eardley and Liam Anthony have all been named in the squad to return against West Perth on Saturday, but all will still need to prove their fitness before taking the field in the crucial clash with the Falcons.

The reward for one of them will likely be having Dean Munns giving the job of running with them for the afternoon.

Jack Perham is another important player for East Fremantle who could return against West Perth after missing last week's loss to Perth while Jesse Adamini, Tyler Chalwell and Jacob Green are in the mix for a recall.

Last week in the reserves, Adamini delivered 28 possessions while Chalwell had 22 disposals and Green 11 touches and a goal.

While East Fremantle could welcome back some important players, they lose some more important contributors as well and perhaps none more so than someone who has played just two games. Lewis Krakouer has kicked five goals in his first two games but he won't be there on Saturday.

Matthew Bannister, Fraser Perry and Justin Simpson are also out of the East Fremantle team to take on West Perth at HBF Arena on Saturday.

ROUND 15
WEST PERTH (8-5, 3rd) v EAST FREMANTLE (7-6, 4th) – HBF ARENA, SATURDAY 2.15PM
Broadcast – KIX Digital

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