TOUGH DAY ALL-ROUND FOR FALCONS AT KINGSWAY AGAINST LIONS

SATURDAY'S trip to Kingsway Reserve didn’t exactly go to plan for West Perth on Saturday not only with Subiaco winning by 52 points but the Falcons leaving the venue in the City of Wanneroo battered and bruised.

West Perth had won the last meeting with Subiaco and had the chance to stay right in the hunt for a second place finish with another win over the Lions on Saturday at Kingsway Sporting Complex, but it was a day where just about anything that could go wrong did.

It started early in the day when a tight hamstring kept veteran midfielder Matt Guadagnin from playing in the reserves in what would have been his second game back from a knee reconstruction. It's hoped he will now play this Saturday again against Claremont at HBF Arena.

Then the league match began with Subiaco kicking the first four goals and then the opening five goals of the second half to end up winning 12.17 (89) to 5.7 (37) in front of a crowd of almost 3000 people.

Along the way, Drew Rohde left the field on a stretcher after copping a knee to the head from teammate Kody Manning before Aaron Black later suffered a nasty cut to the head in the second half, and then Shane Nelson went down with the most serious of the trio.

Nelson had a heavy and accidental clash with young Subiaco forward Liam Ryan that saw him go to hospital after the match, and end up what is an expected broken nose and fractured upper jaw.

Prior to getting hurt, Nelson was working hard once again in the midfield for West Perth and had 34 possessions. Black also fought through being run-with by Subiaco's Brett Mahoney to gather 21 disposals and lay five tackles.

Andrew Strijk kicked West Perth's first four goals of the game and worked hard in attack to end up with 22 possessions and 11 marks as well. Joe Morrow was the only other goal scorer after moving forward in the final quarter.

Dean Munns did another good run-with job for West Perth this time going to Subiaco captain Kyal Horsley and limiting him to 16 possessions but the Lions had far too many others who stepped up to have strong afternoons.

Rohan Kerr finished with 23 possessions for West Perth, Blake Wilhelm 19, Jay van Berlo 17 (10 hit outs, seven tackles) and Tyler Keitel 16 while also doing well to keep Subiaco spearhead Hamish Shepheard to just the one goal.

The rain might have been falling during the first quarter at Kingsway but it didn’t deter Subiaco with the Lions managing to boot four goals in the opening 13 minutes. That saw them lead by 25 points in no time and still by 24 at quarter-time despite a goal just before the siren to Strijk for West Perth.

The rain might have cleared in the second term but it was tough going in the heavy surface with Subiaco managing a goal at the 22-minute mark to Hamish Shepheard before Strijk again got one for the Falcons on the siren to cut the half-time deficit to 24 points.

Things got ugly in the third term with West Perth going goalless and managing just the two behinds while Subiaco kicked goals through Clancy Wheeler, Chris Phelan and Brad Stevenson to lead by 45 points at three quarter-time.

West Perth did kick three goals in seven minutes during the final quarter with Strijk adding his third and fourth, and then Morrow another after moving forward. But the Lions still kicked the game's last two majors to end up winning by 52 points.

The colts got the action underway on Saturday at Kingsway Reserve with Subiaco beating West Perth 14.8 (92) to 6.6 (42) for its first win of the 2016 season.

Kurt Monaghan kicked two goals for West Perth from 13 possessions and four marks.

Josh Hunter gathered 25 disposals for the Falcons, Josh Rotham 21, Alec Johnson 20, Jamie Dowen 19, Nick Marinovich 17, Zac Guadagnin 17 and Lachlan Sherriffs 17.

Then in the reserves at Kingsway Reserve, Subiaco also defeated West Perth with the Lions beating the Falcons 9.14 (68) to 5.8 (38).

Corey Chalmers was the standout performer for West Perth finishing with 35 possessions and a goal.

Mitch Peirce also gathered 29 disposals for the Falcons, Brayden Antonio 24 and Scott Nelson 21.

WEST PERTH        1.1    2.4    2.6    5.7    (37)
SUBIACO        4.7    5.10    8.15    12.17    (89)

WEST PERTH – Goals: Strijk 4; Morrow.
Best: Strijk, Nelson, Munns, King, Wilhelm, Keitel.
SUBIACO – Goals: Stevenson 3; Moore, Cockie, Ryan 2; Phelan, Wheeler, Shepheard.
Best: Cockie, Kitchin, Phelan, Stevenson, Broughton, Lockyer, Jackson.