FALCONS FINISH OVER SWANS TO WIN AHEAD OF FINALS

WEST Perth conceded the opening five goals of the game but four goals in succession during the last quarter was enough to set up a 20-point victory over the bottom placed Swan Districts at HBF Arena.

West Perth was always going to finish in third position no matter the result and Swan Districts was always going to be well clear on the bottom of the ladder, but it was the black-and-whites who started on fire.

Swans led by as much as 29 points late in the first quarter but West Perth gradually worked its way back in front and four goals in 13 minutes during the final quarter ended up setting up the 13.18 (96) to 11.10 (76) victory.

That sees West Perth finish the 2016 season with a 13-7 record in third position. That is a tremendous performance given the Falcons lost four of their opening five matches but since they won 12 of 15 to claim third spot.

That will see West Perth take on South Fremantle in a qualifying final at Fremantle Community Bank Oval this Saturday. The winner will advance to the second semi-final against Subiaco at Medibank Stadium while the loser will host a first semi-final against the winner out of Peel Thunder and East Perth.

West Perth came into the game without Tyler Keitel, Shane Nelson, Steve Potente and Dean Munns who should all return for the qualifying final against South Fremantle on Saturday meaning a host of Falcons players were playing for their finals position.

Corey Chalmers grabbed his chance in the midfield finishing with 28 possessions, seven tackles and five inside-50 entries.

Rohan Kerr also racked up 31 disposals, Aaron Black 30, captain Jay van Berlo 29 and ruckman Chris Keunen 16 to go with 24 hit outs.

Michael Lourey kicked three goals for West Perth from 10 kicks and eight marks while Andrew Strijk booted two goals.

West Perth's defence had its hands full particularly with Justin Simpson who kicked five goals but Blake Wilhelm did finish with 21 possessions and Steven Browne 21 to go with five tackles, five inside-50 entries and a goal.

West Perth might have been wanting to take some winning form out of the last game of the season into the finals and to use it as a tune up, but from the outset it was clear Swan Districts were there to play and wanted to take something out of 2016.

Simpson played out of full-forward for Swans and kicked four goals in the opening 20 minutes and the black-and-whites kicked the opening five majors of the match to lead by 27 points at the 23-minute mark of the first term.

Then right on the quarter-time siren Max Duffy marked and goaled for the Falcons to cut the margin to 23 points.

Lourey then took a mark and kicked the goal as well for the Falcons early in the second quarter and captain van Berlo took a strong mark near the goal square and then snapped truly to cut the margin to 11 points.

Swans steadied with two goals in a minute to Simpson and Rudy Riddoch, but West Perth kicked the last two of the first half both through Strijk to trail by 10 points at the main break.

Lourey then kicked his second goal as he read the Joondalup breeze perfectly to ride it home to bring West Perth within two points during the third quarter but Swan Districts wasn’t going away and again led by nine when Jesse Turner goaled.

Lourey again used the breeze perfectly to kick his third at the 20-minute mark and then for the first time since the opening minutes, West Perth was in front when Joe Morrow took a good mark and kicked straight after a couple of earlier misses.

That put the Falcons in front by a point and that margin was out to five points by three quarter-time.

Again Swans showed some fight with two goals to start the last term from teenage second-gamer Taryce Stewart, but West Perth took after from there with goals to Browne, Joel Leeson, Black and Nick Rodda to lead by 19 points an end up winning by 20.

Swan Districts colts recorded a dominant victory at HBF Arena on Saturday beating West Perth 13.7 (85) to 2.6 (18).

West Perth's two lone goals were kicked by Joel Bennett and Brayden Thompson.

Josh Rotham racked up 31 possessions for the Falcons with Bailey Chalmers finishing with 21 disposals, Joel Horgan 20, Josh Romanelli 19, Bennett 19 and Tyrese Miller 18.

Swan Districts colts finish the season in fourth position to now take on East Perth in an elimination final this Sunday at Bendigo Bank Stadium.

West Perth's colts end the season with two wins in eighth position.

Swan Districts' reserves ended its 2016 season on a winning note with a 13.9 (87) to 11.10 (76) victory over West Perth at HBF Arena.

Keegan Knott finished his first season at West Perth with three goals from 15 possessions while Ben McGillivray kicked two majors as well.

Scott Nelson amassed 30 possessions and seven tackles for the Falcons with Mitch Peirce collecting 26 disposals, Kris Shannon 25, Tyson Moulton 24 and Seva Mozhaev 10 to go with 40 hit outs in the ruck.

West Perth's reserves end the 2016 season in eighth position with a 5-15 record.

WEST PERTH            1.5    5.8    8.14    13.18    (96)
SWAN DISTRICTS        5.4    7.6    8.9    11.10    (76)

WEST PERTH – Goals: Lourey 3; Strijk 2; Black, Browne, Leeson, van Berlo, Rodda, Duffy, Morrow, Lynch.
Best: Van Berlo, Chalmers, Kerr, Black, Keunen, Lourey, Wilhelm, Browne.
SWAN DISTRICTS – Goals: Simpson 5; Stewart 2; Turner, Howard, Riddoch, Banfield.
Best: Turner, Faulkner, Simpson, Coniglio, Grescos, Ness.