FALCONS BACK IN BIG MEN STOCKS FOR 2018

STABILITY has been a big part of West Perth over the off-season with the majority of the group returning from 2017 in 2018, it just happens that the departing players happen to be on the more important side but coach Bill Monaghan is happy the depth is there to cover for that.

West Perth had another solid season in 2017 reaching a fourth finals series of the past five years before a disappointing exit losing in the elimination final to Swan Districts at Steel Blue Oval.

But there was plenty of good signs to take out of the season and to build on heading into 2018 particularly with the emergence of players like Ben King, Mark Hamilton, Nathan Alexandre, Tyson Moulton and Blake Wilhelm into regular league players.

The only disappointment for the Falcons over summer was the loss of big men Nick Rodda and Scott Simpson. 

It's not a stretch to say the pair might have been two of the players from 2017 West Perth could least afford to lose given Rodda held the back-line together and then also provided good support to Tyler Keitel in attack, while Simpson had a tremendous season largely as a mobile ruckman.

However, Rodda moved to Melbourne for work initially and now will play in the VFL with Williamstown while football was no longer a priority for Simpson meaning neither will be at West Perth in 2018.

"We have lost a couple of senior players in Nick Rodda and Scott Simpson who have departed," Monaghan said.

"Nick decided to move to Melbourne for work and he is playing for Williamstown for this year so we are hoping he goes well there and will return at some stage. 

"Scott just decided that football's gone past him a little bit in what he wants to do with his life so he's off travelling and doing some work. They are our two major departures."

While Rodda and Simpson will be difficult to replace, there is some depth in the big men ranks at West Perth meaning it's not too much of a reason for concern heading into 2018.

With Tyler Keitel and Michael Lourey in attack, they should be able to hold down the key forward positions and provide strong targets with the likes of Rudy Riddoch, Keegan Knott, Andrew Strijk and Tyson Moulton in support.

Mark Hamilton then looks likely to be the main big man in the defence and will need strong support from the likes of Ben King and Jordan Mills. The departure of Joe Morrow is an added loss for the Falcons in that respect.

That then puts extra emphasis on Chris Keunen to be able to hold down the ruck position. 

His past two seasons have been hampered by injury, but the premiership ruckman and life member is a proven quality WAFL ruckman. 

So provided he stays healthy, West Perth should be OK in the big men stocks and his presence will allow Keitel and Hamilton to stay at either end of the ground.

"Losing Rodda and Simpson has just meant that we've lost a fair bit of experience and size down back, so we'll need to do things a little bit differently in our back half," Monaghan said.

"Whether we can afford to go strong one-on-one with sides or we'll play a more zoning defence, we'll see how that goes and it's still a bit of a work in progress. 

"We are fairly keen to keep Tyler Keitel forward but at stages we might need to move him back. That's the other thing we are trying to work on."

The most significant arrival over the off-season at West Perth was the signing of emerging South Fremantle key forward Mitch Dzelebdzic. 

Coming off a strong colts career, he kicked 56 goals in the reserves at the Bulldogs last season so once he finds his feet at the Falcons, he could provide another option in attack. The return of powerful left-footer Matt Johnson is handy too.

"We have Matt Johnson returning, Laine Rasmussen has been training and we're hoping he will stay and we've picked up a couple of kids from the amateurs who are looking OK. We've got a big kid from South Fremantle who kicked almost 60 goals in the reserves last year, Mitch Dzelebdzic," Monaghan said.

"He's about 199cm. And then we've got a good sprinkling of our colts players from last year with three or four of those tracking nicely who will be a real chance to play senior footy early in the year. 

"We've had a fait bit of turnover on our list but we're fairly excited with what we've got. Our pre-season went well, the players trained hard and we did change a few things up to make sure come Round 1 against Claremont we are cherry ripe."