ROUND 1 PREVIEW V CLAREMONT

WEST Perth runs out onto HBF Arena with its own facility to enjoy for the first time since the move to Joondalup 24 years ago as the Falcons host Claremont to open the WAFL season on Saturday afternoon.

West Perth made the move from Leederville at the end of 1993 and while the move has been a success in a lot of areas, including the premierships of 1995, 1999, 2003 and 2013, but now for the first time the Falcons have their own brand new facility to embrace.

That has already benefited the club and the players and coaches over the summer, and now the West Perth members and supporters will get to enjoy that facility at HBF Arena.

However, the focus will be on the field and it shapes as a tremendous season-opening contest between a Falcons team who reached the finals in 2017 and a Tigers outfit who narrowly missed out.

The game will be broadcast live on 7mate from 1.30pm.

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The game will be a fascinating way for West Perth and Claremont to begin the new season too given their recent history.

There have been no more remarkable games than the final round between the pair at Claremont Oval. 

West Perth trailed at every chance but stormed home in the finish to end up winning by four points and qualify for the finals in a game where the Tigers could have still played finals had they won the game by a large enough margin.

While the Falcons only ended up extending their season by a week before losing the elimination final to Swan Districts at Steel Blue Oval, they did at least qualify for the finals for a fourth time in the past five years while the Tigers missed out again.

Last year was the first season in charge at Claremont for Falcons great Darren Harris too and it's only fitting that he will be there for the occasion of the first official home game for West Perth since the opening of the new facility at HBF Arena.

It wasn’t the only remarkable game played between the two teams last year. The first meeting at HBF Arena in Round 10 saw West Perth start on fire and set up a match-winning lead against a highly inaccurate Claremont to win by 32 points.

Then in Round 14 at Claremont Oval, Claremont held on to win by two points after West Perth's Corey Chalmers couldn’t kick truly with a shot after the siren from outside the boundary.

With two evenly matched teams, with the memories of those battles of last year and even beyond that, it's sure to be an exciting start to the new season and it's only fitting for the occasion for it to open the new HBF Arena and be live on 7mate.

There are some new faces in the West Perth squad too with Zac Guadagnin, Liam Tedesco and Connor West named in the squad.

Chris Keunen and Keegan Knott are also back for the Falcons after being missing for all, or most, of 2017.

Nick Rodda, Scott Simpson and Joe Morrow are the three significant losses from last year for the Falcons who all won't be out there on Saturday.

Claremont has some significant outs from last year too with the loss of dual premiership ruckman Mitch Andrews along with Matt Davies, Jack Bradshaw, Ryan Neates, Matt Guelfi, Bailey Banfield and Zac Langdon.

The loss of Andrews will provide the opportunity in the ruck for Jeremy Goddard to show he can stand up and be counted at WAFL level.

Another dual premiership player, and Sandover Medallist, Kane Mitchell is back at Claremont too and will play on Saturday along with former St Kilda midfielder Tom Curren.

They will be alongside the likes of Jye Bolton, Jared Hardisty, Ryan Lim and Ryan Murphy with that midfield brigade the undoubted strength of Claremont in 2018.

There are some new faces for the Tigers too with the likes of Fraser Gilbert, Lachlan Martinis, Jordan Law, Declan Hardisty, Corey Mitchell and Jacob Sideris all named in the squad to take on West Perth at HBF Arena on Saturday.

ROUND 1
WEST PERTH v CLAREMONT – HBF ARENA, SATURDAY 1.40PM
Broadcast – 7mate, Footy Radio

LEAGUE TEAMS, LIVE STATS 
RESERVES TEAMS, LIVE STATS 
COLTS TEAMS, LIVE STATS