FOUNDATION DAY DERBY V EAST PERTH PREVIEW

THE Perth derby has Monday all to itself at Leederville's Medibank Stadium and there's no question there will be plenty of fireworks between East Perth and West Perth.

West Perth is currently sitting pretty in second position on the ladder coming into the game with a 6-2 record following last Saturday's 36-point win over Perth at Arena Joondalup coming off a three-week break since downing East Fremantle way back on Saturday May 4.

East Perth appeared to be building some form before going down to Mandurah last Saturday and losing to Peel, but the Royals could climb up into the top-four with a win on Monday if East Fremantle loses to South Fremantle on the Sunday.

East Perth sure wouldn’t have forgotten the 75-point thumping West Perth handed the Royals at Arena Joondalup in Round 1 as well.

Perth derbies have taken place every Foundation Day since 1997 and have become among the fiercest contested battled in each and every WAFL season.

They have thrown up some intriguing results with some amazing battles as well.

Over those 16 meetings, West Perth has won eight and East Perth seven with the incredible draw of last year that took place at Arena Joondalup.

Winning at the opposition's venue certainly hasn’t been a problem for either side since 2003 as well. West Perth's home since 1994 has been Arena Joondalup, but prior to that it was East Perth's current Leederville home of Medibank Stadium.

East Perth has also held no fear of travelling to Joondalup with the visiting team winning seven of the last 10 Perth derbies on Foundation Day.

Those 16 battles since 1997 has seen 68,235 come through the turnstiles at either Arena Joondalup, Medibank Stadium or Perth Oval at an average of 4265 per contest. Expect another big crowd this Monday at Medibank Stadium with no other WAFL game played on the day.

East Perth has some experienced and key players right to come back after getting some form and fitness after injury and form layoffs.

Important defender Kyle Anderson is on track to play his first game of the season after two games back in the reserves while former captain Michael Swan returned with seven goals in the reserves last week following a shoulder injury so that should he him back to face the Falcons.

West Coast defender Blayne Wilson should also be back as will Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls who had 29 possessions a fortnight ago against Swan Districts in his one and only league game so far in 2013.

Mat Seal has gone back to the reserves and played two good games so that could earn the 129-game mid-sized forward a recall. Shaquille McKenzie and Cameron Grover have also made a case to come back into the side.

West Perth loses Rohan Kerr to a cork in his quad suffered in the first half of last week's win against Perth with Brayden Antonio, James Batterham, Shaun Marusic, Steve Potente and Laine Rasmussen all looking to try and break into the strong Falcons line-up.

BY CHRIS PIKE