FALCONS DOMINATE SECOND HALF TO BEAT ROYALS

WEST Perth dominated the second half of the derby on Saturday at Arena Joondalup to end up beating East Perth by 30 points and further consolidate second position on the WAFL ladder.

The Falcons surprise loss at home last week to South Fremantle left them a little vulnerable in second position on the ladder coming into the derby with the in-form Royals, but the 10.14 (74) to 6.8 (44) has seen them put a handy gap now between the chasing pack.

West Perth's 30-point victory over the Royals sees it improve to a 11-5 record on the season with just four matches of the 2013 home and away season remaining and a two-game lead over the third-placed Swan Districts, fourth-placed Perth and fifth-placed East Perth.

In the tough conditions of Saturday afternoon, East Perth got the better of things in the first half leading by five points at quarter-time and by 12 at the main break, but the game was still very much up for grabs at half-time.

After the break, it was all West Perth with the Falcons kicking four goals to one in a dominant third quarter where they had nine scoring shots to just one from the Royals.

That saw West Perth lead by 16 points at three quarter-time and the Falcons then booted the only two goals of the last term as well to run out 30-point winners.

Steve Potente continued to show why he has been a terrific recruit this season from Swan Districts by putting in a strong performance against East Perth on Saturday.

Potente finished with 23 possessions, two goals, four inside-50 entries and three tackles in a best on ground performance.

Matt Fowler and Kody Manning also kicked two goals apiece for the Falcons with another new player for 2013 Rohan Kerr also terrific with 23 possessions and seven entries inside the forward 50.

Veteran midfielder Matt Guadagnin picked up 20 possessions to go with laying eight tackles and driving the ball inside-50 on four occasions.

Shane Nelson also racked up 18 disposals for the Falcons, Aaron Black 17, Steven Browne 17, Andrew Strijk 16, Marc Crisp 16, Luke Tedesco 16 and Josh Mellington 16.

The Falcons reserves put in a terrific display as well beating East Perth 9.16 (70) to 4.2 (26) after holding the Royals to just the one goal for the entire first half.

Frank Stockley put in a massive effort for West Perth finishing with 27 possessions, six marks, 52 hit outs, four inside-50 entries and three tackles in the difficult conditions.

Mitch McPhee also kicked three goals for the Falcons and Kris Shannon two with Corey Chalmers picking up 24 disposals, James Embley 20, Joel Latham 19, Jack Thrum 19 and Ben McNamara 18. 

The West Perth colts came up short to start off the day at Arena Joondalup with East Perth ending up winning 8.5 (53) to 4.7 (31).

Tim Sutherland, Troy Manners, Peter Harvey and William Michell kicked the Falcons' four goals for the game with Nick Bowe finishing with 19 possessions.

WEST PERTH 2.3 4.5 8.10 10.14 (74)

EAST PERTH 3.2 6.5 6.6 6.8 (44)

WEST PERTH – Goals: Manning, Potente, Fowler 2; Crisp, Tsalikis, Bartholomew, Mellington.

Best: Potente, Kerr, Guadagnin, Tedesco, Crisp, Nelson.

EAST PERTH – Goals: Smith 2; Brookes, Wulff, Oakley-Nicholls, Swan.

Best: Wulff, Lee, Selwood, Payne, Johnson, Seal.

BY CHRIS PIKE