ROUND 24 PREVIEW V SWAN DISTRICTS

WEST Perth might finish in second position no matter what happens against Swan Districts at Bassendean's Steel Blue Oval on Saturday, but Swans need to win to ensure their place in the finals.

West Perth is guaranteed of finishing in second spot with the second semi-final already set for next Sunday against Claremont at Claremont Oval with a grand final spot up for grabs.

However, the Falcons will certainly want to be entering that clash with the Tigers in good, winning form and the only way to make sure of that is to beat Swan Districts at Steel Blue Oval on Saturday.

West Perth has made a host of changes to its line-up following the bye last weekend and a heavy loss to East Fremantle the previous week with a host of experienced and important players sidelined.

The Falcons do lose another key veteran to injury with star forward Anthony Tsalikis injuring his shoulder early in that game against East Fremantle and now having to undergo a shoulder reconstruction.

Ben McNamara is also out from that side as is Fremantle's Josh Mellington who is one of a host of Dockers players called up to take on St Kilda at Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

There are some big names back for the Falcons, though, with Matt Guadagnin, Chris Keunen, Joe Morrow, Kris Shannon and Andrew Strijk all named to return.

The biggest inclusion without question is of Jay van Berlo. He injured the medial ligament in his knee against East Perth in Round 19 but has now done everything right in his rehab and is set to make his return for the Falcons on Saturday at Bassendean against Swans.

West Perth coach Bill Monaghan re-signed for a further three years during the week and is hopeful of a strong showing at Bassendean from the Falcons to gear up for Claremont in the second semi-final.

"It's a tough one. We obviously lost to them here on Anzac Day and then we went up to Bassendean and beat them in what ended up being quite a tight game. We may or may not meet Swans again, but it's always good to perform against the sides who are up the upper end of the competition," Monaghan said.

"Swans currently sit in the four so our players need to be respectful of them and we need to make  sure that whether we play them this week or during the finals, we put in a performance that should hold them in check."

Swan Districts returned to third position last weekend with a 23-point win at home over East Fremantle so that means that the black-and-whites simply need to beat West Perth on Saturday to secure a finals spot, and likely home first semi-final next Sunday.

However, if Swan Districts loses it doesn’t mean necessarily that it will fall out of the finals mix.

If East Perth also loses to Subiaco and East Fremantle goes down to Claremont, then even with a loss Swans will still finish third.

If Swans loses and East Perth wins, then Swan Districts will slip down to fourth and if Swans lose, and both the Royals and Sharks win then the black-and-whites will miss out on playing in the finals in 2013 altogether.

Swan Districts and West Perth have met twice already this season with Swans winning at Arena Joondalup by 28 points on Anzac Day while the Falcons bounced back with a three-point thrilling win in Round 15 at Steel Blue Oval.

Swan Districts must win to be ensured taking part in the finals the following week and from last Saturday's team that beat East Fremantle, Swans lose retiring West Coast veteran Andrew Embley.

However, that might not be the worst news in the world considering the fact that Embley kicked 1.7 last week and in order to take care of business against West Perth this Saturday, Swan Districts will need to make the most of its chances in front of goal.

One player set to help put some goals on the board is the returning Kirk Ugle who has kicked 22 goals so far this season.

Defenders Nathan Broad and Jarrad Blight, and in-and-under midfielder Adam Faulkner are also pushing for selection in the black-and-whites line-up.

BY CHRIS PIKE