BILL'S GRILL – ROUND 24

IT WAS really only the week of the last bye when East Perth lost to South Fremantle that we were truly cemented in second position and could start looking at Claremont.

We have kind of had it in the back of our minds for three or four weeks that we would be playing Claremont in a second semi-final, and it was ramped up after that bye week.

Whilst we had a game to get through against Swan Districts and we had a few boxes we wanted to tick off in that, there has been one eye firmly on the second semi-final, and our training and loading has been really geared towards that. 

Having said that and whilst we lost on the weekend, I still thought the players did a reasonable job against Swan Districts who clearly had to win and probably played the better footy especially with the breeze. We didn’t play the conditions very well, but on raw statistics we had more inside 50s, more possessions and more clearances so there was enough there to say that our form going into the second semi-final is OK and most importantly we got some really valuable minutes into Jay van Berlo and Chris Keunen, while we had to look after Matt Guadagnin who came back after being crook and copped a hefty knock to his nose.

The proof will be in the pudding, though, and we now need to put up or shut when we head out to Claremont Oval looking to come away with the victory.

The reserves were fantastic again on Saturday and they are playing some inspired football. That works out well for us as well because it means anyone who plays senior football at West Perth can play either grade this weekend. While Tedesco and Pettigrew are still touch and go, we will at least be able to keep getting minutes into Laine Rasmussen and Matt Johnson.

Our midfielders were in good form on Saturday as well and Black, Nelson and Hutchings all had a lot of the ball. We are in the final stretches of having Hutch now before he has to move on but with him back on top of VB and Guadagnin as well as Black, Nelson and Steve Potente with Ray Bartholomew getting back up to decent form and Rohan Kerr as well we feel we have enough in there in that area to match it with Claremont. We know Claremont start a lot of their attacks from their midfield and off half-back, so we need to be on watch in that area but we think we have enough cattle of our own to do well in that area.

We haven’t actually seen Claremont against us since Round 12 so there has been a long time since we've played them but there seems to be a bit of a feeling suggesting they aren’t quite going as well as they have in previous years. But they finished with a 17-3 record so that doesn’t really suggest they are going any worse.

I have seen them a few times since we played them in Round 12 and they are still a very good side. They are experienced and have a lot of quality all over the park so we are expecting them to be very good. We just need to be better.

Everyone would agree that in finals you need just about everything to go right if you are going to win. We just need to keep backing in the structures and personnel that we have, and the main thing is that the players have to come with an attitude and intensity befitting a second semi-final. I'm confident the players can do that.

Regardless of where we finish in the finals, finishing second is a great testament to the efforts of the players this year. A lot is made of our senior players and that is something the club should be proud of, but we have blooded a number of young players this year.

That old chestnut of not having won a final since 2003 keeps getting brought up but more than half our side hasn’t played in any of those finals that we have played in recently. That's a big turnover and I'm sure if you ask Rohan Kerr, Kody Manning, Nick Rodda or Matt Johnson about our finals since 2003 they couldn’t tell you anything about them and they wouldn’t care. All we are focused on is putting in a performance that can get the result this weekend.

Personally, I signed a new three-year contract last week and that has been something we have been in discussion about for some time. It's a great show faith in me from the club, but we have all identified that we have a really good bunch of young kids coming through and I want to be part of that going forward. This year is proof that if we get it right and everyone works hard on and off the field that we can have some success down the track.

I'm rapt the club saw faith in me for another three years. I'm sure it will be cause for conversation for many people inside and outside of the club, but if we win that will take care of itself. If we don’t win then I'm sure there will be people who say it was premature or a bad move, but that won't change my view or the club's view about the fact that the list is in really good shape going forward, and hopefully that will bear fruit in the coming years.

I've heard a lot about how I will become the club's longest serving coach as well, but six years isn’t really a great amount of time and it surprises a lot of people that in 129 years of history no coach has lasted more than six years. That will be something that at some stage I will reflect on and be proud of it, but I still need to get through the sixth and seventh years for that to happen first.

Stan 'Pops' Heal has such a standing in Australian football let alone WA and the West Perth Football Club so to pass someone like that is surreal, but he had a 70 per cent winning ratio and a couple of premierships so even if I'm the longest there are still some great coaches who have been at this footy club. Longevity is one way to measure someone's success but ultimately as a player and a coach you want to be judged on premierships so that's what we will be trying to achieve.

 BY BILL MONAGHAN