FALCONS BIG MEN STAND TALL AGAINST THE ODDS

WEST Perth entered the 2013 WAFL grand final having to hear all the talk surrounding East Perth's potential dominance in the big men department, but Chris Keunen, Dan Hunt, Shaun Marusic and Nick Rodda all played as big a part in the premiership win as anyone.

Much of the talk heading into the 2013 grand final was surrounding the potential dominance of East Perth's big men – ruckman Paul Johnson, full-forward Josh Smith and ruck/forward Scott Lycett.

With Michael Pettigrew also ruled out of the game for West Perth with his hamstring injury, it meant that both Hunt and Marusic had to stand tall in defence with Keunen going up virtually alone in the ruck against two quality big men and then Rodda had to stand tall as the main target in attack.

While West Perth's midfielders Shane Nelson and Mark Hutchings, and half-forward Rohan Kerr might have received the main accolades for their performances in leading the Falcons to their first WAFL premiership since 2003, it couldn’t have happened without those big men.

In the end, 151-game veteran defender Hunt did well on the Bernie Naylor Medallist Smith holding him to two goals in the first quarter and five minutes from just five kicks.

Marusic, in his first season with West Perth after crossing from Frankston in the VFL, had the job to play on either Lycett or Johnson when they were playing forward, and did well to limit their influence.

Up forward, 19-year-old key position player Rodda was the main tall target and played his role finishing with two goals from nine possessions and five marks.

And then there was 130-game ruckman Keunen who had the biggest job of all on grand final day up against both Johnson and Lycett.

The 29-year-old did an outstanding job with 13 possessions and 31 hit outs himself and even though Johnson and Lycett had plenty of hit outs, Johnson only had 10 disposals and Lycett had just the eight.

West Perth Bill Monaghan was full of praise afterwards for the efforts of his big men.

"They might have had a perceived advantage with their talls and the weather negated that a bit, but our three big men Keunen, Hunt and Marusic all did a good job, and then Rodda played his cameo when he needed to," Monaghan said.

"I thought we really matched them in the big men department and we felt our ability to run, and move the ball quick at times would get them in the end."

West Perth captain Jason Salecic never doubted that the Falcons big men could take up the challenge against the Royal opponents, and acknowledged afterwards the crucial role they played in the premiership win.

"Shaun played in the VFL last year and he made the Team of the Year so he's always had that ability since coming here even though he's still a young kid," Salecic said.

"He's proven throughout the year that he can do jobs like that for us and Keuns was sensational, and so was Dan. Dan always does the job for us and so does Keuns even though they don’t get a lot of recognition, but they both played their roles and that's the result we get because of their efforts."

Veteran Falcons midfielder Matt Guadagnin always had the faith that Keunen could get the job done as well.

"To be honest, we thought Keuns has done the job all year against Johnson," Guadagnin said.

"We know Johnno is an unbelievable ruckman and the best big man in the comp, but Keuns is our most important player. He did his role in the grand final and that allowed all of us to do our role, so he was a crucial part of our win."

BY CHRIS PIKE