ROUND 1 PREVIEW V EAST FREMANTLE

WEST Perth's premiership defence officially gets underway this Saturday when the Falcons head to East Fremantle Oval for a WAFL Round 1 clash with East Fremantle.

Coming off the 2013 premiership following the grand final win over East Perth, change has been minimal at West Perth coming into 2014.

From the premiership side, only Jason Salecic, Josh Mellington and Mark Hutchings are no longer at the club while Kody Manning is also unavailable for Round 1 through suspension.

That means that 18 premiership players are in line to take on the Sharks – Steven Browne, Nick Rodda, Laine Rasmussen, Andrew Strijk, Dan Hunt, Jordan Jones, Rohan Kerr, Matt Guadagnin, Ray Bartholomew, Matt Fowler, Marc Crisp, Chris Keunen, Aaron Black, Jay van Berlo, Shaun Marusic, Steve Potente, Shane Nelson and Luke Tedesco.

Then there is Anthony Tsalikis who was injured just before last year's finals, rising players Matt Johnson, Trent Manzone and James Batterham, and recruits Marcus Adams, Seva Martin who are trying to break into that premiership side.

Adams is a bustling key forward who made his WAFL debut with Swan Districts in 2011 and he looks set to become a cornerstone of the Falcons' forward-line alongside Tsalikis, Fowler, Johnson, Crisp and whichever other tall coach Bill Monaghan wants to put down there.

Martin also arrives as a ruckman from Subiaco to offer support to premiership big man Keunen.

West Perth comes into the season having won its two pre-season hit outs, both at Leederville's Medibank Stadium, against East Perth and Subiaco.

On both occasions, the Falcons ran over the top of their opposition so that points to a strong fitness program run over the pre-season by Craig Soley which Monaghan and his coaching staff put full faith in.

East Fremantle, meanwhile, might have missed the finals last year coming off the 2012 grand final but does have a strong looking line-up.

The Sharks possess plenty of ex-AFL talent like Steven Dodd, Brock O'Brien, Brett Peake, Jamie McNamara and Bradd Dalziell as well as Sandover Medallist Rory O'Brien, Andrew Stephen, Tom Howlett, Ryan Lester-Smith, Rob Young and recruit Danny Chartres.

West Perth did have a good time at East Fremantle Oval in 2013, though, recording a 23-point win in a high-scoring shootout in Round 8 and then a 14-point victory again in Round 13.

RESERVES SQUAD

M Alexander, B Antonio, C Branch, C Chalmers, J Embley, M Geraghty, P Harvey, S Healy, B King, J Kirwen, A Lynch, B McNamara, M McPhee, B O'Regan, D Rohde, K Shannon, D Sorgiovanni, M Spencer, T Sutherland, J Thrum, M Van Berlo, B Wilhelm, T Young

COLTS SQUAD

M Ashfield, A Barlle, N Beutel, A Charlie, K Coleman, M Douglas, K Egan, A Elton, J Gray, A Innes, C Lynch, T Manners, W Michell, T Moulton, B Mountford, D Munns, S Nelson, J Nolan, L Pardini, M Peirce, S Rotham, Z Saunders, J Sheehan-Nel, A Smith, D Toohey, A Wenn

BY CHRIS PIKE