FALCONS MAKE HISTORY WITH 100-POINT WIN OVER ROYALS

WEST Perth created history on Saturday recording its first ever triple-figure victory over East Perth thumping the previously unbeaten Royals by exactly 100 points at Leederville's Medibank Stadium.

The Falcons were coming into the contest having recorded their first win of the season over Perth following tight losses to East Fremantle and Claremont, and made a real statement to the rest of the WAFL that they are deadly serious about their premiership defence.

It was a complete demolition job by the Falcons who ended up winning 22.17 (149) to 7.7 (49) finishing up not only with the 100-point victory, but 39 scoring shots to 14, 31 more possessions, 14 more marks and an incredible 61 inside 50s to just 32.

Just seven days after many in the WAFL competition were beginning to worry about how to stop a West Coast-strengthened East Perth line-up following its 75-point thrashing of South Fremantle, the Falcons allayed those fears.

East Perth had opened its season with wins over Peel Thunder, Swan Districts and South Fremantle, but lost Eagles players Jeremy McGovern, Scott Lycett, Patrick McGinnity, Sam Butler, Josh Hill and Dom Sheed to the AFL coming into Saturday's grand final rematch with West Perth at Leederville.

The result was the Royals kicking just seven goals for the match, and two after half-time, to lose to West Perth by 100 points for the first ever time in history.

West Perth welcomed back premiership pair Kody Manning and Marc Crisp from suspension for the contest and every single member of the Falcons team made a strong contribution led up forward by six goals to Anthony Tsalikis, five to Marcus Adams, four to Matt Fowler and three to Manning.

The back-line was equally impressive holding both Josh Smith and Fraser McInnes scoreless while Aaron Black (30 touches), Steve Potente (25), Shane Nelson (23), Andrew Strijk (28) and Rohan Kerr (26) dominated possession.

The Falcons got the first goal of the game through Fowler and then Tsalikis got on the board with the next two for West Perth to help open up a five-point quarter-time advantage.

Adams then got his first of five goals for the day to start the second quarter and then when Brayden Antonio and Tsalikis added one apiece, the Falcons led by 17 points and that was out to 30 by half-time.

West Perth's complete dominance in the second half then began with a goal to the returning Manning. Black and Fowler then added one each as the lead extended to 49 points and a fourth unanswered third quarter goal stretched it to 56.

James Batterham also joined in the fun and the margin was a massive 69 points at the last change before Adams added a fifth and Manning a third as the lead stretched to 90 points, and got out to 100 by the time the final siren sounded.

As impressive as the West Perth performance was, there is also huge pressure on for spots with 164-game veteran Matt Guadagnin out injured, and Matthew Spencer, Andrew Krakouer, Shaun Marusic and Matt Johnson among the quality players in the reserves in good form.

The form of Krakouer the last two weeks has been particularly exciting for the Falcons.

After barely doing a pre-season with his lining up for 2014 up in the air until the eve of the season, the 2010 Swan Districts premiership star and former 137-game AFL player now looks in much better condition, and his form is delivering.

In the reserves against East Perth, he finished with 26 possessions, seven tackles, five inside-50 entries and a goal. He is a chance to come in for his West Perth debut this Saturday against South Fremantle at Arena Joondalup as a result.

It could be an ideal way to bring him into the West Perth team as well with the Bulldogs so far winless after four games this season following last Saturday's 13-point loss to Swan Districts.

If Krakouer comes in this week, he will then have a game under his belt before a hotly-anticipated clash against Swan Districts on Anzac Day in his first time coming up against the team he almost single-handedly led to the 2010 premiership.

West Perth's reserves beat East Perth 22.14 (146) to 4.7 (31) with Corey Chalmers, Drew Rohde and Mitch McPhee all kicking two goals apiece.

Max Alexander added three goals with Matt Johnson and Aidan Lynch booting two apiece.

Jack Thrum racked up 30 possessions, James Embley 26, Lynch 23, Shaun Marusic 21, Rohde and Kris Shannon 18. Seva Martin also finished with 40 hit outs in the ruck.

West Perth's colts couldn’t make it a perfect day at Leederville, though, with East Perth winning 13.10 (88) to 3.14 (32).

Zac Saunders kicked two goals for the Falcons with Dean Munns leading the way with 20 possessions and nine tackles.

WEST PERTH 3.7 9.9 15.13 22.17 (149)

EAST PERTH 3.2 5.3 5.4 7.7 (49)

WEST PERTH – Goals: Tsalikis 6; Adams 5; Fowler 4; Manning 3; Black, Antonio, Bartholomew, Batterham.

Best: Tsalikis, Adams, Fowler, Black, Rasmussen, Strijk, Potente, Kerr. 

EAST PERTH – Goals: Tunbridge 3; Locantro, Wulff, Hart, Hutchings.

Best: Wulff, Locantro, Dobson, Payne, Hutchings.

BY CHRIS PIKE