ROUND 8 PREVIEW V PEEL THUNDER

WEST Perth is on a high coming off Tuesday's Foxtel Cup win in Melbourne but that will quickly be washed away if the Falcons don't follow up with a win over Peel Thunder at Arena Joondalup on Sunday.

The Falcons headed into Tuesday night's clash with the Box Hill Hawks at Etihad Stadium having lost their last two WAFL matches to South Fremantle and Swan Districts, but put in a tremendous performance to beat the reigning VFL premiers by two points.

However, West Perth remains on a 2-4 record in the WAFL and does need to beat Peel on Sunday to maintain touch with the top-four.

Peel is yet to win a game this season but only has a losing margin of 24 points and its biggest loss of the campaign has been by 35 points to Swan Districts in Round 2.

West Perth coach Bill Monaghan is confident that the Falcons have done everything possible to make sure the players are fresh and raring to go even those that went to Melbourne to play in the Foxtel Cup.

"We requested a home game after the Tuesday Foxtel Cup and that allowed us to move it to a Sunday, which works out well for us to get an extra day's recovery into the boys," Monaghan said.

"We took 24 players to Melbourne so we left about 32 here. The guys who came back have just done some touch work and recovery running, but the other guys have had a pretty solid week on the training track.

"The players weren’t that happy that I had them up at 4.30 Melbourne time on Wednesday morning in the pool and we had to leave the hotel for the airport at about 5.

"It was a tough morning considering we didn’t even get back to the hotel until 11.30 on Tuesday night. There wasn’t much sleep, but there was plenty of sleep on the plane home."

Monaghan is also glad that his players got the chance, that might be a once in a lifetime for many, to play on Etihad Stadium on Tuesday and to win in front of a national television audience.

"It was a good trip. To get another chance to play in Melbourne and at Etihad was a wonderful experience for the players," Monaghan said.

"It's just a completely different feel getting in there with the roof shut. It was empty of course so it was quite eerie and the ball travelled a bit further. It's great for our players to get the chance to play on some of the best stadiums in the country, and probably the world."

From the West Perth team that lost to Swan Districts on Anzac Day, Nick Rodda, Matt Spencer, Laine Rasmussen, Chris Keunen, Jay van Berlo, Matt Fowler, Dan Hunt, Trent Manzone, Andrew Krakouer, Brayden Antonio and Andrew Strijk didn’t play in Tuesday's Foxtel Cup victory.

However, all of those players are back in to face Peel Thunder this Sunday at Arena Joondalup.

Premiership players from last year Matt Guadagnin, Steve Potente and Shaun Marusic all returned in the Foxtel Cup and played at Etihad Stadium on Tuesday, and are looking to now force their way into the WAFL team this Sunday to take on the Thunder.

Ruckman Seva Martin played his first senior game in West Perth colours on Tuesday and did well and now will be trying to earn his first official WAFL game with the Falcons as well.

From the Foxtel Cup winning team, Joe Morrow, Jack Thrum, Max Alexander, Matt Johnson, Kris Shannon, Drew Rohde and Mitch van Berlo will find themselves back in the reserves for West Perth on Sunday.

Even though Tom Vandeleur, Tom Sheridan and Garrick Ibbotson have been named as outs for Peel, only Vandeleur won't play on Sunday unless the Dockers make a late change for their clash against Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval on Saturday.

Ibbotson and Sheridan are only named as emergencies for the Dockers as is ruckman Jack Hannath who should also play for Peel.

With Hannath added to the line-up, it will again be a Peel side with plenty of height with Jonathon Griffin, Craig Moller, Kepler Bradley, Michael Apeness and Matt Taberner in the line-u as well from Fremantle.

Peel will also welcome back Fremantle's Sam Menegola and Anthony Morabito while first-year draftee Alex Pearce is set to play his first game of the season.

Kelvin Lawrence, Aiden Field and Eddie Dann are also pressing for selection with Peel.

With 15 AFL-listed players expected to play for Peel including the likes of Bradley, Morabito, Taberner, Griffin, Ibbotson, Colin Sylvia and Hannath, and then Brendon Jones, Kristin Thornton, Cruize Garlett, James Flaherty, Matt Brown and youngsters Josh Mathers and Dylan Winton, it's likely the best team it has field all season.

RESERVES TEAM

B Antonio, C Chalmers, J Embley, M Geraghty, P Harvey, S Healy, M Johnson, B King, J Kirwen, S Marusic, L Meadows, S Money, J Morrow, B O'Regan, T Sutherland, T Young

COLTS TEAM

N Alexandre, A Allen, M Ashfield, N Beutel, M Douglas, K Egan, K Fullgrabe, J Gray, A Innes, C Lynch, T Manners, W Michell, T Moulton, B Mountford, D Munns, J Nolan, M Peirce, D Robertson, S Rotham, J Ryder, J Sheehan-Nel, A Smith, J Stoner, D Toohey, J Turner, M Walley, A Wenn

BY CHRIS PIKE