Channel 9 WA Day Derby Preview

THERE is no question that the Perth derby is the most intense and fiercest contest in the WAFL and this year's WA Day derby is sure to be no different at Arena Joondalup.

The Channel 9 WA Day Derby at Arena Joondalup also doubles as a celebration of West Perth's move from Leederville to the northern city in 1994, and also the day will feature the parade of junior football clubs.

Both the Falcons and Royals look to be genuine premiership contenders in 2014 and each of them currently sit inside the top-four with East Perth in third position with a 6-2 record while West Perth is in fourth spot with a 4-4 record.

That puts extra meaning into Monday's clash with a win for West Perth really closing the gap between the two but a win for East Perth would open up a handy advantage that would be then difficult for the Falcons to close through the second half of the season.

West Perth certainly has the better of the recent memories from clashes with East Perth as well having beaten the Royals by 100 points in Round 4 this season at Medibank Stadium and of course by 49 points in last year's grand final.

The clash could very well be the first of at least one, but possibly two or even three between East Perth and West Perth through the rest of 2014. They are guaranteed to meet again in Round 18, but could very well playoff in a Foxtel Cup grand final and very well meet in the WAFL finals at some stage.

West Perth had seven players who represented the WAFL in the 85-point win over the NEAFL last Saturday in Sydney with Jay van Berlo, Shane Nelson, Jordan Jones, Kody Manning, Laine Rasmussen, Chris Keunen and Nick Rodda.

All seven of those Falcons players made a solid contribution while East Perth had just the one representative and he was also the WA captain Brendan Lee who was one of the best afield with 32 possessions and a game-high nine clearances.

From the team that beat Subiaco a fortnight ago prior to the State game break, West Perth has one out at this stage and that is Andrew Krakouer.

Leading forward Matt Fowler seems to be the natural replacement for Krakouer who has been playing as a permanent forward.

However, Aidan Lynch, Trent Manzone and Mitch McPhee are all in the mix as well for the Falcons and provide options as small to mid-sized players.

To try to combat East Perth's height over the ground and certainly in the ruck department, West Perth coach Bill Monaghan might consider bringing in a second ruckman Seva Martin to help out Chris Keunen.

So far this season, Martin's only senior game with the Falcons came in the Foxtel Cup victory over Box Hill when Keunen didn’t play. However, he has been in good form in the reserves averaging 37.6 hit outs a game.

From East Perth's team that beat Claremont three weeks ago, Craig Wulff, Will Schofield, Simon Tunbridge, Sam Butler, Josh Hill and Brant Colledge are out of the line-up.

Schofield, Tunbridge and Butler are still chances of playing in the WA Day Derby while co-captain Wulff will miss after suffering a finger injury during the Round 8 win over Claremont and having had surgery on that since.

Into the squad sees full-forward Josh Smith set to play his first WAFL game since Round 4 but he did play in the Foxtel Cup on Tuesday night.

Garry Moss and Dean Cadwallader are both a chance to play their first league games of 2014 as well on Monday with Scott Lycett also into the team to add some further height to the already present Paul Johnson, Callum Sinclair, Fraser McInnes and Jeremy McGovern.

Will Magginness, Julian Locantro, Malcolm Karpany, Callum Hart and Dylan Main are all in the selection mix for East Perth as well having played in the Foxtel Cup win over Norwood on Tuesday.

RESERVES TEAM

M Alexander, M Fowler, P Harvey, M Johnson, B King, J Kirwen, A Lynch, M Mcphee, L Meadows, S Money, B O'Regan, K Shannon, D Sorgiovanni, M Spencer, B Wilhelm, T Young

COLTS TEAM

N Alexandre, M Antonio, M Ashfield, L Beissel, N Beutel, M Douglas, K Egan, K Fullgrabe, J Gray, C Hinchcliffe, A Innes, C Lynch, T Manners, W Michell, T Moulton, D Munns, J Nolan, M Peirce, S Rotham, J Ryder, J Sheehan-Nel, A Smith, J Turner, M Walley

BY CHRIS PIKE