FALCONS LOOK TO KEEP SEASON ALIVE WHILE JUGGLING FOXTEL CUP

WEST Perth's finals hopes for 2014 will be decided over the next six weeks with two games against Swan Districts, clashes with the other three top four teams East Perth, Subiaco and East Fremantle as well as a trickily scheduled Foxtel Cup grand final in Geelong.

West Perth has played some outstanding football at times this season coming off last year's premiership, but the Falcons now sit on a 6-6 record heading into this Saturday's clash against the second-placed Swan Districts at Joondalup's HBF Arena.

The Falcons are currently four games behind the top two teams East Perth and Swan Districts, three behind the third-placed Subiaco and then two back from the fourth-placed East Fremantle, but now do play those four teams across the next five WAFL fixtures.

It begins this Saturday against Swan Districts before West Perth then plays Subiaco also at HBF Arena ahead of the Round 17 bye leading into the Foxtel Cup grand final against Williamstown at Geelong's Simonds Stadium.

Just four days later, West Perth tackles East Perth in the third derby of the year at Leederville's Medibank Stadium before playing Swan Districts again at HBF Arena and East Fremantle at the Joondalup venue before finishing the season against Peel, Claremont and Perth.

West Perth will know if it's still a chance of playing finals as this run against the top four teams plays out, but it also means if they win enough of those contests to remain alive that the run home over the last three weeks is a good one.

However, first things first an coach Bill Monaghan knows that none of that will matter unless the Falcons begin stringing wins together starting this Saturday against Swan Districts.

"The good thing about that is that we play all the sides that are above us so we can help shape our own destiny, and we aren’t necessarily relying on other sides to do our dirty work for us. But having said that and I know people hate it when coaches say it, but we literally have to just look at what is immediately in front of us," Monaghan said.

"If we get hooked up on looking at ladders and draws, and who might or might not lose this game, then that loses our focus on what we need to do. What we need to do is concentrate on playing the best football that we can, win games of footy and we are confident that if we do that on a weekly basis starting this weekend against Swans then the rest will take care of itself.

"We can't concern ourselves with what is going on in other games. We do have a potentially very tough draw, but we are firmly focused on Swans this week and we think that our very best can beat anyone so that's we are aiming to do this week."

The interesting part of West Perth's fixture over the next six weeks is the Foxtel Cup grand final in Geelong on Tuesday July 22 with the derby with East Perth still scheduled for the Saturday just four days later.

Monaghan is hopeful that between the WAFL administration and East Perth that the game is agreed upon to be moved to the Sunday.

"It's a given that most WAFL clubs prefer to play on a Saturday afternoon and this was always down to be a Saturday fixture, but that was along the lines of us both making it or both being out, then it didn’t need to change," he said.

'If East Perth had won then it was conceivable that we both had the same break so could play either Saturday or Sunday, but now we have made it and they haven’t. I hope that the footy commission have a good look at it and may direct East Perth one way or the other."

Monaghan isn’t sure exactly who is called upon to make the final decision on when the game is played, but is hopeful that commonsense will prevail to give West Perth a five-day break from the Tuesday night game in Geelong to then playing East Perth.

"Obviously I want as much rest for my players as we can get, but I'm not actually sure who makes the decision whether it's a coach's call, the club's call, the CEO's, the WAFL's or the West Coast Eagles, I honestly don’t know," he said.

"There is a little bit of an issue at the moment with the rules and regulations saying that there is a minimum five days break between games and it doesn’t specifically state WAFL games so our argument is that the Foxtel Cup is a WAFL-sanctioned game therefore we should have a minimum of five days rest so the WAFL should step in. I'm not sure the WAFL agree with that at the moment."

While East Perth and West Perth are the fiercest of WAFL rivals, Monaghan is hopeful that the Royals can look at the bigger picture that the game should be played on Sunday because in the future the Falcons might be called upon with the shoe on the other foot. 

"You would like to think that clubs have a little bit of empathy for other clubs even though I know that East Perth and West Perth don’t' always see eye to eye. The fact that East Perth is now knocked out of the Foxtel Cup and that they don’t care about how West Perth players are treated, that's not big picture stuff," he said.

"If East Perth wants to treat it that way then I understand that, but you hope that people take a fairer, bigger picture look at it. Sometimes if you take these stances, sometimes they come back to bite you in the backsides so you have to take these things into consideration."

However, if East Perth doesn’t agree to move the game to Sunday and if the WA Football Commission doesn’t overturn that and force the change, then Monaghan will likely send a team devoid of experienced, league players to compete in the Foxtel Cup grand final which is in nobody's best interests.

But if the Falcons are still alive in the finals race in the WAFL, then it would be his duty to not do anything to jeopardise the club's hopes of ending up playing in September attempting to defend last year's premiership.

"The other thing is that the Foxtel Cup is there to showcase talent and it's a bit of a tick for the competition you represent so we have upheld our end of the bargain by promoting the WAFL, but the downside is that if we don’t get what we perceive as a good break then we can't guarantee the strength of the side we are going to take over," Monaghan said.

"If the commission don't step in, then my view is that if I send my whole reserves side then they shouldn’t have any comeback against me saying it's not good enough when they are the ones who didn’t allow us a five-day break. We have mounted an argument based on current practices in the AFL and WAFL, and we aren’t asking for anything out of the ordinary.

"We think it's a fair request, but if it's not adhered to there is nothing we can do, and we move on and pick sides based on what we think is in the best interests of our players.

"That's my view as a coach, and the board and CEO might have a different view of the team that needs to be selected, and that's still water that needs to go under the bridge. My focus right now is on Swan Districts this week and everything beyond that isn’t taking up too much of my time at the minute."