FALCONS WORK HARD FOR VICTORY

A YOUTHFUL West Perth side showed true grit holding off Peel Thunder at Bendigo Bank Stadium on Saturday. Peel had 13 AFL-listed players while the Falcons played seven players who have 20 games or less of experience. The young players stepped up to the plate and showed that, even though this season has been disappointing, there is much to look forward to.

As the final scores indicate it was a tight and hard fought contest all day. The Falcons were on the board at the three-minute mark when Steven Browne took possession 50 metres out and split the middle. The quarter was a real arm-wrestle from here but it was Peel who had the best of it by kicking two goals to take the lead. The first was a long kick by former Falcon, Kepler Bradley, and the next went to big man Michael Apeness who marked strongly all day. The West Perth defence did a terrific job against much bigger opponents. At the 28-minute mark Ray Bartholomew tied the scores up when he bounced one through from outside 50. 'Razor' played across half back for much of the game and had an impact. At the first change scores were all tied up with each side scoring 2.1 (13).

The second quarter was more of the same with West Perth hitting the scoreboard first. Promising youngster, Luke Meadows, who was moved up forward, kicked the first of his three at the six-minute mark. The ball was carried from deep in defence to Meadows who marked 30 out. Laine Rasmussen continued his goal kicking from recent times when he finished from the square after a good run and carry by Kris Shannon. This occurred at the 10-minute mark and gave the Falcons an 11-point lead. From here though the game settled into a battle of the defences but Peel did best to kick two and at the main break nothing had changed from the start of the game. The scores were once again tied with each team kicking 4.5 (29).

The third was West Perth’s best and was the match winning quarter. Peel went to an eight-point lead and looked dangerous. It took until the 16-minute mark before West Perth kicked their first but this was the beginning of a run of four unanswered goals. It was the result of a clever kick forward by Max Alexander that enabled Matt Guadagnin to finish from the square. This tied the game up once again. Three minutes later Meadows kicked his second after a pass from Brayden Antonio and the lead was out to 13 when Alexander received a free, fifty out, that he converted. A game high lead of 18 points was achieved when Meadows scored his third from 50. This was at the 27-minute mark but the quarter went for another seven minutes. During this time Peel fought their way back into the game courtesy of a major to the hard working Anthony Morabito. At the final change the West Perth lead had been whittled down to just 10 points; 8.8 (56) to 6.10 (46).

The game was on in earnest in the last quarter when a Michael Wood goal reduced the margin to just three points. The Falcons then attacked steadily but were only able to kick three behinds before Alexander kicked their only goal for the quarter. He marked a kick from Antonio forward to score his second. Once again West Perth continued to attack but could not find the mark. At the 18-minute mark the lead was 14 points. Peel got back into the game once again courtesy of a goal to Jack Hannath but West Perth managed to hold on in what was a very short quarter. It lasted just 26 minutes, not that Falcons fans were complaining. At the final siren West Perth had won by nine points; 9.14 (68) to 8.11 (59).

The hard fought victory topped off a really good day for the Falcons. The colts won again to only be percentage out of the four and the reserves had a comprehensive victory to just about tie up second spot. Best players for West Perth, in the league, included Laine Rasmussen, Luke Meadows, Ray Bartholomew, Rohan Kerr, Marcus Adams and Max Alexander. Next week a trip to the Showground to take on the on-fire Claremont who is still clinging to a hope of sneaking into the finals.

PHOTOS BY BELINDA TAYLOR