SIX FALCONS NAMED IN WAFL STATE SQUAD

SIX West Perth players have been named in the initial WAFL State squad for the game on Saturday May 23 against South Australia at Lathlain Park.

The initial squad of 36 players has been announced and that includes six West Perth premiership players from 2013 – Aaron Black, Laine Rasmussen, Chris Keunen, Jay van Berlo, Shane Nelson and Andrew Strijk.

It is tremendous reward for those six players who have continued their tremendous form to start the 2015 WAFL season, and there are some other Falcons who could consider themselves unlucky but can still press their claims for a place in the squad between now and May 23.

The WAFL team will be coached by West Perth premiership captain and coach Darren Harris and he will be joined by the man that coached him to a flag with the Falcons as well, John Dimmer – a two-time premiership coach with both West Perth and South Fremantle, and former State coach.

Tony Micale, Adam Selwood, Geoff Valentine and Shane Cable also help form the coaching staff for the WAFL team while Brett Barber is the chairman of selectors, and another former Falcons star Craig Smoker is the team runner.

There are five training sessions scheduled in the lead up the clash between WA and South Australia starting on Monday May 4 at Fremantle Oval.

There will then be training sessions at the WACA Ground and Domain Stadium the next two Monday followed by a session at Lathlain Park on the Tuesday before the match, and then Thursday again at Domain Stadium followed by the jumper presentation.

The WAFL squad at this stage not only is made up of the six West Perth players, but includes six players from reigning premiers Subiaco, five from Swan Districts, five from South Fremantle, five from East Fremantle, three from Peel Thunder and one each from Claremont and Perth.

The squad includes Liam Anthony, Blayne Wilson and Leroy Jetta who are fresh off AFL lists in their first seasons back in the WAFL in 2015 and a good mix of exciting talent including Shane Yarran and Marlon Pickett, and experienced performers such as Rory O'Brien, Paul Johnson, Brendon Jones, Ashton Hams, Tallan Ames, Justin Simpson, Chris Keunen and Jay van Berlo.

The SANFL team is being coached by Graham Cornes and the squad at this stage includes plenty of recognised talent including former Adelaide Crows players Ian Callinan, Jared Petrenko and Jason Porplyzia, former WAFL representative Marlon Motlop and the experienced Paul Thomas.

As for the West Perth contingent, Rasmussen, Keunen, van Berlo and Nelson all played in the State game victory over the NEAFL in Sydney last year, and are back in the mix again along with Black and Strijk who have both represented WA previously in State games.

Rasmussen has continued his strong form as a small defender and had a best on ground performance against Swan Districts on Monday while Keunen to work tirelessly as one of the best ruckmen in the competition and Nelson has continued to dominate in the midfield after winning West Perth's last two fairest and best awards.

Sandover Medallist Black has made another strong start to the 2015 season while Strijk has been getting back to his damaging best form having now played more than 150 WAFL matches and van Berlo has been leading the Falcons from the front as co-captain.

Key forward Michael Lourey has kicked 14 goals in five matches so far this season and can consider himself unlucky not to be in the initial WAFL squad as can prolific ball winner Rohan Kerr who is again averaging 24.4 possessions a game. 

WAFL STATE SQUAD
Claremont – Ryan Neates
East Fremantle – Liam Anthony, Andrew Stephen, Brock O'Brien, Rory O'Brien, Bradd Dalziell
East Perth – Paul Johnson, Brendan Lee, Kyle Anderson, Steven Payne
Peel Thunder – Brendon Jones, Gerald Ugle, Leroy Jetta
Perth – Aidan Tropiano
South Fremantle – Ashton Hams, Ryan Cook, Ben Saunders, Blayne Wilson, Marlon Pickett
Subiaco – Chris Phelan, Lachlan Delahunty, Clancy Wheeler, Kyal Horsley, Shane Yarran, Leigh Kitchin
Swan Districts – Tallan Ames, Justin Simpson, Tony Notte, Ryan Davis, Matt Riggio
West Perth – Aaron Black, Laine Rasmussen, Chris Keunen, Jay van Berlo, Shane Nelson, Andrew Strijk

SANFL STATE SQUAD
Adelaide – Ian Callinan
Central District – Tom Collier, Jarrod Schiller, Paul Thomas
Glenelg – Terry Milera
North Adelaide – Marlon Motlop, Leigh Ryswyk
Norwood – Jace Bode, Brady Dawe, Alex Georgiou, Peter Persinos
Port Adelaide – Steven Summerton
South Adelaide – Joel Cross, Brett Eddy, Nick Liddle
Sturt – Kory Beard, Michael Coad, Ben Hansen, Zane Kirkwood, Angus Kurtze
West Adelaide – Jonathan Beech, Tom Keough, Jason Porplyzia, Chris Schmidt, Taite Silverlock
Woodville West Torrens – James Boyd, Luke Jarrad, Lachlan McGregor, Jared Petrenko, Luke Thompson