FALCONS DOWN SHARKS TO MOVE TO SECOND SPOT

WEST Perth put together a strong four-quarter performance on Saturday at HBF Arena and the result was a terrific 32-point win over East Fremantle to see the Falcons improve to second position on the WAFL ladder.

West Perth will now remain in second position with a 5-3 record heading into the WA Day derby clash with East Perth at Medibank Stadium with the State game break next weekend as Western Australia plays South Australia at Lathlain Park.

The Falcons have pulled off two remarkable comebacks against Swan Districts and East Perth in the past month, but on Saturday they delivered a much more consistent four-quarter performance to end up beating East Fremantle 16.9 (105) to 10.13 (73) at HBF Arena.

East Fremantle was in second position coming into the clash and on a run of four successive wins, but with the victory West Perth leapfrogs the Sharks and it was a case of the Falcons taking their opportunities.

Little separated the two teams most of the afternoon with West Perth having one less possession than East Fremantle, just two more scoring shots and 14 fewer inside-50 entries, but the Falcons kicked well in difficult conditions and recorded the important win.

West Perth again found a way to have plenty of avenues to goal and still end up with 16 majors for the afternoon led by three each to one usual source in Matt Fowler and one unusual source in the form of Aidan Lynch.

Michael Lourey then also kicked two goals for West Perth and Aaron Black two to go with 26 possessions, eight marks and four tackles.

Shane Nelson dominated the first half just as he has for the majority of the 2015 season and he racked up 20 disposals in the first half, and finished the afternoon with 25 possessions and five tackles.

Chris Keunen worked hard in the ruck for the Falcons and finished with 16 possessions and 43 hit outs after a terrific battle with fellow veteran Rob Young, who ended up with 16 disposals, six marks and 42 hit outs for the Sharks.

Rohan Kerr finished with 21 disposals and seven tackles for West Perth with Steven Browne ending up with 20 possessions, Andrew Strijk 18, Laine Rasmussen 17 and Sam Rotham 17.

East Fremantle had the first five scoring shots of the game and had the chance to get off to a flying start in the difficult conditions, but the Falcons only managed to kick five straight behinds.

West Perth then swiftly made them pay kicking truly with their first scoring shot thanks to Lynch at the 20-minute mark.

When Fowler got in on the act a minute later, suddenly West Perth was up by seven points and then again by seven when he responded to a Sharks goal to Ryan Lester-Smith with Fowler adding his second.

However, scores were all tied up at quarter-time following an East Fremantle goal to George Hampson.

Despite East Fremantle getting a goal within the first minute of the second term thanks to Hampson, West Perth worked its way on top again starting with a goal to Black at the four-minute mark to again tie scores up.

West Perth had started accurately, but then strung together a run of behinds in the second quarter before Lynch was able to add his second to stretch the lead to nine points, then Luke Meadows another to make the margin 15 points and then it was 23 shortly before half-time thanks to Lourey.

East Fremantle booted the last goal of the first half thanks to a goal to second-gamer Josh Cuneo to cut West Perth's lead to 17 points, but within six minutes of the second half the Falcons suddenly opened up what would prove to be a match-winning 35-point advantage.

Kody Manning, Jay van Berlo and Fowler all combined for West Perth goals in the first six minutes of the third quarter. Despite East Fremantle kicking the next three to get back to within 16 points, a goal just on three quarter-time to Black helped the Falcons consolidate a 20-point lead.

It took just 45 seconds for Marc Crisp to mark his return to the league team for the first time since Round 1 with a crucial goal, and then the Falcons consolidated with the last three goals of the match to Kerr, Lourey and Lynch to record the impressive and important 32-point victory.

West Perth's reserves got off to a flying start at HBF Arena on Saturday with six goals to one in the first quarter to set up an eventual 14.19 (103) to 7.3 (45) victory.

Hayden Yarran continued his impressive goal kicking form for the Falcons with another three goals while Blake Wilhelm, Brent Fotheringham, Jesse Kirwen and Chris Franklin all booted two apiece.

Trent Manzone kept sending a signal that he is in the mix for a league recall racking up 37 possessions to go with seven tackles and seven inside-50 entries for West Perth.

Corey Chalmers also amassed 35 disposals, eight inside 50s, seven marks and a goal for West Perth with Wilhelm finishing with 21 touches, Broderick Walton 20, Brayden Antonio 18, Tyler Keitel 18 and Joe Morrow 17.

The day began at HBF Arena on Saturday with the colts contest and it was East Fremantle who prevailed 6.16 (52) to 4.7 (31).

Scott Nelson, Joel Horgan, Alphonse Charlie and Ewan Larmett were the goal scorers for West Perth with Angus Allen gathering 19 possessions, Ben Mountford 19, Mitchell Walley 15 and Nelson 14.

Ethan Hills worked hard in the ruck finishing the game with 10 possessions, four tackles and 29 hit outs. 

WEST PERTH            3.0    7.5    11.7    16.9    (105)
EAST FREMANTLE        2.6    4.6    7.11    10.13    (73)

WEST PERTH – Goals: Fowler, Lynch 3; Black, Lourey 2; Kerr, Crisp, Meadows, J van Berlo, Potente, Manning.
Best: Black, Keunen, Lynch, Browne, Kerr, J van Berlo, Nelson.
EAST FREMANTLE – Goals: Eardley, Hampson, Locantro 2; Perham, Lester-Smith, Cuneo, Ellis.
Best: Anthony, McGough, R O'Brien, Young, Locantro, Henson.