NAIDOC ROUND PREVIEW V PERTH

WEST Perth is looking to continue its tremendous form from before the bye searching for a fourth straight win this season and an eighth consecutive victory over Perth when the Falcons take on the Demons at Lathlain Park as part of the WAFL's NAIDOC Round.

West Perth won three straight matches prior to the bye, including over reigning premiers Subiaco, to sit clear in second position on the ladder and now the Falcons begin a run of eight straight matches to close the season looking to keep that winning form going.

Perth has won just the once this season to appear set for a second straight wooden spoon but the Demons have been much more competitive than that suggests as they prepare to take on the second placed West Perth who is on a three-game winning run including a win over Subiaco two weeks ago.

Perth's one win in 2015 came against Claremont back in Round 5 and the Demons have lost eight straight matches since, but the defeats in that time to East Fremantle, Swan Districts and South Fremantle saw them not without their chances of a second win.

West Perth, though, scored strong wins over Peel Thunder, South Fremantle and Subiaco prior to its last bye of the season to have now improved to an 8-4 record on the season to be a game clear in second position, and a chance to further consolidate that spot with a win over the Demons.

The Falcons have also won their last seven games against Perth so will be looking to continue that recent domination over the Demons.

Perth has a strong history of Indigenous stars including the likes of Barry Cable, Troy Cook, Leon Davis and Michael Johnson, and again on Saturday the likes of Brennan Stack and Kelvin Lawrence are a chance to represent the Demons for NAIDOC Round.

West Perth has also had some legendary Aboriginal players in the past including Graham 'Polly' Farmer and Bill Dempsey, and Callum Papertalk could fittingly make his Falcons debut this Saturday against Perth as part of NAIDOC Round.

Perth and West Perth haven’t played one another since Round 3 at HBF Arena and it was the Falcons who dominated that contest, especially after half-time, running out 79-point winners on the back 13 goals to four in the second half, and nine goals to two in the final quarter.

West Perth loses two important premiership players to injury following the win over Subiaco two weeks ago with co-captain Luke Tedesco and hard nut Kody Manning both out for the Falcons along with dangerous forward Corey Chalmers.

Brayden Antonio had some bad luck early in the season but he has now been back playing some terrific football in the reserves and had another 19 possessions and three goals two weeks ago against Subiaco to now be in the mix for his first league game of 2015.

Another premiership player Ray Bartholomew is a chance to come back in for West Perth after 22 possessions in the reserves against Subiaco with Trent Manzone, Drew Rohde and Mitch van Berlo also in calculations for a call up.

Former West Coast and East Fremantle player Callum Papertalk has joined West Perth this season and has been building some form nicely after two years out of playing top-level football.

He has now kicked 15 goals the last four games to be a chance of playing not only his first league game with West Perth, but of his career.

Perth suffered a disappointing loss to Peel two weeks ago before last week's bye but has some key players returning to take on West Perth including one at each end with experienced defender Chris Billings back as is Jarryd Morton who kicked seven goals against Claremont before being suspended.

Reid Polak is in line to debut for Perth with the 18-year-old moving up from the colts this year to play the last four weeks in the reserves and now be in contention to play in the league team.

Lawrence is also a chance to play his first game for Perth after crossing from Peel over summer, and he played his best game in the reserves two weeks ago with 19 possessions, six inside-50 entries and a goal.

M Jones, Todd Stevenson, Brent Edmonds and Sam McGillivray are the other players pressing claims to be included in the Perth team to take on West Perth.

Callum Collard, Rowan Brookes, Sam Garstone, Dene White and Kieran Hug are all out for the Demons following their loss a fortnight ago to the Thunder.

RESERVES SQUAD
M Ashfield, J Batterham, D Colbung, B Denysiuk, M Douglas, C Franklin, K Fullgrabe, M Geraghty, J Gray, M Hamilton, C Hinchcliffe, A Innes, J Kirwen, T Manners, B McGillivray, T Moulton, D Munns, M Peirce, S Rotham, J Stoner, T Sutherland, B Walton, B Wilhelm

COLTS SQUAD
N Alexandre, M Antonio, A Charlie, K Coleman, R Dolman, Z Guadagnin, E Hills, P Hiotis, J Horgan, J Hunter, J Jennings, C Lynch, N Marinovich, B Mountford, E Mulvane, S Nelson, T O'Brien, G Popzeleff, J Porter, D Robertson, J Romanelli, L Saunders, J Turner, M Walley, L Ward