PRELIMINARY FINAL PREVIEW V EAST PERTH

THERE are no more fierce rivals in WA football than West Perth and East Perth, and they meet in a preliminary final at HBF Arena on Sunday with the prize of a grand final on the line.

The game will be broadcast live on Channel 7 as well as radio stations 720 ABC Perth, 91.3 SportFM and KIX Digital.

West Perth and East Perth most recently played in the 2013 grand final, and have had some remarkable contests since then as well with anything capable of happening both on and off the field.

Jones in the mix as Falcons focus on rejuvenation 

Bill Monaghan semi-final Q & A 

Aaron Black: Falcons pumped for prelim final 

West Perth missed the finals in 2014 in defence of its premiership, but ended up in second position at the end of the home and away season having won 13 of 20 matches.

The Falcons then beat Peel Thunder by 109 points in the qualifying final before losing by 55 points in last Sunday's second semi-final to Subiaco with the team looking tired in the second half in what was their 10th successive match since their last bye.

East Perth has played the last two grand finals, losing to West Perth and Subiaco respectively, and has the chance to play in a third premiership decider in a row as the Royals chase their first flag since 2002.

If East Perth wins on Sunday to make the grand final, it will give inspirational co-captain Craig Wulff the chance to break the club's games record of 269 held by Derek Chadwick.

The Royals had a slow start to 2015 winning just six of their first 14 games but they then won five of the last six matches to make the finals, and then beat Claremont and Peel Thunder in cut-throat finals to qualify for the preliminary final.

The clash will be the sixth preliminary final between East Perth and West Perth in history, with the most recent taking place in 2003 when the Falcons won by 56 points to end the Royals' quest for a fourth straight premiership while going on to win the flag themselves.

The last final between the two clubs was the 2013 grand final when East Perth went in as warm favourites, but West Perth had the right game plan in the conditions and the right mindset to play hard, contested football to end up winning by 49 points.

The bitter rivals have played three fascinating contests so far in 2015 starting in Round 8 at HBF Arena when the Royals were leading by 42 points during the third quarter before the Falcons kicked the last 12 goals of the game to win by 38 points in stunning turnaround.

The next meeting was only several weeks later on WA Day at Medibank Stadium and there was no surrendering of a big lead on that occasion for East Perth, with the Royals running away with the eventual 48-point victory.

And then most recently in Round 19 also at Medibank Stadium, East Perth won a thriller over West Perth by four points thanks to young Eagles forward Tom Lamb kicking a goal with virtually the last kick of the game.

However, that was another contest that had plenty of twists and turns with East Perth leading by 25 points during the last quarter before four quick West Perth goals saw the Falcons hit the front before Lamb's match-winning goal.

West Perth remains confident that Michael Lourey (ankle), Chris Keunen (knee) and Aaron Black (corked thigh, sore neck) will be right to take their place in the side for the preliminary final on Sunday at HBF Arena.

If Lourey doesn’t get up, the Falcons will have to do some rejigging of the forward-line and could very well use both Nick Rodda and Tyler Keitel in the same forward-line after one has generally been forward, and the other back when they have been in the one team together.

The other option without Lourey could be to back in a small forward-line made up of Matt Fowler, Matt Johnson, Kody Manning, Steve Potente and possibly one of Luke Meadows, Kris Shannon or Corey Chalmers.

If Keunen isn’t able to play, then West Perth will likely go in with a makeshift ruck combination made up of Keitel and Rodda up against East Perth powerhouse Paul Johnson who will have the support of Scott Lycett. 

Tim Sutherland is unlikely to be a late inclusion despite some encouraging form in the last two rounds of the season in his first two league matches.

The X-factor at selection for West Perth is Jordan Jones with the 103-game premiership player returning in the reserves last week in the losing first semi-final for his first game since Round 1 with him tearing his hamstring twice, and suffering a broken finger in a horror 2015 so far.

Jones is a quality player but the question will be whether one run in the reserves will be enough for him. If either Lourey or Keunen are unable to play, it might help his case to be selected significantly.

East Perth, on the other hand, has pretty close to a full squad available with the strength of the squad highlighted by 103-game wingman Freddie Clutterbuck unable to break into the extended squad.

The Royals will have available to them Jackson Nelson, Jamie Bennell, Tom Barrass, Malcolm Karpany, Kane Lucas, Murray Newman, Tom Lamb, Rowen Powell, Scott Lycett, Brant Colledge, Corey Adamson, Paddy Brophy and Dylan Main from West Coast.

Two more players that the Eagles would have liked to have had a run with the Royals ahead of next Saturday's AFL preliminary final were Patrick McGinnity and Scott Selwood, but neither played the required five games to play on a weekend when West Coast wasn’t playing.

Colledge is also set to return to the East Perth team to play his first game since Round 20 and he will provide another option for coach Brian Dawson in the midfield.

Clayton Giblett, Tom Omodei and Shayne Hille are the other three players to come back into the extended squad for East Perth.