FALCONS BIG MEN STOCKS ON THE RISE DESPITE LOSS OF ADAMS

REPLACING Marcus Adams is going to be no easy task for West Perth in 2016 but coach Bill Monaghan is looking forward to having a fully fit and available Seva Mozhaev, Max Alexander, Mark Hamilton, Tyler Keitel and possibly Shayne Zanetti with the Falcons' big men stocks on the improve.

Adams has been one of the great success stories with the Falcons over the last two years reviving his WAFL career firstly as a key forward in 2014, and then key defender in 2015 where he was outstanding.

And that didn’t go unnoticed with the power house drafted into the AFL by the Western Bulldogs.

While that does leave some work to do for West Perth in replacing Adams' presence in 2016, Monaghan is delighted to see him get a much-deserved chance in the AFL.

"It's fantastic for Marcus. He had a super season and we are really excited that he's on an AFL list and we hope he plays in Round 1 because physically, at least, he's ready to go," Monaghan said.

"I think that was the attraction from AFL clubs for Marcus. He was outstanding last year and he came fourth in our best and fairest despite missing five or six games and we don’t have a direct like for like swap, but I don’t think anyone in the WAFL would."

Much of Monaghan's optimism rests with the strong band of young key position players he has at his disposal for 2016.

Tyler Keitel was eventually cleared last year from East Perth to join West Perth, and despite playing the second half of the season, was doing so on the back of no pre-season and a severely limited preparation.

For him to still show as encouraging signs as he did as a 19-year-old in his first taste of senior football was exciting and Monaghan has no doubt he will improve further in 2016.

Drew Rohde and Sam Rotham are two more players who he expects to continue to grow in the back-line with more opportunities this season along with Joe Morrow who finally got a good run free of injury in the second half of 2015.

With Ben King returning to the club after a year away and Max Alexander fit and ready to go, Monaghan has good reason to feel the Falcons will still be well placed in terms of their defensive set up.

"Keitel came off no pre-season last year and was only 19 going on 20, so he'll keep improving. Joe Morrow got some continuity with games and training last year after a couple of years in the wilderness, Drew Rohde clearly improved, Sam Rotham played early in the season and that was exciting," he said.

"Ben King is back at the footy club after playing some really good footy in 2014. He took last year off to do a bit of a work and he got going on building and establishing a house, but he's back and we think that will be good.

"Max Alexander played the first two league games and he ended up playing some reserves towards the end, but he hobbled through and wasn’t really right."

On top of that, Monaghan is also looking forward to the return of Seva Mozhaev (formerly Martin) and Shayne Zanetti to help provide Chris Keunen some more support in the ruck and also potentially a tall marking target in attack.

Then with Nick Rodda and Michael Lourey capable of further improvement even on what they did last year, Monaghan is equally encouraged with his big men stocks for the ruck and in the forward-line.

"Nick Rodda is still only 21 years of age, Mike Lourey will be better this year and then when we have Seva Martin, who has changed his name to Seva Mozhaev. He was actually probably ready to play on the eve of finals last year but we made a decision at club level, probably to his disgust, that it wasn’t worth the risk to get him to play two or three games in the reserves," he said.

"He's had another whole pre-season to get himself ready and whether he plays forward or in the ruck, that's another tall that we've got and we are still hopeful that Shayne Zanetti's body will eventually get right and at 199cm he has good pace and strength, so if we get him on the track we think we have enough talls to be competitive."

A player slightly from left-field for West Perth who arrived midway through 2015 was Mark Hamilton, on the recommendation of Michael Pettigrew from Darwin.

The 24-year-old is a good size at 194cm and 93kg, and showed good signs in 10 reserves games in 2015 for 12 goals and Monaghan is confident he will get a chance at league level in 2016.

"The other one that has been really good at training is Mark Hamilton. He came down last year on recommendation from Michael Pettigrew who played with him in the Northern Territory," Monaghan said.

"He's in the army and it took us until mid-July to get him to come down but he has had a fantastic pre-season and he is really in the Petter's mould of being strong and aggressive, but kicking isn’t his greatest strength. But we think as a big bodied player who is mature as a 25-year-old and athletically he's extremely well put together so we think there is plenty there."