SEASON OPENER AT FREMANTLE OVAL NOW A DAY FIXTURE

WEST Perth will still be opening its 2016 WAFL season against South Fremantle in Round 1 but it will now be in the afternoon and not at night as originally fixtured.

The Bulldogs were set to host West Perth under lights at the port to open the 2016 season on Saturday March 19. However, it was determined the lighting couldn’t be increased to a sufficient broadcast standard without affecting playability.

The fixture remains at Fremantle Oval on Saturday March 19 but instead of a night clash, it will now be in the afternoon as South Fremantle hosts West Perth with the Garlic Munchers Cup at stake.

WAFL general manager Steve Hargrave is still confident of it being a terrific start to the 2016 season on Channel 7 even if it doesn't have the added bonus of being the first game being broadcast by the station under lights from a WAFL ground.

"Promoting the WAFL competition is extremely important and playing a televised Round 1 night game presented a terrific opportunity to do this," Hargrave said.

"We have explored all options to make this possible. Unfortunately, we haven’t found a solution to increase the lighting at Fremantle Oval to a sufficient broadcast standard without affecting playability.

"After assessing all of our options, it has been decided in consultation with the 7 Network, South Fremantle and West Perth Football Clubs to play the fixture on Saturday afternoon instead.

"We will continue to explore initiatives such as this to maximise promotional opportunities for the WAFL competition."

West Perth's season also began at Fremantle Oval against South Fremantle resulting in a 35-point defeat on a Friday night.

Last time the Falcons played at the port, though, was in Round 22 resulting in a 23-point victory as they were preparing to make a run to end the season that ended up all the way in the grand final.

West Perth coach Bill Monaghan is looking for a significantly better start to the 2016 season than 2015 received. 

"We were a little slow to start last year and in terms of some of the things that we did in terms of preparation for the players that I would change. In particular, we went down to Fremantle in Round 1 and were woeful and it took us a couple of weeks to get into stride," Monaghan said.

"We have South Fremantle down at Fremantle again in the first game this year so we are looking at starting the season a bit better. But we also know it's a 23 or 24-week season and we can't lose sight that it's a long season and we need to plan and prepare well for 24 weeks, not one."