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THE West Perth Football Club was saddened to learn that 1951 premiership member 100-game game player Brian Humphries passed away last week aged 83.
As a 17-year-old, Humphries made his league debut at West Perth in 1951 and would go on to line-up on the wing in the premiership triumph with the Cardinals of that same year.
He would go on to play with West Perth until the end of 1955 racking up 102 games in the process.
WEST Perth was competitive against Subiaco until the 10-minute mark of the fourth quarter. At different times during the game the Falcons challenged the home team to close the gap and appear a winning chance but they had no answer for the Lions late in the game as they piled on the last eight goals.
The loss should have been the end of the Falcons finals chances but Perth’s defeat of East Perth has left the door ajar for West Perth to claim a finals spot. There are a few ifs involved though. If West Perth beat Claremont and Subiaco defeat East Perth then the Falcons will play finals football. A Swan Districts loss to East Fremantle also could see West Perth advance depending on percentage. If Claremont beat West Perth the Tigers are a chance to prolong their season. So it is fair to say that the last week of fixtures is going to be a beauty.
WEST Perth heads to Leederville Oval on Saturday with the task of ending Subiaco's winning streak at 17 and keeping its own finals hopes alive in the process for the 2017 WAFL season.
The two teams have built up quite the rivalry that has continued in recent years including in the 2015 grand final and so far this season even though Subiaco has beaten West Perth twice, the Falcons have done the best out of any side against the Lions.
Subiaco comes into Saturday's game at Leederville Oval on a 17-game winning streak and that includes wins over West Perth in Round 3 at HBF Arena and also back at the Joondalup venue in Round 15.
KODY Manning lives and breathes for the West Perth Football Club and no player is more inspirational or puts his body on the line more than the premiership player as he prepares for his 100th game at the Falcons on Saturday.
Manning remains the standout player in the WAFL who can inspire his team through his physicality and that's not to say he isn’t fair and doesn’t have a lot of other strings to his bow.
The 2013 premiership player simply plays in a style where he thrives on the physical contact and whether that means he lays a big bump, puts on a crunching tackle or bursts through a contest or a pack, he just goes about his football in a way that you rarely see in the modern day.
ONE of West Perth's favourite sons returned for his first game in over two years on Saturday and while Matt Guadagnin's comeback didn’t turn out how everyone hoped, coach Bill Monaghan is glad he made it back out there no matter what happens from here.
Guadagnin initially injured his knee back in Round 16, 2015 when he was in the middle of another outstanding season in the West Perth midfield and was a key contributor in the Falcons being near the top of the ladder and ending up playing off in the grand final of that year.
He underwent the second knee reconstruction of his career but he wasn’t about to let it be the end for him. The 2013 premiership star returned late last season for a couple of reserves appearances desperate to push for a league spot come finals time.
WEST Perth's longest serving coach Bill Monaghan spoke following Saturday's win against East Fremantle that kept the Falcons in the 2017 WAFL finals hunt and looked to this Saturday's clash with the league-leading Subiaco at Leederville Oval.
QUESTION: It was scrappy but in the end you just needed to find a way to win to keep your season alive and you did that?
ANSWER: Our third quarter was great but it was an ugly, ugly against a side that is sitting towards the bottom of the ladder and who have struggled to win in the second half of the year. The good thing for us is that confidence and belief has been really down, and we know that if we play like that against better teams that we will struggle, but the fact is the players are feeling better after a win. It keeps our finals hopes alive even though they are slim given East Perth had another good win and the fact that we have the top side next week. With Swans losing though, they finish against Claremont and East Fremantle and we are only a game behind them. Our percentage is about the same as theirs so that gives us a couple of options to go in but we have the big road block of having to play Subiaco. All we can do is go out, try our best and try to play the style of footy we want and if we're good enough to win then we'll win. It's not as if we haven’t been trying and striving to find ways to win, but things had been conspiring against us and we hadn’t been doing things extremely well. This was a step in the right direction but we're still a way off where we need to be.
IT wasn’t a pretty game to watch and West Perth struggled to hit the scoreboard for three of the four quarters but they still did enough to record a victory over East Fremantle. The most important aspect of the 13-point victory is that it keeps the Falcons in the hunt for a finals berth.
West Perth kicked to the Perth end of the ground in the first quarter. This was to be the scoring end even with a fairly large puddle at the top of the goal square. Despite this, it was East Fremantle who kicked the first goal, and their only score for the quarter, at the two-minute mark.
The rest of the quarter was dominated by the Falcons as was shown by the 17 to four inside-50 count. But the ability to finish accurately was once again a problem. West Perth managed only five behinds and as a result trailed by a point at the first change; 1.0 (6) to 0.5 (5).
RADIO Edge has entered the WAFL set up this season broadcasting matches each round and now has expanded that to form an exciting new partnership with the West Perth Football Club.
Sporting clubs have something very powerful that businesses dream of.
They have 'fans'. Every business works towards going beyond having clients and customers and turning them into raving advocates for their brand. It rarely happens.
WEST Perth plays its final home game at HBF Arena of the season on Saturday in Members' Appreciation Round against East Fremantle in a must-win contest.
Plenty goes on the line between the Falcons and Sharks at HBF Arena on Saturday and while their reasons for winning might be significantly different, the fact that both will be desperate for four points sets up a fascinating contest.
West Perth needs to win to be any chance of returning to the top five not only by Saturday night, but at all this season.
| Round 1 Saturday, 05 Apr | ||
 | V |  |
| 2:30 PM at Steel Blue Oval | ||
| Game Preview | ||
