IT was a youthful and undermanned West Perth taking on East Perth in the opening derby of 2016 on Saturday at Medibank Stadium, and the Falcons put in a strong showing particularly in the second quarter but couldn't continue that after half-time.

West Perth was able to put together a strong second quarter with goals to Keegan Knott, Max Alexander, Joel Leeson and Aaron Black to lead by five points before conceding a goal to East Perth just before the half-time siren.

The Falcons were still right in the contest at the main break trailing by just a point but the Royals then kicked the opening nine goals of the second half to set up the eventual 14.16 (100) to 6.4 (40) win.

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WEST Perth might be missing up to two handfuls of first choice players for Saturday's first derby of 2016 against East Perth at Medibank Stadium, but that won't stop the Falcons throwing everything at getting a crucial four points.

East Perth and West Perth have met in some bigger games on more important stages in recent years, but Saturday's first derby at Medibank Stadium will be crucial for where both end up in 2016.

The Royals and Falcons both enter the clash with 1-3 records so trying to come back from 1-4 will be difficult. However, improving to 2-3 will likely put the winner in the top-five by the end of the round and keep them in a good position to make a strong run in 2016.

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MISSING your No. 1 ruckman, most prolific ball winner, toughest enforcer and two important defenders would be tough for any team to cover and that's the case with West Perth right now, but coach Bill Monaghan isn’t looking for excuses after a 1-3 start. 

West Perth's season hasn’t started how it hoped with losses to the unbeaten South Fremantle and Subiaco, and the 2-1 East Fremantle in between a 44-point win over Perth at HBF Arena.

Dual Breckler Medal winning midfielder Shane Nelson hasn’t played yet this year to a fractured wrist and premiership defender Laine Rasmussen hasn’t made a league appearance while Kody Manning and Chris Keunen have not played since Round 2 and Joe Morrow was also out on Saturday.

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WEST Perth premiership coach Bill Monaghan discusses Saturday's loss to East Fremantle, what went wrong and what needs to improve quickly while providing an injury update and looking at Saturday's first derby of 2016 against East Perth at Medibank Stadium.

QUESTION: It was obviously a horror start, but were you even more disappointed in the last quarter after fighting so hard to get back into the game in the second and third terms?
ANSWER: I guess in the last quarter that was because we had expended so much energy getting back in the game. We conceded a really late one in the third quarter which we shouldn’t have done, it was an errant kick into the middle followed by a senior player flying for the ball, trying to mark it and letting it get out the back. So they kicked a goal with 30 seconds to go and we were three down at that stage, and had outscored them seven goals to three in the two quarters up to then. We go to three quarter-time four goals down and win the first clearance, get an uncontested mark 15 metres out and we miss it. Everyone misses goals, so you don’t lay the blame solely on the person who missed, but at the one-minute mark of the last quarter we should have been two, or three at the worst, goals down and it's game on. Then with the ease they got their next goal took the wind out of our sails on the back of those other two things. Is that acceptable? No. Are we looking for excuses? No. but sometimes circumstances lead to sides working their butts off to get in the game and frustration or lack of reward mean things can turn ugly. They then got up and about, and saw it as a nail in the coffin and went for the jugular, and ran away with it. I was extremely disappointed with our finish to the game but I was more disappointed with the start. If there's a positive in it, and not that there is great positives, for the second and third quarters for the players to be able to turn that around and to at least fight it out and wrestle momentum back our way was at least a positive. But we've got a lot of work to do.

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WEST Perth was never in the hunt against East Fremantle at ATOM Stadium on Saturday. After being outscored six goals to nil in the first quarter, the Falconswere never in a position to challenge for victory. There was no doubting the endeavour in the second and third quarters but the fight back took its toll as the Falcons went goalless in the final term.

At the final siren West Perth had lost by 50 points; 14.17 (101) to 7.9 (51).

The Sharks were very good and the Falcons poor in the first quarter. West Perth’s ball movement wasn’t anywhere near as precise as their rivals and the East Fremantle tall forwards had a field day with a continuous supply of football. As a result they had set up a match winning 38-point lead at the first change. The scores were 6.4 (40) to 0.2 (2).

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WEST Perth and East Fremantle's clash at ATOM Stadium on Saturday got off to a familiar start with a team kicking the first six goals. Only this time it was the Sharks doing the scoring and despite the Falcons fighting back the next two terms, East Fremantle won by 50 points.

In Round 20 last year, then East Fremantle captain Rory O'Brien won the toss but handed the advantage to the Falcons and West Perth went on to kick the first six goals on the way to a 73-point victory.

On Saturday, it was East Fremantle kicking with the advantage of the wind in the first quarter and the Sharks took advantage with six goals to nil.

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WEST Perth heads to ATOM Stadium to battle East Fremantle this Saturday determined to bounce back from last week's loss to Subiaco to square its ledger for the WAFL season at 2-2.

Giving West Perth extra confidence heading to East Fremantle Oval is the fact the Falcons have won three of their last games at the venue including a 15.14 (104) to 4.7 (31) victory in Round 20 last year after kicking the opening six goals.

East Fremantle returns from a bye after a loss that was tough to swallow against Peel Thunder with the Sharks hosting West Perth also coming off a defeat with both teams aiming for their second wins of the 2016 season.

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WEST Perth will be without premiership ruckman and life member Chris Keunen for the longest period since he cemented his role as the No. 1 ruckman, but coach Bill Monaghan is confident the opportunities it presents for Seva Mozhaev and his band of helpers will be grasped.

Keunen arrived at West Perth in 2006 and after battles with the likes of Mark Seaby, Robert Warnock and Mitch Andrews over the No. 1 ruck spot, he grasped it as his own by 2010 and has been outstanding ever since.

Along the way he has played 174 games with West Perth, represented Western Australia, earned life membership and was a key player in the 2013 premiership.

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WEST Perth premiership coach Bill Monaghan discusses Saturday's International Football Festival game against Subiaco, provides an injury update on some key players and looks ahead to this Saturday against East Fremantle at ATOM Stadium.

QUESTION: You started the second half on fire and took the lead but that only seemed to spark Subiaco into action?
ANSWER: That's not unusual for them, they are a very good side and they've shown that for a couple of years. As a coaching staff, it's a really difficult game to assess but the bottom line is we were well beaten and we're disappointed in that. The positives are that when we stuck to what we had planned and moved the ball the way we wanted to, and defensively held them up we were in the game. It wasn’t a great first quarter, a lot better second quarter and I thought for the majority of the second quarter we were all over them but just couldn’t capitalise deep forward especially in the marking department. Then the first five or 10 minutes of the third quarter was outstanding, so there were a lot of positives and even in the last quarter we kicked three or four on the back of some good ball movement. But the flipside is we were easily beaten and we need to work out if we couldn’t maintain that for four quarters because of our work rate and effort, or it was how hard they work. There's lots of good learning out of it but the bottom line is we are 1-2 and lost by a significant margin so we are obviously disappointed.

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ANOTHER strong crowd of over 6000 turned out for the annual International Football Festival but West Perth wasn’t able to earn a measure of revenge over Subiaco in the grand final rematch with the Lions winning by 44 points.

The International Football Festival was once again a tremendous success thanks to the City of Joondalup and with a crowd of 6090 watching on, Subiaco kicked 12 of the last 16 goals to with 17.15 (117) to 11.7 (73).

Subiaco made a fast start with the first three goals, but West Perth hit back hard and three goals quickly to start the third quarter saw the Falcons take the lead. But it was their only lead of the afternoon for the home team as the Lions scored the 44-point win in the grand final rematch.

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