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).

Read More [+]

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.

Read More [+]

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.

Read More [+]

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.

Read More [+]

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.

Read More [+]

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.

Read More [+]

A LARGE crowd attended the West Perth's International Football Festival clash at HBF Arena on Saturday and they witnessed a competitive game of football that saw Subiaco overrun a fighting Falcons outfit to record a 44-point victory.

It was a tight contest until midway through the third quarter but from there the Lions controlled the game to run out victors. The result didn’t detract from the outstanding initiative organised by the West Perth Football Club in conjunction with the City of Joondalup that saw 93 new Australian citizens welcomed into the fold.

The Lions started the game much better than the Falcons and by midway through the first term had opened up a 19-point advantage. Drew Rohde opened the goal scoring for the Falcons when he finished from the square after some good work by Keegan Knott. The lead was further reduced when skipper, Jay van Berlo, finished from 40 metres. But the rest of the term belonged to Subiaco and they stretched their eight-point lead to 17 at the first change. The scores were 4.6 (30) to 2.1 (13).

Read More [+]

EVERY new season brings a lot of excitement and a lot of unknown. New faces, new game plans and new feelings of desire after getting so close last year.

Preparation for this season started when we all woke up about three days after the grand final, with the club looking to add to our already strong list. We've been fortunate to have a large group of similar aged young guys who have now played a lot of footy together and know each other well.

All are now one year older, with another pre-season under their belts, which should leave everyone involved in the club feeling the same level of excitement that I have for the period of football to come.

Read More [+]

A GRAND final rematch and the annual International Football Festival all add up to a huge day on Saturday at HBF Arena with West Perth hosting Subiaco.

The league match between the Falcons and Lions will take place at 2.40pm on Saturday and broadcast live on 7mate. Meanwhile, the 16s and colts teams play on Friday night and the reserves will play Saturday at 11am.

The Falcons and Lions met in last year's grand final with Subiaco going on to win a second straight WAFL premiership with a 66-point victory.

This will be the first time they have met since that day when they do battle at HBF Arena.

Read More [+]

THE stars could be aligning for West Perth ruckman Seva Mozhaev to make his return to the league side this Saturday for the International Football Festival against his old team Subiaco, but coach Bill Monaghan still has a bit to weigh up first.

Mozhaev, then going by the surname Martin, last played in West Perth's league side in 2014 when he cemented a place in the team for the second half of the year before fate dealt him a cruel blow with a knee injury that required a full reconstruction.

He worked hard to be fit late in the 2015 season but ultimately had to wait until the start of 2016 to make his official return.

Read More [+]