News | West Perth Football Club

FALCONS SMASH BULLDOGS TO KEEP SEASON ALIVE

Monday, June 30, 2014 - 7:59 AM - by CHRIS PIKE

WEST Perth has now qualified for the Foxtel Cup grand final and won the Garlic Munchers Cup this week, but more importantly the Falcons beat South Fremantle by 62 points at Fremantle Oval on Sunday to keep their WAFL finals hopes alive.

Having qualified for the Foxtel Cup grand final by thrashing the Western Storm at Patersons Stadium by 74 points on Tuesday night, West Perth needed to beat South Fremantle on Sunday to stay in touch for the WAFL finals and did so emphatically.

West Perth dominated South Fremantle after quarter-time booting 13 goals to four to eventually win 19.19 (133) to 10.11 (71) to see the Falcons improve to a 6-6 record on the season to now be two games behind the fourth-placed East Fremantle but with a superior percentage.

It capped off a successful week for the Falcons winning both their matches by a combined 136 points while qualifying for the Foxtel Cup grand final and winning the Garlic Munchers Cup for the first time along the way.

Despite the game starting with a free-flowing and high-scoring opening quarter with scores level at 6.5 apiece at quarter-time, West Perth coach Bill Monaghan was understandably furious with his team's lack of defensive pressure and his team responded over the final three quarters.

It was a dominant showing from West Perth in the finish ending up with 39 more entries inside-50 than South Fremantle, 17 extra scoring shots and a 62-point advantage on the scoreboard by the finish.

Nick Rodda was the star for West Perth up forward kicking a career-best five goals from 10 kicks and eight marks. Matt Johnson was also outstanding across half-forward for the Falcons with three goals from 24 possessions and nine marks.

Marc Crisp had a good game for the Falcons with two goals from 19 disposals, six inside 50s and five marks.

West Perth's midfield worked its way on top led by Shane Nelson with 36 possessions and six inside-50 entries. Rohan Kerr racked up 26 possessions with eight marks, six inside 50s and a goal, and Aaron Black 25 disposals, nine marks, eight inside-50 entries and a goal.

Chris Keunen was the best ruckman on the ground finishing with 13 possessions and 29 hit outs.

The Falcons back-line might have had to only deal with 31 inside-50 entries from South Fremantle, but stood up well with Dan Hunt keeping Josh Pullman to the one kick while Jordan Jones and Andrew Strijk both provided rebound with 22 possessions apiece.

Both teams were down a man before half-time as well with West Perth losing Steve Potente to a lateral ligament injury to his knee that could sideline him for up to a month while South Fremantle youngster Mitch Banks suffered a nasty knee injury that saw him taken away to hospital.

South Fremantle got the first goal of the game, but then two quick West Perth goals to Rodda put the Falcons on top. The lead was then out to 14 points when Kody Manning kicked truly, but soon after West Perth found itself a couple of goals behind.

Potente roved the pack expertly and snapped truly, though, and then Crisp added two of his own before quarter-time to have the Falcons and Bulldogs level at the first break.

West Perth again conceded the first goal of the second quarter but then responded with a terrific running goal from Strijk before Seva Martin then goaled with his first kick of the day to put the Falcons in front where they would stay.

Rodda then took a strong mark and goaled to extend West Perth's lead to 12 points and it was 19 by half-time after a goal to Anthony Tsalikis.

The Falcons opened the second half on fire with three quick goals to Kerr, van Berlo and Johnson and all of a sudden the lead over the Bulldogs was out to a match-winning 37 points.

By the time Rodda booted his fourth goal on the three quarter-time siren, West Perth was up by 45 points, then 51 when Rodda started the fourth term with his fifth and then 58 when Black slotted one after intercepting a poor South Fremantle kick-in.

Johnson added two more to give him three for the day before the final siren sounded with West Perth 62 points to the good.

West Perth's reserves also beat South Fremantle 15.13 (103) to 10.9 (69) with Corey Chalmers booting four goals, Mitch McPhee two, Max Alexander two and Brayden Antonio two to go with 32 possessions.

Trent Manzone also racked up 32 possessions, Jack Thrum 25, Ben McNamara 23, Kris Shannon 23, Aidan Lynch 22, Luke Meadows 20 and David Sorgiovanni 20 to go with 10 tackles and a goal.

The Falcons' colts also started the day at Fremantle Oval winners beating the Bulldogs 8.8 (56) to 8.6 (54).

Mitch Antonio and Nathan Alexandre kicked two goals each for West Perth with William Michell racking up 30 possessions, Dean Munns 21, Kaidyn Fullgrabe 21, Ashley Smith 20 and James Sheehan-Nel 20.

WEST PERTH 6.5 10.8 15.12 19.19 (133)

SOUTH FREMANTLE 6.5 7.7 8.9 10.11 (71)

WEST PERTH – Goals: Rodda 5; Johnson 3; Crisp 2; Black, Strijk, Kerr, Guadagnin, Tsalikis, van Berlo, Potente, Martin, Manning.

Best: Nelson, Johnson, Rodda, van Berlo, Guadagnin, Black, Kerr, Jones, Hunt.

SOUTH FREMANTLE – Goals: White 3; Higgins 2; Schloithe, Kelly, B Verrier, Carter, Cook.

Best: B Verrier, Hams, White, Borovac, Guglielmana, Cook, Higgins.

BY CHRIS PIKEWEST Perth has now qualified for the Foxtel Cup grand final and won the Garlic Munchers Cup this week, but more importantly the Falcons beat South Fremantle by 62 points at Fremantle Oval on Sunday to keep their WAFL finals hopes aliHaving qualified for the Foxtel Cup grand final by thrashing the Western Storm at Patersons Stadium by 74 points on Tuesday night, West Perth needed to beat South Fremantle on Sunday to stay in touch for the WAFL finals and did so emphatically.

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CHRIS KEUNEN PLAYER COLUMN – ROUND 14

Saturday, June 28, 2014 - 9:34 PM - by CHRIS KEUNEN

A WEST Perth premiership player will be writing a column for the club's website every week of the 2014 WAFL season. This week's edition is Chris Keunen's latest offering.

IT HAS been an interesting few weeks for me. As everyone is aware, I copped a poke in my eye which resulted in a bruised retina. This meant that for two weeks I was unable to do any physical activity at all. This was a hard task since I love training and the hardest part was having to sit back and watch the team play.

Gaudy and Razor have also missed recent games through injury and they would also attest to how it is hard to not be a part of the team. Being experienced players, we try and stay involved by taking on a coaching/mentoring role. Gaudy loves to be a part of the midfield group and sits in the coaches box with Smokes and has plenty to say to the boys during the breaks. As everyone knows, Razor loves to talk. He floats around the group talking to boys and giving his advice. For me I spend time with the mids but in particular I spent plenty of time talking to big Seva Martin.

Sev is keen to learn and seeks my opinion to help improve his footy. This makes it easy to work with him and as the year has progressed everyone has seen him improve. Since moving from Subi, Sev has worked extremely hard during pre-season and now the season so far to get to where he is.

Seeing him play the last few games as the main ruckman and I have seen how he is developing into the role. He has showed that he has plenty of potential. We have had fun competing against each other at training as well. He is a very confident young bloke, as could be seen from his ridiculous celebrations when he kicked that goal in the last quarter on Tuesday night. I have enjoyed working with him and seeing him step up to take the No. 1 ruck role while I have been out, I just hope I haven’t helped him too much that I don’t get my spot back.

We have a good stock of young up and coming talls at the club as well. I have also worked with a bit of mentoring with Tim Sutherland. His recent form in the reserves has been pleasing to see, even getting awards for all his hard work. I look forward to seeing him press for league selection throughout the year. I will also take credit for Jordan Mills and Max Alexander’s great form at the moment. After every Thursday training session we work together on our contested marking and sledging skills. This helps me as much as them.

It was good to get back out on the field on Tuesday night in the Foxtel Cup and good to see a young team perform so well and produce a convincing win. It was great to win and progress to the grand final but it doesn’t mean anything if we don’t take that confidence into the rest of the WAFL season. By having myself in the middle and having extra talls up forward as big marking options, hopefully we will create some headaches for our opposition.

I am looking forward to getting back into WAFL footy this Sunday against South Fremantle now.

I have just bought a new pair of boots, which Sev believes are my way of standing out again since he has been so good in my absence. I need to make sure we give the team first use of the ball and create contests around the ground. This game is a must win game for us to keep our finals aspirations alive. I hope everyone gets down to support us on Sunday at Fremantle Oval.

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ROUND 14 PREVIEW V SOUTH FREMANTLE

Friday, June 27, 2014 - 4:56 PM - by CHRIS PIKE

WEST Perth faces a must-win clash with South Fremantle at Fremantle Oval on Sunday to keep its finals hopes alive and to also win the Garlic Munchers Cup for the first time since it was instituted last year.

West Perth has had an up and down 2014 season so far currently sitting on a 5-6 record in fifth position to be three games out of fourth place, but will be hoping to take some momentum out of qualifying for the Foxtel Cup grand final with a 74-point semi-final win over the Western Storm on Tuesday night. Read More [+]

International Round 2014: AFL Uniting Australia

Friday, June 27, 2014 - 4:37 PM

AFL - Uniting Australia

Unique jumper to embrace the World

West Perth Football Club's league team will play in a special one-off World Jumper in Round 16 to embrace its international community and build on the successes of this event in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.

West Perth CEO David Crute said that after the success of its International Round in 2013, with more than 6000 people attending, the club had recognized Read More [+]

BILL GETS GRILLED – BILL MONAGHAN Q & A

Thursday, June 26, 2014 - 5:52 PM - by CHRIS PIKE

WEST Perth premiership coach Bill Monaghan will be conducting a weekly question and answer segment for the club's website. Here he discusses the last up loss to East Fremantle and this Sunday's clash with South Fremantle.

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FALCONS STORM INTO FOXTEL CUP GRAND FINAL

Wednesday, June 25, 2014 - 2:03 PM - by CHRIS PIKE

WEST Perth thumped the Western Storm on Tuesday night by 74 points to advance to the Foxtel Cup grand final and to give the Falcons a chance to win a second premiership within the past 10 months.

West Perth controlled its Foxtel Cup semi-final from the outset on Tuesday night at Patersons Stadium and ended up winning 15.7 (97) to 3.5 (23) against the upstart Storm led by Seva Martin's three goals up forward and Aidan Lynch's 24 possessions and nine clearances in the middle.

The Falcons now qualify for the Tuesday July 22 Foxtel Cup grand final against the winner of next Tuesday's other semi-final between East Perth and Williamstown.

By qualifying for the grand final, West Perth is guaranteed of $40,000 in prize money for losing and $100,000 with a victory giving the Falcons a chance of backing up last year's WAFL premiership by claiming the Foxtel Cup trophy for 2014.

The Falcons dominated from the outset and it started with a goal to big man Seva Martin who spent the night at full forward in the absence of regular key forward targets Nick Rodda and Marcus Adams.

Martin has rarely had the chance to show what he can do outside of the ruck in his career, but displayed encouraging signs as a key forward on Tuesday night finishing with 11 possessions, five marks, 11 hit outs, two clearances and three goals.

West Perth's team included seven premiership players from last year but had plenty of fresh faces including Aidan Lynch, Mitch McPhee, Corey Chalmers and Ben King making their senior football debuts.

Lynch led the way in the middle all night for the Falcons with 24 possessions and nine clearances – both game highs.

McPhee was also impressive up forward kicking three goals from 11 touches and five marks while Chalmers ended up with nine possessions and King three to go with three tackles and two marks.

Jack Thrum also did well in the midfield for West Perth gathering 18 possessions while Brayden Antonio finished with 15 disposals, Trent Manzone 13, Luke Meadows 12, Shaun Marusic 12, Steven Browne 11, Joe Morrow 11 and captain-for-the-night Matt Guadagnin 10.

Matt Johnson also booted two goals for West Perth from nine possessions and six marks.

Chris Keunen did well in the ruck before resting in the final quarter ending up with eight possessions, 19 hit outs and three marks in his first game since suffering an eye injury in the WA Day derby loss to East Perth.

West Perth made the perfect start to the Foxtel Cup semi-final with a goal to big man Martin after just over a minute. Guadagnin then got in on the act as well shortly after for a flying start.

Kris Shannon then delivered a clever snap and the lead was out to 21-0 before the Storm eventually managed to score two behinds in the opening quarter, but the Falcons were in control by 19 points at the first change.

McPhee then opened up the goal account in the second quarter with his first of the night to open up a run of four quick goals for the Falcons before half-time.

Marc Crisp, Antonio and Ray Bartholomew all got in on the act that in the second quarter as West Perth's lead extended to 44 points by the main break with the Tasmanian visitors managing just the three behinds for the entire first half.

It then only took 40 seconds for West Perth to kick the opening goal of the third quarter through Johnson and then Martin added his third with the lead extending to 56 points.

The Storm finally kicked their first goal of the night at the 10-minute mark of the third quarter but Marusic and McPhee then added majors again before three quarter-time as West Perth's lead built to 61 points.

McPhee then added his third early in the last term with West Perth leading by 68 points and then 74 by the final siren when Manzone goaled from long range as time expired.

WEST PERTH 3.3 7.5 11.6 15.7 (97)

WESTERN STORM 0.2 0.3 1.5 3.5 (23)

WEST PERTH – Goals: Martin, McPhee 3; Johnson 2; Guadagnin, Shannon, Crisp, Antonio, Bartholomew, Marusic, Manzone.

Best: Lynch, Martin, Manzone, McPhee, Thrum, Antonio, Meadows.

WESTERN STORM – Goals: Russell, W Hanson, Barker.

Best: M Hanson, Blackberry, B Thorp, Bardenhagen, C Thorp.

BY CHRIS PIKEWEST Perth thumped the Western Storm on Tuesday night by 74 points to advance to the Foxtel Cup grand final and to give the Falcons a chance to win a second premiership within the past 10 months.

The Falcons now qualify for the Tuesday July 22 Foxtel Cup grand final against the winner of next Tuesday's other semi-final between East Perth and Williamstown.

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FOXTEL CUP SEMI-FINAL PREVIEW V WESTERN STORM

Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - 2:42 AM - by CHRIS PIKE

WEST Perth takes on Tasmania's Western Storm at Patersons Stadium on Tuesday night in a Foxtel Cup semi-final with a grand final berth at stake.

The game will be shown live on Fox Footy but all supporters are encouraged to come down to Patersons Stadium if possible.

The game begins at 6.30pm with entry free to the stadium from 6pm. The general public can gain access through Gate 26 with the two tier stand open for public seating – blocks 103 to 113, 207 to 213 and 303 to 313.

The game might not have four premiership WAFL points on the line for West Perth, but there is plenty riding on the result. A victory for the Falcons will see them qualify for the Tuesday July 22 grand final.

That means that West Perth would earn at least $40,000 in prizemoney just for qualifying for the grand final and potentially $100,000 if they are then able to go on and win it.

West Perth qualified for the Foxtel Cup semi-final by beating the VFL's Box Hill Hawks at Etihad Stadium in a thriller by a point back on May 6 while the Western Storm also won a nail-biter against the SANFL's West Adelaide by four points at Adelaide Oval on April 29 to advance.

Remarkably it is the Storm's first season in existence in the Tasmanian State Football League after they replaced last year's premiers and the now defunct South Launceston.

West Perth currently sits in fifth position on the WAFL ladder with a 5-6 record to be three matches currently outside of the top-four while the Western Storm currently sit in second position in the TSFL with an 8-2 record.

This year is the second time that West Perth has participated in the Foxtel Cup with the last time being in 2012 when the Falcons beat Ainslie at Blacktown in Sydney before going down to Williamstown while making history as the first WAFL club to ever play on the MCG.

West Perth's team does include seven WAFL premiership players from last year's grand final victory over East Perth with another two in Aaron Black and Nick Rodda named as emergencies.

Aidan Lynch, Mitch McPhee, Ben King and Corey Chalmers come into the West Perth line-up and will make their senior debuts while Luke Tedesco and Marcus Adams are unavailable through injury, and Shane Nelson, Andrew Strijk, Jay van Berlo and Dan Hunt rested.

From the Storm team that did defeat West Adelaide to open the Foxtel Cup competition for 2014 there are only three changes for the semi-final with Cody Thorp, Trent Page and Beau Tuthill coming in at the expense of Tim Jones, Jake Huett and Roy Thomas.

On that night the Storm put enormous pressure on their West Adelaide opponents applying an enormous 84 tackles in the shortened format while winning 110 contested possessions out of their 161 for the match, and that adds up to West Perth facing a physical contest on Tuesday night.

The winner of the semi-final on Tuesday night will be the first team through to the grand final of 2014 in the Foxtel Cup with their opponents to be decided next Tuesday night when East Perth plays the VFL's Williamstown also at Patersons Stadium.

FOXTEL CUP SEMI-FINAL TEAMS

WEST PERTH

Backs: Mitch van Berlo Shaun Marusic Kris Shannon

Half Backs: Luke Meadows Joe Morrow Steven Browne

Centres: Brayden Antonio Ray Bartholomew Rohan Kerr

Half Forwards: Matt Guadagnin Max Alexander Mitch McPhee

Forwards: Marc Crisp Seva Martin Corey Chalmers

Followers: Chris Keunen Jack Thrum Trent Manzone

Interchange: Ben King Aidan Lynch Matthew Johnson Cameron Branch Emergencies: Aaron Black Nick Rodda Drew Rohde

WESTERN STORM

Backs: Lewis Ritchie Tom Reinmuth Chris Taylor

Half Backs: Clinton Drake Will Hanson Jordan Bennett

Centres: Jade Child Matt Hanson Billy Jack

Half Forwards: Shaun Collis Mitch Hills Zane Brown

Forwards: Braden McGee Bart McCulloch Alex Russell

Followers: Cody Thorp Jay Blackberry Thane Bardenhagen

Interchange: Beau Thorp Trent Page Beau Tuthill Logan Barker

Emergencies: Jonathan James Brodie Palfreyman Darryn Thomas

BY CHRIS PIKEWEST Perth takes on Tasmania's Western Storm at Patersons Stadium on Tuesday night in a Foxtel Cup semi-final with a grand final berth at stake.

The game will be shown live on Fox Footy but all supporters are encouraged to come down to Patersons Stadium if possible.

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AARON BLACK PLAYER COLUMN – ROUND 13

Monday, June 23, 2014 - 7:37 PM - by AARON BLACK

A WEST Perth premiership player will be writing a column for the club's website every week of the 2014 WAFL season. This week's edition is Aaron Black's latest offering.

WHEN I first started playing at West Perth there was a real age gap for me with the senior guys in the team because I started pretty young. Now a few years have gone past, guys who I went to school with like Shane Nelson and Mitch McPhee are around the club, it has made it a lot more exciting and we can have a bit more fun together around the club. Playing with Shane in the league team the past two and-a-half years has been a really enjoyable, especially with what we achieved as a team last year. I think having guys you grew up with, who are good friends makes you really enjoy your time that little bit more and makes being at the club that little bit more special.

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BILL GETS GRILLED – BILL MONAGHAN Q & A

Monday, June 23, 2014 - 7:12 PM - by CHRIS PIKE

WEST Perth premiership coach Bill Monaghan will be conducting a weekly question and answer segment for the club's website. Here he looks ahead to Tuesday night's Foxtel Cup semi-final against the Western Storm at Patersons Stadium.

QUESTION: What sort of team are you looking to field in the Foxtel Cup semi-final?

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