Select grade below

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?

Read More [+]

ANDREW KRAKOUER RETIRES FROM WAFL FOOTBALL

Thursday, June 19, 2014 - 4:59 PM - by CHRIS PIKE

THE WEST Perth Football Club wishes to confirm that Andrew Krakouer has announced his retirement from WAFL football.

Read More [+]

WEST PERTH MISS CHANCE TO RETURN TO TOP FOUR

Monday, June 16, 2014 - 7:40 PM - by CHRIS PIKE

WEST Perth might have only lost to East Fremantle by nine points at Joondalup's HBF Arena on Saturday but it's a result that leaves the Falcons with plenty of work to do to make the finals in 2014.

Read More [+]

FALCONS MAKE FINALS A DIFFICULT TARGET

Monday, June 16, 2014 - 2:55 PM - by DARRELL KENT

WEST Perth lost its fourth game of the season by two goals or less at HBF Arena in Joondalup on Saturday against East Fremantle. It has been a case of close but so far this year and as a result their chances of retaining their premiership crown hangs by a thread.

Read More [+]

ROUND 12 PREVIEW V EAST FREMANTLE

Friday, June 13, 2014 - 7:24 PM - by CHRIS PIKE

WEST Perth and East Fremantle meet at Arena Joondalup on Saturday with the winner to occupy fourth position on the WAFL ladder come Saturday night.

West Perth enters the game with a 5-5 record and given its percentage will leapfrog East Fremantle into fourth spot with a victory, but a loss for the Falcons will leave them with plenty of work to do in order to try to make the finals still in 2014 and defend their 2013 premiership.
West Perth comes into the game having beaten Claremont by nine points last Saturday following a 16-point loss to East Perth and before that two straight wins against Subiaco and Peel Thunder.
The Sharks currently hold fourth position with a 6-4 record so if they win over the Falcons they will improve to 7-4 and be two games clear of the fifth-placed Falcons.
East Fremantle has now put together an improved run of form with wins over Perth, South Fremantle and Peel Thunder to make up for losses prior to that against Swan Districts, East Perth and South Fremantle.
The Sharks also built up a match-winning lead over the Falcons at East Fremantle Oval in Round 1 and withstood a spirited West Perth comeback in the final quarter to win by three points.
East Fremantle also thrashed an undermanned West Perth line-up by 73 points in Round 22 last year despite the Falcons going on to win the premiership and the Sharks missing the finals altogether.
West Perth's team will be well short of full strength with premiership veterans Chris Keunen and Matt Guadagnin again missing through a bruised retina and badly corked thigh respectively for the second straight week.
Andrew Krakouer also remains sidelined while emerging power forward Marcus Adams is also out of the team to take on the Sharks. Adams has had an outstanding first season to date with the Falcons mostly as a key forward but also as a back up ruckman.
However, the absence of Keunen, Guadagnin, Krakouer and Adams does offer opportunities to others with Seva Martin to carry the load in the ruck, Jack Thrum to keep getting chances in the midfield, Kris Shannon to get more time as a small forward and potentially Matt Johnson to come in and offer another forward option without Adams.
Johnson has not played a league game this year since Round 2, but has been in good form in the reserves including a season-high 23 possessions last week and five goals the week before.
Premiership veteran Ray Bartholomew will also make his return after missing the last three games against Subiaco, East Perth and Claremont following surgery on his fractured cheekbone and eye socket suffered early in the Round 8 win over Peel Thunder.
Ben King and Jordan Mills are both a chance to make their league debuts for West Peth as well with Mills especially likely to play if Jordan Jones doesn’t overcome a knee complaint suffered in last week's win over Claremont.
West Perth might be missing some key players, but East Fremantle is again without star defender Steven Dodd who has now still not played a game since the WAFL's State game victory over the NEAFL in Sydney back on Saturday May 24.
Young key forward Brandon Ellis is also out of the East Fremantle line-up having played the first four of his league games with the Sharks over the past four matches.
However, the Sharks have some key players to return and none more so than the hard-running AFL-experienced Bradd Dalziell who is back after missing last week's victory over Peel Thunder.
Tyler Chalwell, Michael Edwards and Boston Williamson have also continued to work hard in the reserves and show some good form to ensure that they remain in contention to also come back into the East Fremantle line-up to take on the Falcons this Saturday.
RESERVES TEAM
M Alexander, B Antonio, C Branch, C Chalmers, J Embley, M Fowler, M Geraghty, P Harvey, J Kirwen, A Lynch, B McNamara, M McPhee, S Money, J Morrow, D Munns, B O'Regan, J Regan, D Rohde, K Shannon, D Sorgiovanni, T Sutherland, M Van Berlo, B Walton, B Wilhelm, T Young
COLTS TEAM
N Alexandre, A Allen, M Antonio, M Ashfield, N Beutel, A Charlie, M Douglas, K Egan, K Fullgrabe, J Gray, C Hinchcliffe, C Lynch, T Manners, W Michell, T Moulton, B Mountford, J Nolan, M Peirce, D Robertson, L Roe, S Rotham, J Sheehan-Nel, A Smith, M Walley, A Wenn
BY CHRIS PIKEWEST Perth and East Fremantle meet at Arena Joondalup on Saturday with the winner to occupy fourth position on the WAFL ladder come Saturday night.

West Perth enters the game with a 5-5 record and given its percentage will leapfrog East Fremantle into fourth spot with a victory, but a loss for the Falcons will leave them with plenty of work to do in order to try to make the finals still in 2014 and defend their 2013 premiership.

West Perth comes into the game having beaten Claremont by nine points last Saturday following a 16-point loss to East Perth and before that two straight wins against Subiaco and Peel Thunder.

Read More [+]

BILL GETS GRILLED – BILL MONAGHAN Q & A

Thursday, June 12, 2014 - 8:41 PM

WEST Perth premiership coach Bill Monaghan will be conducting a weekly question and answer segment for the club's website. Here he discusses last week's win over Claremont and looks ahead to playing East Fremantle this Saturday.

QUESTION: No matter what the performance was like against Claremont, it was just such an important four points to come away from the Showground with?
Read More [+]

RAZOR BACK, JONES A CHANCE, THREE STARS RULED OUT

Thursday, June 12, 2014 - 7:45 PM - by CHRIS PIKE

RAY Bartholomew is set to make his return for West Perth this Saturday against East Fremantle at Arena Joondalup with Jordan Jones in doubt while Matt Guadagnin, Chris Keunen and Andrew Krakouer have again been ruled out.

Premiership player and 160-game veteran Bartholomew will make his return from a fractured cheekbone suffered in the Round 8 win over Peel Thunder while Jones is battling a medial ligament injury suffered in last week's win over Claremont at the Showground.
Meanwhile, ruckman Keunen will miss his second straight week with an eye injury, veteran premiership midfielder Guadagnin is out for his second straight game with a corked thigh and Krakouer will again miss with a knee problem.
Bartholomew copped a heavy knock to his face early in the Round 8 clash against Peel and played out the rest of the match despite fractures to his cheekbone and eye socket, but has since had surgery to insert plates and missed the games against Subiaco, East Perth and Claremont.
However, the 29-year-old is now right to return this Saturday against East Fremantle albeit with a helmet on his head.
"Ray got clearance last week from the doctor that this week is the way to go. He will wear a helmet for at least a couple of weeks just in case he does happen to get a knock on there so the blow that he will get is minimised," coach Bill Monaghan said.
"It's plated so in theory it is stronger than if he didn’t have the plate there. It's more that the bone hasn’t healed underneath the plate yet so another knock will disturb that and disrupt the natural healing process, but with the plate on there he is right to go.
"He has trained really well the last couple of weeks and he has recovered well. He is such a hard worker on and off the field that we expect him to be back and firing on all cylinders this week."
Monaghan is also unsure about his star utility Jones in regards to his availability for the clash with the Sharks on Saturday, but is hopeful he will get up.
"Jordy got a slight tweak of his medial that is not dissimilar to what Michael Johnson did. From talking to our doctors and physios, the general feel is that if they can strap you up and get you back out there, generally it's right at the minor end and it's touch and go for the following week," he said.
"But as Fremantle saw with Michael Johnson, if you can't go back out then it's possibly up to a month off. We are probably looking at a Grade 1 strain of the medial for Jordy which means he is going to be touch and go for this week.
"He will have to get through a fitness test on Thursday night. While he was on reduced capacity, given that he played the game out and was still serviceable we are hopeful that he will play."
Keunen will again miss the game following the bruised retina he suffered in the WA Day derby against East Perth, but Monaghan is confident he might play in the Foxtel Cup clash with Western Storm on Tuesday June 24 or at least the next WAFL match in Round 13 against South Fremantle.
"Chris is purely being guided by the medicos at the moment and he is on no play this week. It is a two-week recovery just to let the bruising and bleeding go down in that eye," Monaghan said.
"It's a potentially major injury if you push it so it is all about not getting his blood pressure up and things like that to cause any more bleeding.
"The doctors are really confident that with another week off he will be ready to go and we will strongly consider playing him in the Foxtel Cup given he has had two weeks off, and that it's a shortened game. We are not certain we will do that, but we will look at it and Sev (Seva Martin) might need a bit of a rest after this week as well."
Guadagnin has also been ruled out for this Saturday with the badly corked thigh he copped against East Perth but played out the rest of the game with. Monaghan sees him as being on a similar time frame to Keunen.
"Matt won't play this week either. With that cork, the fact that he did it so early and kept playing was not what you need to do to help recover quickly," he said.
"You need to stop the bleeding quickly so it bled significantly more than it needed to, but we needed him out there on the ground against East Perth. It means that he has struggled to get over it.
"We might look at playing him in the Foxtel Cup or leave him for the South game after that, but that will be guided by how he trains. He trained Tuesday night in terms of some running and kicking, but he didn’t join in the main training."
However, Krakouer's immediate future remains unclear as he continues to battle a nagging knee complaint.
"That is an on-going issue that we haven’t been able to get to the bottom of yet, and we are a little unsure of when he will be available," Monaghan said.
"It is what it is on that one. I don’t like saying that, but he isn’t available for selection this week. That is the simple answer."
BY CHRIS PIKERAY Bartholomew is set to make his return for West Perth this Saturday against East Fremantle at Arena Joondalup with Jordan Jones in doubt while Matt Guadagnin, Chris Keunen and Andrew Krakouer have again been ruled out.

Premiership player and 160-game veteran Bartholomew will make his return from a fractured cheekbone suffered in the Round 8 win over Peel Thunder while Jones is battling a medial ligament injury suffered in last week's win over Claremont at the Showground.

Meanwhile, ruckman Keunen will miss his second straight week with an eye injury, veteran premiership midfielder Guadagnin is out for his second straight game with a corked thigh and Krakouer will again miss with a knee problem.

Read More [+]

FALCONS PREVAIL AT THE SHOWGROUND

Tuesday, June 10, 2014 - 10:47 AM - by DARRELL KENT

WEST Perth held off a determined Claremont at the Showground on Saturday. The Falcons took the lead midway through the first quarter and worked hard not to relinquish it during the rest of the game. By three quarter-time they had established a 31-point lead and this was to prove just enough as Claremont charged home to fall nine points short.

Behinds were the order of the day until the 12-minute mark of the first term. At this point Andrew Strijk kicked a long ball forward that was marked in the square by Nick Rodda. Strijk was a very influential player all day as he directed play from half back. Another string of behinds followed before the second goal was kicked at the 21-minute mark. This was a long goal from 50 by Steven Browne. The Falcons led by 14 at this point but it was reduced shortly after when Matt Orzel kicked the Tigers first and only goal for the quarter. Kris Shannon, who is improving with each league game, got onto the scoreboard when he snapped a classy goal after pouncing on a kick-in following a behind. As a result West Perth led by 14 at the first change; 3.6 (24) to 1.4 (10).

Read More [+]

BILL GETS GRILLED – BILL MONAGHAN Q & A

Friday, June 6, 2014 - 7:47 PM - by CHRIS PIKE

WEST Perth premiership coach Bill Monaghan conducts a weekly question and answer segment during the 2014 WAFL season. Here is this week's edition looking back on the WA Day Derby and previewing Saturday's clash with Claremont.

Read More [+]

Round 11 Preview v Claremont

Friday, June 6, 2014 - 4:40 PM - by Chris Pike

BOUNCING back from the WA Day Derby loss, getting revenge for a Round 2 defeat, trying to return to the top-four and winning at the Claremont Showground for the first time since 1926 are all West Perth's focuses heading into Saturday's clash with Claremont.

West Perth fell to fifth position on the ladder thanks to a 16-point loss to East Perth in front of over 6000 fans at Arena Joondalup on Monday with the Falcons now sitting on a 4-5 record and now needing to beat Claremont on Saturday to be a chance of getting back into the top-four.

Read More [+]