by Darrell Kent

The Falcons had much to play for in the match against East Fremantle at Shark Park on Saturday. A victory would see them a game and percentage clear in fourth spot with the chance to push on for a top two finish but West Perth put in their most disappointing performance for the year to lose by forty eight points. The ordinary West Perth effort was magnified by a number of bewildering umpiring decisions that left many supporters wondering if they knew anything about the game at all.

West Perth kicked to the Perth end and commenced brightly. They kicked three consecutive behinds before Brent Lecras kicked the first at the eight minute mark. East Fremantle kicked consecutive goals to take the lead which they kept for the rest of the match. The goals were to McCarrey and Staker and these two key forwards were to be a real headache for the rest of the match. An East Fremantle defensive error at the eighteen minute mark enabled Callum Chambers to kick the Falcons second but from this point onwards the Sharks dominated to build a ten point lead at quarter time. They led 4.2 (26) to 2.4 (16).

Brent Staker kicked his third at the two minute mark of the second term to take the lead out to sixteen. A second to Liam Anthony extended the lead even more before Troy Longmuir snapped one to reduce the margin to sixteen. Both sides kicked behinds before McCarrey kicked his second to make the margin twenty one. Kepler Bradley replied shortly after when he took a brave mark in the square and the margin was down to nine at the twelve minute mark when Josh Pearce kicked accurately after some terrific work by the hard working Mark Seaby. But once again East Fremantle steadied to kick the next two. Troy Longmuir kicked his second at the twenty minute mark and the Falcons were still in the game trailing by only fifteen points but East Fremantle finished the quarter much the better to take a thirty two point lead into the main break. The scores were 12.3 (75) to 6.7 (43). The quarter was marred by a number of terrible umpiring decisions.

At the ten minute mark of the third term Adam Campbell scrambled his only goal for the game with a right foot snap and the lead was back to twenty six. The Sharks once again took control to kick three consecutive goals and put the game out of West Perth's reach. The only other goal for the Falcons came at the twenty five minute mark when Alex James finished with a touch of class from forty metres. East Fremantle had extended their lead for the third quarter in a row to lead by thirty seven, 15.5 (95) to 8.10 (58).

Callum Chambers kicked his second within a minute of the final term to reduce the margin to thirty one but as was often the case during the course of the day West Perth were unable to string consecutive goals together and East Fremantle dominated the next fifteen minutes to take the lead out to fifty points. Dion Fleay kicked the Falcons final goal for the match at the twenty minute mark and at the final siren East Fremantle had defeated the Falcons by forty eight points, 19.8 !22) to 10.14 (74).

West Perth was outscored in the four quarters. A narrow loss would have at least seen West Perth in the four on percentage but this was not to be. They sit outside the four by less than one percent. With six games remaining a place in the four is well within reach and their destiny lies in their own hands. There were few stand out performances today but Mark Seaby played strongly all day and Kepler Bradley and Brent Lecras also tried hard. It will be interesting to see what the match at the Arena against Peel next week will bring to the finals equation.