WEST Perth turns its full focus back to the football on Saturday with a crucial clash with Swan Districts at HBF Arena.

All the attention heaped on the club in the last 24 hours will be forgotten when West Perth runs out on to HBF Arena on Saturday looking to remain unbeaten on its home ground this season and to retain second position on the WAFL ladder with two round of 2015 remaining.

With the Falcons needing to win to remain in second position on the ladder and Swans needing a victory to remain in fifth spot, both teams will be throwing everything at coming away with a victory in what has become a fierce rivalry between the two teams in recent years.

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IN REVIEWING our performance each week, we are always trying to identify areas in which we can improve. We were dissatisfied with how we finished in front of goal against East Perth, and hence made a focus of this at our Tuesday night training.

Last week’s goal kicking practice, however, clearly had little effect. Despite the conditions, we missed many gettable shots on goal to finish kicking 15.14 for the game.

Jay ‘The Sprinkler’ Van Berlo was particularly disappointed with his effort from 22m out in front, which narrowly squeezed in for a behind. A great director of people, Jay has made a good habit of popping up ahead of the play and has contributed well to our scoring. If he was indeed a device used to spray water, and his game GPS was the reticulation system, the defensive 50 would resemble the Simpson Desert. So rarely is he seen within the confines of the arc, the only thing known to be drier than the roots of Nick Rodda’s trunk is his sense of humour. 

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WEST Perth has read the joint statement of the 8 other WAFL Clubs and unequivocally agrees with them that it is in the best interests of all stakeholders that the 2015 WAFL finals are televised.

The Club’s partnership with its major sponsor Channel 9 was developed and agreed well before the WAFC’s current agreement on WAFL broadcast rights was secured. West Perth is proud to have secured a reputable major sponsor in Channel 9 who is aligned with our vision and values.

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WEST Perth premiership coach Bill Monaghan will be conducting a weekly question and answer segment for the club's website. Here he discusses Saturday's big win over East Fremantle to see the Falcons retain second spot ahead of another crucial clash this Saturday at HBF Arena against Swan Districts.

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IT WAS a cold, wet and windy day at East Fremantle Oval on Saturday but the display by West Perth helped to warm the hearts of their supporters. West Perth kicked with the breeze to start the match and a goal within the first minute was a precursor of what was to come.

The Falcons took the ball straight out of the middle at the opening bounce and a free-kick to Matt Johnson at the top of the square gave West Perth the perfect start with a major in the first minute. It took another eight minutes before the next goal and it was the first of two to Trent Manzone when he scored with a snap from the top of the square. He had a big day finishing with 34 possessions. The next came shortly after when Blake Wilhelm scored from 50 after coming off half-back. He has shown a real appetite for league football and looks very comfortable at this level. The fourth for the quarter came at the 14-minute mark when Marcus Adams marked 20 metres out. A rushed behind followed before Michael Lourey took his season total to 30 with consecutive goals. Rory O’Brien kicked one for the Sharks at the 27-minute mark but when the quarter-time siren went the Falcons had certainly used the first quarter breeze to advantage and they led by 32; 6.2 (38) to 1.0 (6).

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WEST Perth kicked the first six goals and cruised to a 73-point victory over East Fremantle at ATOM Stadium on Saturday to retain second position on the WAFL ladder with three rounds of the season remaining.

With the third placed Peel Thunder and fourth placed East Perth also recording wins on Saturday, West Perth couldn’t afford a slip up against the struggling Sharks, and that was never going to happen once the game got underway.

West Perth had the advantage of the breeze in the first quarter but the game quickly turned into a contest featuring a team getting ready to contend for the premiership in 2015, and one who can't wait for a horror season to come to an end.

The Falcons booted the first six goals of the game in the first quarter and then weren’t troubled the rest of the afternoon in conditions that included a howling wind and torrential run, to end up winning 15.14 (104) to 4.7 (31).

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GOAL kicking is a crucial part of our game, and something that over the years has arguably failed to improve. This year as a midfield group we have made a focus to hit the scoreboard a bit more to help take some pressure off the forward line and improve as a team.

With this comes some banter around the clubrooms about which line contributes the most to the team’s success (despite everyone already being aware that the midfield carries the group). 

On Tuesday night we held a goal kicking competition, which pitted forwards vs mids vs backs to see who the most reliable set shots for goal were. There were 14 players from each line who took part and matched up in groups of 3 (1 forward, 1 midfielder, 1 defender). Each player recorded their results from kicking from 10 different locations of varying distances and angles. Sledging was at its best, and there were some interesting outcomes. 

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WEST Perth's second position goes on the line as the Falcons head to ATOM Stadium on Saturday facing an East Fremantle team desperate to find some positives after a horror second half of the 2015 WAFL season.

West Perth is all but guaranteed of playing finals football in 2015 currently sitting in second position on the ladder with a 10-6 record, but last Sunday's nail-biting loss to East Perth did see the Falcons miss an opportunity to be more secure in that spot.

With the second placed team earning a home final in the first week of the new look finals set up, it's a highly sought after position with Subiaco having already locked away the minor premiership but West Perth could slip down the ladder with a loss to East Fremantle on Saturday.

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MARCUS Adams' stunning form this season in the back-line for West Perth has the 22-year-old being talked about as a potential first round AFL draft pick later this year, but his focus remains on achieving success with the Falcons before worrying about that.

Adams was always a promising youngster coming through the ranks at Swan Districts and impressed on debut as an 18-year-old in 2011, but with his older brother Luke's battle back to full health and other things in life, football took a backseat and he left the WAFL system for two years.

West Perth was then able to lure him back into the fold ahead of the 2014 season and the result was a terrific year for the strong, quick and talented powerhouse. Read More [+]

WEST Perth was able to stage another terrific comeback in the last quarter on Sunday with three straight goals putting the Falcons in front, but this time it wasn’t quite enough with East Perth's West Coast teenager Tom Lamb kicking the winning goal at Medibank Stadium.

East Perth was on top of the contest for most of the afternoon and still led by 25 points early in the last quarter, but West Perth has made a habit of delivering stunning comebacks this season and delivered another.

The Falcons kicked the next three goals and that saw them hit the front when Michael Lourey booted his third of the day at the 22-minute mark, but the Royals continued to find a way to regain the lead they held for most of the game.

Eventually it was 18-year-old first-year West Coast draftee Lamb who came out to mark strongly, and kick truly for his fourth of the match as East Perth beat West Perth 10.12 (72) to 9.14 (68).

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