THE real West Perth reserves team stood up in the preliminary final against Claremont at Medibank Stadium on Sunday. Coach Paul Sanzone has done a terrific job to get them up after a disappointing second semi-final loss to Subiaco and they dominated all day to run out 68-point winners. The win has given this talented group the chance to break one of the longest premiership droughts in the WAFL with West Perth not having won a reserves premiership since 1960.
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- Round 1Thu Mar 2819:1011.9.75VS11.7.73View Stats
- Round 2Sat Apr 0616:0017.14.116VS9.14.68View Stats
- Round 3Sat Apr 1314:1010.9.69VS8.17.65View Stats
- Round 6Sat May 0414:10VS
Lane Group Stadium - Round 7Sat May 1115:00VS
Pentanet Stadium - Round 8Sat May 2514:30VS
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- Round 12Sat Jun 2214:30VS
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Fremantle Community Bank Oval
DEDICATION TO KEEP IMPROVING PAYS OFF FOR BLACK
AARON Black has worked tirelessly to improve constantly throughout his 85-game WAFL career with West Perth and the 21-year-old was rewarded with the 2014 Sandover Medal on Monday night but even he was surprised at the result.
Black won the Sandover Medal for 2014 on Monday night polling 47 votes to win by one vote ahead of teammate Shane Nelson and former winner and pre-count favourite Luke Blackwell with Subiaco captain Kyal Horsley finishing on 45 votes and East Fremantle's Bradd Dalziell 43.
It was a thrilling vote count but in the end Black won after polling in the final eight games of the season and held on to win with Blackwell not polling a vote in Claremont's Round 23 victory over East Perth where most pundits had him close to best on ground, if not the best afield that day.
AARON BLACK CLAIMS WEST PERTH'S FIRST SANDOVER MEDAL IN 21 YEARS
WEST Perth has its first Sandover Medal winner since 1993 with 21-year-old premiership star and rising midfielder Aaron Black taking out WA football's most prestigious individual award on Monday night.
And not only did Black end West Perth's drought of not having a winner of the WAFL's fairest and best player since 1993, but he very nearly shared the award with his premiership teammate and old school friend Shane Nelson who only finished one vote back.
Black finished the Sandover Medal vote count on 47 votes to be one ahead of Nelson who polled 46 votes.
SANDOVER MEDAL PREVIEW
WEST Perth's premiership drought of 10 years ended in 2013 and now the run of not having a Sandover Medal that has lasted since 1993 could come to an end this Monday night with Shane Nelson, Aaron Black and Rohan Kerr all likely to poll well.
West Perth's last Sandover Medal winner was Neil Mildenhall in 1993 just 12 months after Robbie West also won the award, but the Falcons haven’t had a winner since and have at least three players in contention this Monday night.
The 2011 Sandover Medal winner Luke Blackwell and last year's winner Rory O'Brien appear to be two players in the running to take out the award as the WAFL's fairest and best player for the second time, but there isn't a shortage of players that they will be contending with on the night.
FALCONS WIN WAY INTO SECOND STRAIGHT RESERVES GRAND FINAL
West Perth's reserves were disappointed with their loss in the second semi-final to Subiaco and made an emphatic statement on Sunday with a 68-point thumping of Claremont at Medibank Stadium.
West Perth's 18.8 (116) to 7.6 (48) victory over Claremont in the preliminary final means that the Falcons will now take on Subiaco in the grand final with the aim of making up for last year's loss at Patersons Stadium to South Fremantle.
It was a big statement from West Perth as well given Claremont advanced to the preliminary final on the back of a thumping first semi-final victory over East Fremantle.
RESERVES PRELIMINARY FINAL PREVIEW V CLAREMONT
WEST Perth's reserves set their sights on qualifying for a second straight grand final appearance when taking on Claremont in Sunday's preliminary final at Leederville's Medibank Stadium.
West Perth and Claremont do battle at the Leederville venue from 11.25am on Sunday for the right to advance to the grand final to take on Subiaco next Sunday.
West Perth played Claremont three times during the home and away season with the Falcons only managing to win one of those.
WEST PERTH 14/15’s DEVELOPMENT SQUAD PRESENTATIONS
This coming Tuesday, 16th September 2014 the West Perth Football Club will hold presentations for its 14 & 15’s Development Squads at the Lake Joondalup Baptist College Auditorium.
The evening will start at 6pm and will be finished prior to 7pm. Players and parents alike are welcome to attend.
All players are to come dressed in their 2014 West Perth polo shirt, black pants and black shoes. After the squads have been announced team photos Read More [+]
FALCONS SET THE BENCHMARK
Attendance figures for the completed WAFL home and away season have just been released by the West Australian Football Commission.
The Falcons again led the way with the highest aggregate home ground attendance (25,233) at HBF Arena in 2014 with a season average of 2523 from its 10 home games.
The Falcons were 6% up on last year’s aggregate attendance and a whopping 25% up on their next rival, Swan Districts at Steel Blue Oval (Bassendean Oval).
FALCONS RESERVES WITH WORK TO DO TO MAKE GRAND FINAL
WEST Perth's reserves will now have to win through to the grand final for 2014 the hard way after going down to Subiaco by 56 points in Sunday's second semi-final at Medibank Stadium.
Subiaco and West Perth met at the Leederville venue with a reserves grand final spot at stake after both occupied the top two spots on the ladder at the end of the home and away season.
Subiaco got off to a fast start in the second semi-final with five goals to one in the opening quarter and held West Perth to two goals for the entire first half, and five for the match on the way to a 15.8 (98) to 5.12 (42) victory.
LIONS POUNCE ON FALCONS
WEST Perth kicked the first goal of the game in the reserves' second semi-final at Medibank Stadium on Sunday against Subiaco but that was to be one of the few highlights. The Lions dominated the rest of the contest to run out 56-point winners. It was a disappointing result, to say the least.
At the six-minute mark of the first term Drew Rohde marked 30 metres out, on the boundary. He made a difficult kick look easy and split the middle. But that was to be their only major for the term and Subiaco piled on five straight. Two of those went to dangerous forward, Kyle Halligan, who finished with six for the game. The Lions midfield controlled the play and this was a big factor in the 5.0 (30) to 1.1 (7) quarter-time score line.