Clinical Falcons brush past Demons at Joondalup

WEST Perth’s clinical ball movement on Saturday afternoon saw them prevail in blustery conditions over Perth by 46 points at HBF Arena.

Despite winning the ball more times than their opposition, the Demons struggled to create scoring chances for the forward line, as the Falcons continued their charge towards the top two in their 13.13 (91) to 6.9 (45) victory.

West Perth’s midfield brigade got the home side off to a good start, peppering the forward fifty on numerous occasions in the first half.

The home side kicked the opening four goals of the game in the first quarter to lead by 22 points at the opening change.

The Demons looked to put the clamps on the Falcons in the second quarter as Spencer White kicked two goals for the term.

However Perth manage to lose the quarter by a point after a Max Duffy snap goal from what appeared to be after the siren was allowed to stand despite the protests of several Demons players.

Duffy kicked his fourth of the game immediately after half-time, with Andrew Strijk also converting from a set shot a minute later to put the lead to a game-high 35 points.

West Perth full-forward Michael Lourey also kicked successive goals later in the quarter after Sam Garstone and Rowan Brookes got on the board during the term.

The home side completed a resounding victory in the last, kicking three goals to one for the term to finish 46 point victors.

Shane Nelson was a stand out for the home side with 40 possessions, whilst Aaron Black (32 possessions including five inside fifties), Blake Wilhelm (29) and Aidan Lynch (28) all had profound impacts in the middle of the ground.

For the Demons Michael Sinclair performed admirably off the half-back line with 36 possessions including 13 marks. Clint Jones racked up 35 possession in the midfield along with Liam McKenna (30), Cody Leggett (27 including eight inside fifties) and Aidan Tropiano (21).

Perth took out the early games, winning the colts by 17 points and comfortably winning the reserves by 27 points.

The Demons will travel to Carnarvon next week to take on second placed South Fremantle, with bounce down at 2.15pm.

TOTAL

WEST PERTH              4.2       6.5       10.9     13.13 (91)

PERTH                         0.4       2.6       5.9       6.9 (45)

GOALS

WEST PERTH: M Lourey 4, M Duffy 4, J Leeson 2, A Strijk 1, J Van Berlo 1, M Hamilton 1

PERTH: S White 3, S Garstone 2, R Brookes 1

BEST

WEST PERTH: S Nelson, A Black, M Lourey, A Lynch, T Keitel, B Wilhelm, D Munns

PERTH: M Sinclair, C Leggett, A Graham, S White, C Jones.

UMPIRES: A Martin, M Edinger, B Laycock

CROWD: 2000 (approx) at HBF Arena