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ROUND 7 PREVIEW V CLAREMONT

Friday, May 1, 2015 - 5:43 PM by Chris Pike

WEST Perth will be looking to continue its momentum from a stunning comeback win over Swan Districts on Monday when the Falcons take on the winless Claremont at the Showground on Saturday.

West Perth looked dead and buried entering time-on in the last quarter on Monday against Swan Districts at HBF Arena, but were able to kick the last five goals of the game in the final 10 minutes to pull off the most remarkable of victories.

That improved the Falcons to a 3-2 record on the season and into fifth position on the ladder leading into Saturday's clash at the Showground against Claremont.

Claremont might not have won a game yet this season having lost games to Subiaco, South Fremantle, East Fremantle, Perth and Peel Thunder but the Tigers do have talent and experience, and regain some key players to take on West Perth with on Saturday.

The Tigers also enter the clash with an extra day's rest than the Falcons having played on Sunday against Peel Thunder at Bendigo Bank Stadium, and losing by 27 points, while the Falcons played on Monday against Swan Districts and pulled off the stunning victory.

West Perth will also celebrate a significant milestone with 2013 premiership player Steven Browne playing his 100th game with the Falcons to book his name on to the No. 7 locker at the club.

Browne made his league debut with West Perth in 2007 impressing in six league matches as an 18-year-old to get drafted by Carlton where he spent the next three years and played 23 AFL games.

He then returned to West Perth in 2011 and has been a strong performer ever since as a key player in the back-line in the 2013 premiership, and having shown the versatility to play other roles further up the field along the way.

West Perth will have a short break from playing in Monday's incredible come from behind victory over Swan Districts to play Claremont at the Showground on Saturday, but the Falcons will be hoping all the players have pulled up well enough physically to take their place in the team.

With Marcus Adams, Jordan Jones and Max Alexander among those still sidelined, the Falcons will be hoping to not lose any more players through injury as well as they try to build momentum in the season.

While there are no players named out of the West Perth team at this stage to play Claremont on Saturday, Ray Bartholomew, Steve Potente and Mitch van Berlo have put themselves in the mix to earn a recall.

Potente was terrific in the reserves on Monday with 29 possessions and a goal while Bartholomew had another 22 disposals and van Berlo was solid across half-back.

Claremont will get back some key players in search of that elusive first victory of the season with captain Jake Murphy to play his first game since taking on South Fremantle in Round 2 with Mark Seaby also to come in for his first league game of the year.

Seaby has played the last two weeks in the reserves for the Tigers after missing the first three matches of 2015 and now the AFL and WAFL premiership ruckman will make his return to the league to play against the team he played in the 2003 flag with.

Shane McAdam was a lively forward to start the season with the Tigers and now back in the line-up after a spell in the reserves with midfield Maximilian Bentley also in the mix for a return to the league team along with Francis Watson being a chance to make his debut.

At this stage, Keegan Knott and Matthew Palfrey are the two players from the Claremont team that went down to Peel last Sunday that haven’t been able to hold their spots in the team this week to face West Perth.

RESERVES SQUAD
B Antonio, M Ashfield, J Batterham, D Colbung, M Crisp, M Douglas, B Fotheringham, C Franklin, K Fullgrabe, M Geraghty, J Gray, N Hill, A Innes, T Keitel, J Kirwen, B McGillivray, J Morrow, T Moulton, D Munns, C Papertalk, M Peirce, T Sutherland, B Walton, B Wilhelm, C Yarran, H Yarran

COLTS SQUAD
A Allen, D Carr, A Charlie, K Coleman, R Dolman, E Hills, K Hindmarsh, J Horgan, E Larmett, C Lynch, T Manners, N Marinovich, J Moore, B Mountford, S Nelson, T O'Brien, G Popzeleff, D Robertson, T Smith, D Stasev, B Thompson, C Thompson, J Turner, M Walley, B Zanon