WEST Perth turned things around from a thumping the previous week and put Claremont right back in its place with a 53-point win in the first semi-final at Joondalup Arena on Saturday to advance to the preliminary final.

The form of West Perth and Claremont couldn’t have been more contrasting from the opening week of the 2018 WAFL Finals Series, but to the Falcons' credit, they were able to turn things around in supremely impressive fashion in Sunday's first semi-final at Joondalup Arena.

After finishing the season in third position, West Perth was blown away by South Fremantle in the qualifying final at Fremantle Community Bank Oval leaving the Falcons with plenty of work to do to turn things around eight days later to keep their season alive.

Claremont looked set to pose a significant test too having beaten East Perth by 28 points in the elimination final and to come into the first semi-final on a run of winning four straight matches and five of the past six.

While the job appeared ahead of West Perth coming into the contest, it soon became obvious this was a switched on and desperate Falcons playing group ready to make amends for the previous week and to keep their season alive.

The Falcons piled by seven goals to two in the first quarter and led by 46 points by half-time, and then by as much as 59 points in the last quarter before recording the 19.9 (123) to 10.10 (70) victory.

The victory keeps West Perth's season alive as they advance to this Sunday's preliminary final against South Fremantle back at Fremantle Community Bank Oval. The winner will advance to play Subiaco in the 2018 WAFL Grand Final at Optus Stadium.

The season is over for Claremont as a result of the defeat with the Tigers just unable to rise up a level when needed against the top three teams despite a strong second half of 2018.

West Perth's two inspirational midfield leaders were remarkable with captain Aaron Black finishing with 31 possessions and three goals while Shane Nelson ended up with 32 disposals, eight tackles and two goals.

Luke Meadows also gathered 29 possessions for the Falcons, Trent Manzone 21, Dean Munns 19, Corey Chalmers 18 (two goals), Michael Lourey 17 (16 hit outs) and Kris Shannon 17.

Tyler Keitel returned to some strong form in attack for West Perth too kicking four goals from 15 possessions and six marks with Keegan Knott booting three majors against old side while Andrew Strijk kicked two goals too.

Tom Lee kicked four goals all in the second half for Claremont while Alex Manuel booted three majors.

Jye Bolton racked up 30 possessions for the Tigers, Ryan Lim 27, Tom Ledger 24, Kane Mitchell 22 (11 tackles), Jared Hardisty 22, Lachlan Martinis 20, Jack Beeck 19, Ian Richardson 18 and Haydn Busher 17.

It took just over two minutes for West Perth to kick the opening goal of the first semi-final thanks to Tyler Keitel. Just a minute later and fellow Bernie Naylor Medallist Andrew Strijk kicked another to give the Falcons the flying start.

 

Claremont did answer through Alex Manuel at the five-minute mark and the fast opening continued when West Perth captain Aaron Black kicked truly also.

 

Then after the Tigers managed their second goal from Ryan Lim, the Falcons took charge before quarter-time with goals to Keitel, Mitch Peirce, Shane Nelson and Keegan Knott to take a 29-point advantage to the first break.

 

West Perth was up by 35 points to start the second quarter when Black kicked his second goal before Claremont did respond thanks to the retiring Keifer Yu.

 

West Perth was able to take further control leading into half-time with goals to Nelson, Keitel and Knott as the Falcons led the Tigers by 46 points.

 

Claremont started the second half with a goal to Tom Lee to revive some hope of a comeback but West Perth responded with the next two majors from Kris Shannon and Strijk to see the lead grow to 52 points.

 

Claremont took momentum for the first time in the afternoon with the last three goals of the third quarter with two of those to Lee and another to Manuel.

 

That had the Tigers within 32 points at three quarter-time with an outside chance of a fightback but that was blown away when the Falcons kicked the first three goals of the last term thanks to Jay van Berlo, Corey Chalmers and Knott.

 

Both teams then managed to share seven goals in the last 15 minutes of the first semi-final but West Perth cruised to the 53-point win to advance to the preliminary final against South Fremantle and end the season of Claremont.

 

 

WEST PERTH – Goals: Keitel 4; Black, Knott 3; Strijk, Chalmers, Nelson 2; van Berlo, Shannon, Peirce.

Best: Black, Nelson, Meadows, Chalmers, Lourey, Keitel, Knott.

CLAREMONT – Goals: Lee 4; Manuel 3; Yu, Richardson, Lim.

Best: Lim, Bolton, Mitchell, Manuel, Lee, Ledger, J Hardisty.