WEST Perth has played in the past two WAFL finals campaigns and coach Bill Monaghan sees no reason his squad will not make it back there again in 2010.
The Falcons have been bundled out of the finals the last two seasons by Swan Districts, in the 2008 preliminary final and 2009 first semi-final, but haven’t been far off the top sides and that is why Monaghan is confident of another strong season.
There have been no recruits signed by West Perth and veterans Troy Longmuir and Craig Smoker have retired, with two AFL players in Mark Seaby and Adam Campbell moving on after spending most of 2009 with the Falcons, but Monaghan sees more than enough talent to be successful.
There is still the veterans to provide experience in the form of Callum Chambers, Clayton Lasscock and Brent LeCras who have all tasted premiership success, while the group of leaders headed by captain Jason Salecic, Josh Pearce, Dan Hunt, Dustin Burns and Dion Fleay are all at the peak of their careers.
With a terrific blend of young players ready to become regular players like Alex James, Caleb Shadbolt, Matt and Luke Tedesco, Shaun and Rohan Bewick, Joe Morrow, Anton Saylor plus teenagers Jack Darling and Seb Dearle, Monaghan likes the look of the team not only for 2010, but well beyond as well.
"It wasn’t a huge priority for us and we made sure that we didn't go outside what our recruiting model was. Our kids are good, all our leadership group are around 25 or 26 years of age, and we only have two or three guys over that age in our squad," Monaghan said.
"We think that we are putting together a squad that will be a force over the next two, three or four years, but also be able to compete this year. We expect that if we play to our potential, finals is another realistic opportunity for us."
Last year was Monaghan's first in charge of a WAFL club after playing with Subiaco and Peel Thunder, and coaching Subiaco's reserves to two premierships, but while he took the Falcons to the finals, he wasn’t totally satisfied with what they achieved.
"Yes and no. I was pleased to make the finals because obviously that's one of the first goals you set. It was disappointing to bow out so early in the finals series and we were really disappointing against Swans in the first quarter," Monaghan said.
"We played some decent footy after that to show we weren’t far off Swans, and having beaten both South and Subi during the year we felt we were a chance to beat any of the teams in the finals. It was a disappointing end."
When Monaghan arrived, there was a strong group of players around the 30-year age mark, so he always knew they only had one, two or three years left in them, so he had expected some retirements at the end of 2009 and is confident he has players coming up to replace them.
"A lot has been made of the fact that we lost Troy and Smokes, and that Seabs has gone to Sydney, but at the end of the day the two that retired were 30-year-old blokes and they're going to bow out eventually," he said.
"Hopefully if you have the system in place you have kids to replace them and I think we have. We have a few kids in the system, plus the guys we lost through injuries last year, so we have some good players to come in."
Smoker won't be lost to the club, though, as he brings his 105 games of experience with West Perth, 94 with Port Melbourne in the VFL and 17 with Melbourne in the AFL to the coaching box, along with several other new arrivals.
"We had a few changes to our coaching staff and we are in the throes of finalising one last position. Craig Smoker will run our midfield, Rob Hunt is in a development-type role along with Craig Thomas," he said.
"Paul Sanzone is coaching our reserves as well as our defence and we are looking to sign a midfield coach. We have a good group and they look after our players well."
