WA Football

Anthony Tsalikis is hoping that the added incentive of three big milestones over the next two weeks will help inspire West Perth to play its best football of 2012 to remain in the finals hunt.

Tsalikis, a four-time leading goalkicker at the club and possibly five at the end of this season, will become a life member of West Perth by playing his 150th game this Sunday against East Fremantle at East Fremantle Oval.

After making his debut in 2004, Tsalikis has gone on to kick 270 goals in his 149 games and represent Western Australia in 2010 against Victoria.
With Dion Fleay just two games away from his 150th game and also captain Jason Salecic two away from his 200th, not only do West Perth need to get back to winning to stay in the finals race, but to honour milestones of some fine servants of the club.

Tsalikis is tremendously proud to now be reaching 150 games and to become a life member.

"Hopefully those milestones can give us a bit of a lift. Mine is this week now and if Dizzy plays then his and Sala's will be against South the week after. Hopefully the boys can lift for my 150th and then we can lift again the following week," Tsalikis said.

"It's going to mean a great deal. Coming to the club I didn’t know much about it coming from a soccer background and I never thought I would play close to 150 games. It has probably spurred me on a couple of extra years, though, and to get life membership in a club that's over 125 years old means a great deal. It's something that I will treasure forever."

While last Saturday's result in losing to Subiaco was hardly ideal, the day put on by the club at Arena Joondalup for International Round was tremendous.

Not only did West Perth wear specially designed Union Jack jumpers, but over 6000 fans were attracted to the game and Tsalikis has without question noticed the club's improvement off the field.

"It was quite different but we have a tradition of being the 'Garlic Munchers' with our Italian and Greek heritage, but we've now moved from Leederville and have come up north where there is a lot of English people in Joondalup," he said.

"I thought the jumpers looked good and it was a good incentive for the footy club. We have to try to get as many youngsters to play footy in our district and this was a good way to try and do that. The club has planned for this day for a while.

"Us players didn’t hold up our end of the bargain, but the club did a great job and we've been moving in the right direction in a lot of ways. We had a little small gym for my first six years at the club, but we've now built a new one and also done another few things around the ground. It is hard being here at Arena, but the club is moving in a good direction."

Sunday's clash with the Sharks is virtually an eight-point game with East Fremantle moving out of reach of West Perth with a win while a Falcons' victory would have them within striking distance. Tsalikis doesn’t mind playing at East Fremantle Oval either.


"We actually don't play too badly there and recently they have beaten us more up at Joondalup," he said.

"I would have loved to play the 150 at home, but it's a big day and we will look at why they lost last week and look at our tape as well. I'm looking forward to the challenge and we have to beat these sides to play finals. If we can't, then we don’t deserve to be in the finals."

Following this Sunday, West Perth finishes its season against South Fremantle and East Perth with the prospect that the final round clash with the Royals could be a derby to decide a spot in the finals.

Tsalikis knows that before that, though, they need to beat the Sharks and Bulldogs, and he feels that to do that the experienced group need to show more consistency to follow in the lead of the likes of Mark Hutchings, Steven Browne, Shane Nelson and Aaron Black.

"Hopefully it pans out that the last game of the season against East Perth will be that the winner goes through, that would be great for us. We just have to win the next three, though, and then hope that a few teams do us a favour along the way," he said.

"Bottom line we have to win next week. Hopefully we get Gaudy back and maybe Petters, and I'm pretty sure Dizzy will be back too. We just have to put four quarters together though. When we are good we can match it with anyone, but we have to do that for four quarters and hopefully start that next week by getting a win.

"It has been an up and down season and us leadership guys have to take a bit of responsibility for that. We're not playing consistent footy and the young kids actually are like Shane Nelson and Aaron Black. We just have to get the leadership guys and our core players to lift over the next three weeks."

Tsalikis has had the added issue of having to regularly travel for work in recent seasons making it at times difficult to train as much as he would like and to even miss the odd game, but his commitment to West Perth has never diminished and he continues to be desperate for some finals success.

"Work has to be No. 1 really and that's where the income comes from. Footy is always a close second and it has been tough at times. I hurt my back this year as well so of all the seasons I've had it's the least amount of games I've played because I have been fortunate with injuries," he said.

"My form has been up and down, and I would like to play a consistent number of games but having to go away for work doesn’t help. I love playing and I will have to make a decision at the end of the year what I want to do, but the footy club means heaps to me and success as a team hopefully is something we can achieve."

Tsalikis made his debut in 2004 with the Falcons fresh off the 2003 premiership, and while he has played four finals matches himself, he is yet to play in a winning one and that is what is keeping his passion alive to continue playing.

"That's the main reason you play. The 150 games is a bonus and so is the 100th game to get your name on locker, but it's always team success what it's all about. If I had won a premiership a couple of years ago I probably wouldn’t be playing so it is the driving factor," he said.

"This year if we took our chances we would be in a lot better position, but I think we have a great team and the young guys have stepped up. We now need to take our opportunities in the next three weeks."