WAFL 2023 Season Preview – West PerthSunday, April 2, 2023 - 1:05 PM - by Chris Pike

GOING back more than 30 years and Darren Harris was there when he saw West Perth's culture change which has remained the key component of the club ever since, and he continues to maintain that's the most important aspect that makes the Falcons tick.

Harris was at West Perth when Jeff Gieschen arrived as coach back in 1992 and that's when he began to see the Falcons culture that has now become revered over the last 30 years begin to come to the fore.

It has continued to grow in the coaches since with John Dimmer leading the Falcons to premierships in 1995 and 1999 before Harris took over from him and led them to the 2003 flag.

One of West Perth's favourite sons Todd Curley then spent three years as coach when Harris joined West Coast before Bill Monaghan took over and would become the longest-serving and most winning coach in the rich history of the Falcons.

Geoff Valentine was next and then then Harris returned for his second stint as coach last year taking West Perth to his second premiership in charge in the most memorable of occasions when they beat Claremont in the Grand Final at Leederville Oval.

It's that culture at West Perth that has become famous within the four walls and the envy of rival clubs that Harris believes everything for the Falcons begins and finishes with.

"Creating that culture is the key. It's the foundation and I've always said this that when Jeff Gieschen came to West Perth in 1992 he turned the club around, and I think our culture started from then," Harris told 91.3 SportFM. 

"John Dimmer added to that substantially with the way he went about it, and his style of play. With all the coaches we have at West Perth, they're all people who have been through all that era and they are able to pass it on, and create a safe, supportive environment where your players can be the best versions of themselves and feel like it's a family is critical. 

"I'm a big believer that the tighter you are as a group and the more you care about each other, you're going to be the last to surrender. I think the years since Giesch turned up and enabled us to understand what it is to be a West Perth person has meant we have a lot of good people, and that's really important."

It is that culture that carries onto this very day with the likes of Aaron Black (241 games), Shane Nelson (208), Tyler Keitel (143), Blake Wilhelm (125), Luke Meadows (118), Mark Hamilton (115) and Dean Munns (105) among those carrying on that legacy.

That's why Harris embraced being back at West Perth so fully last year and to have the ultimate reward of the premiership by the end of the season means he is just looking to build on what they did without the need to change too much in 2023.

"It was only my first year back at the club last year and as you work through it, and work through the list, you end up with a few drills and ways that you play that become pretty important to how you go about it," Harris said. 

"I think because in the back half of the season, probably the last six rounds, we got a couple of those drills and ways that we wanted to play, and the players know all those drills now. 

"We've been able to add pieces to those and continue to improve I reckon. It hasn’t been a great deal of change structurally, but I'm hopeful with the more knowledge we'll be able to defend better and score better. So that's the goal."

There has been limited change on the personnel front in the off-season at West Perth too. 

Anton Hamp is the only premiership player to move on after he announced his retirement, but the Falcons have added Bailey Thompson from the VFL with Zac Langdon on deck after his AFL career at the GWS Giants and West Coast Eagles.

While Harris acknowledges Hamp leaves a hole with the partnership he created in 2022 in attack with Keitel, he's confident in the next group of players ready to grab their chance.

"Anton Hamp was really important to us structurally last year. Because I'd worked with him and he knew where I was at from a structure point of view with running patterns etc, he was really important to us," he said.

"So we'll miss him but there is some great kids coming through. Michael Mallard has been going really well, Logan Foley's been going really well and some of these kinds that are coming through will become key players for us."

Harris is also looking forward to seeing players who played in last year's premiership build on being part of that and take the next step in their football in 2023, including Sam Rotham who is now 41 games into his WAFL career.

"Sam Rotham gives us great flexibility too. He's played forward and ruck through the pre-season and he has been outstanding," Harris said. 

"Hopefully he can fill a bit of a void for us there as well. Sam has really come on and his pre-season has been great. He's just got belief and confidence in himself now which happens at all different times for players. 

"He has been able to continue to train really hard and he knows he belongs now, and that he can compete at this level. When you have a Grand Final victory and you get a medal after you'd probably played about 30 games over so many years, it was just great for him. There's a few of those players that now have belief that they belong."

As reigning premiers, Harris is fully aware that West Perth is going to have a target on their backs from every opposition team this season and that begins with Claremont on Good Friday at Joondalup's Pentanet Stadium.

However, Harris is going to embrace that and can't wait to find out what the 2023 season has in store.

"We're going to have those big tests every week and I think that's the great thing about the evenness of the WAFL competition," Harris said.

"Last year we won 14 games and only lost three, and drew one but if we didn’t have that draw we don't finish on top and don’t have those opportunities that you get. 

"Claremont will be the start of that and I'm sure there's going to be seven, eight teams that are really going to be fighting hard to be up there. 

"I think West Coast will improve this year as well as they've got a few recruits, and if they can stay healthy. Subiaco will improve again with their recruiting and I just think it's going to be an awesome competition again."