Perham excited to bring Sharks back to GeraldtonFriday, March 28, 2014 - 11:54 AM - by Chris Pike

EAST Fremantle forward Jack Perham is looking forward to returning home to Geraldton this Saturday as the Sharks take WAFL football back to the regional centre hosting another Round 1 winner Subiaco.

Perham is now in his third season back with East Fremantle after spending 2011 in the AFL with Collingwood, and he remains a key part of the Sharks' forward-line that is hoping to help the team back to finals action in 2014.

The 23-year-old made his league debut in 2010 kicking 13 goals in seven league games before being rookie-listed by the Magpies.

He found himself off Collingwood's list at the end of 2011, but was only too happy to return to the Sharks and since has been an important member of the forward set up.

Perham kicked 34 goals in 20 games in 2012 including the first semi-final win over East Perth and preliminary final victory over Swan Districts, but missed the grand final loss to Claremont after the sickening knock he copped against Swans.

He then had a slow start to 2013, but ended up kicking 19 goals from his 10 league appearances, and also kicked a goal in last Saturday's season-opening three-point win over West Perth at East Fremantle Oval.

After coming to East Fremantle from the Brigades club and growing up in Geraldton, Perham is now excited to be preparing to take on Subiaco this Saturday in the regional centre that has produced so many Sharks stars.

"I am pretty stoked about it really. It's just a good opportunity to get home to see all the family and friends, and play on a footy ground that I played all my juniors at. A couple of other boys in the team are from Geraldton as well so they are pretty excited too," Perham said.

"It has always been good that the Sharks have come up to Geraldton to play some games so it creates that awareness that they are the WAFL club we are zoned to.

"We've had guys like Leith Teakle come through who everyone has looked up to and it's always excited when East Fremantle comes up to play a game."

Coming off that Round 1 victory over the reigning premiers and with the return to the club this year of Jamie McNamara, Bradd Dalziell and Brock O'Brien, and recruitment of James Bristow and Danny Chartres to an already talented squad, Perham is predicting a big year in 2014 for the Sharks.

"I think we are looking pretty strong and out of it all our squad has come out looking good. We've got pretty good depth and we've always had a strong reserves side, so now with no AFL players it gives other guys opportunities," he said.

"We've also picked up some of the biggest recruits in the comp with Bradd Dalziell, Jamie McNamara and Brock O'Brien coming back so I think we are going to be reasonably strong."

Perham has also enjoyed watching the development of Ryan Lester-Smith alongside him in the East Fremantle forward-line and he hopes to see him having another strong season to put his name up in lights to AFL clubs.

"He was unlucky but that's just the way it rolls. He has responded really well and did a huge pre-season probably because he knew how close he was to getting drafted," Perham said.

"He came out and trained really hard, is now as fit as he's ever been and we will be backing him in for another big year. Hopefully he can kick himself another 40 or 50 goals and get on the radar of the AFL clubs again."