New East Perth senior coach Luke Webster says his charges can’t wait to test themselves against Peel Thunder during tomorrow night’s WAFL season opener at Medibank Stadium.

Webster said the Royals had shown promising form throughout a pre-season which focused heavily on unity and overall improvement.

“Our preparation has been really good for round one,” Webster revealed.

“From my point of view, the boys have handled pre-season really well. They’ve had a really good crack at trying to improve and get better every training session.

“We had to improve in all areas. There were times last year where our ball movement was really good and there were times where it wasn’t. Team defence is always something we want to improve.

“From a holistic point of view, we want to have a go at every contest and winning as many contests as we can. Everything else will flow from that.”

Tomorrow night’s match will feature storylines galore as several West Coast and Fremantle stalwarts stake their AFL round one selection claims.

But Webster said his players’ sole focus was getting East Perth a round one win.

“It’s all about a united group moving towards one target, and that’s Peel this week,” he said.

“It’s something that we really honed in on. We’ve worked hard on unity the whole time that East Perth and West Coast have been aligned and I think it’s in a really good spot. The boys have jelled really well so far over the pre-season.”

That team-first attitude shone through during the club’s gutsy practice match win over East Fremantle last Saturday.

The Royals overcame a slow start to scrap out an admirable 9.13 (67) to 9.7 (61) victory.

But Webster said the real stuff started tomorrow night and he expected Peel to be a formidable opponent.

“Peel will be a bit similar to us; both the alignment teams are going to have an AFL-listed contingent going through there,” he said.

“We have looked at what they’ve been doing over the pre-season, but there has been a heavy focus on us, how we can improve and what we are going to bring as the East Perth Football Club.

“It’s a great opportunity to take on the premiers from last year.”