East Perth senior coach Luke Webster says his side needs to be far more efficient at the attacking end of the ground if they want to topple arch rivals West Perth tomorrow.
In spite of dominating possession and firing at the tall posts no less than 16 times, the Royals only managed a miserly four goals against Peel during its season opener at Medibank Stadium last Saturday.
In fact, East Perth only registered one goal through the first three quarters of the match before Webster swung key defender Tom Barrass (two goals) forward in the hope of creating more opportunities inside 50.
“Our ability to connect inside 50 and hit the scoreboard by finishing off our work is probably the biggest thing we need to rectify from last week," Webster said.
“We had plenty of opportunities, but we just couldn’t convert, which might have swung the momentum our way.”
While East Perth’s scoreboard pressure left much to be desired, the team's defensive effort against the reigning premiers was far more encouraging.
Experienced trio Sam Butler, Will Schofield and Barrass helped keep the Thunder to just 53 points in perfect scoring conditions.
“From a defensive point of view, we will put everything in place from last week because I thought the boys defended really well,” Webster said.
“Peel’s pressure was really good and I thought we matched them in that area. Both teams had near on 60 tackles each, so it was a pretty tough and tight game of footy.
“Unfortunately, they broke it open a bit better than we did in that third quarter. We both had 40-odd inside 50s, so the game did break open at times, it was just they took their opportunities more than we did.”
Webster expected tomorrow’s contest to be decided in the middle of the paddock.
He said the Royals’ on ball unit needed to rip in while also remaining wary of the Falcons’ counter-attacking prowess.
“They do play a pretty exciting brand of footy,” Webster said.
“They use the ball really well and they look to get out the back. They are going to be a tough opponent.”
East Perth go to battle with West Perth from 1.40pm at HBF Stadium tomorrow.
