East Perth is now three games outside the top five following a 31-point loss to arch rivals West Perth at HBF Arena yesterday.
With just nine games remaining in the home-and-away season, the Royals can’t afford to drop too many matches if it wants to make a tilt at the 2016 WAFL title.
The Falcons were up and about in the opening quarter and hit the scoreboard first via Aaron Black.
The 2014 Sandover medallist’s grubber from 40m set the tone for the first quarter, as West Perth's Rohan Kerr and Aidan Lynch dissected the big sticks moments later to give the Falcons an early 20-point advantage.
Just when it looked like the Royals might go goalless for the quarter, East Perth turned up the heat on West Perth's defence, forced a turnover and got the ball to Eagles-listed tall Fraser McInnes, who fired his 35m set shot through the six-point zone.
The Royals appeared to carry its late first quarter form into the second term when Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls nailed a set shot from 40m, but the Falcons wrestled back the match’s momentum with consecutive goals to Lynch and Michael Lourey.
With just minutes left on the clock, East Perth absorbed some Falcons' front-end pressure, extracted the ball from a congested contest and sent it via a chain of possessions to Oakley-Nicholls, who strolled into the goal square and kicked a major to put the Royals within seven points of the home side at half-time.
Unfortunately the Falcons exacted some coast-to-coast revenge on the Royals at the beginning of the third quarter when Kristopher Shannon got on the end of some efficient ball movement and extended West Perth’s lead to 13 points.
A soft holding free-kick gifted Steven Potente a six-pointer midway through the quarter and Lynch bagged his third goal of the game with a right-foot snap that dribbled through the goals and gifted West Perth a 27-point lead with a period to play.
Lourey snared his second goal of the game early in the fourth quarter to increase West Perth’s advantage to 33 points, but the Royals restored some hope of a come from behind win when defender Tom Barrass and small forward Malcolm Karpany kicked back-to-back goals with 10 minutes remaining on the clock.
West Perth proved too clinical in the final minutes, as Lourey booted two late goals to seal the Falcons' 11.9 (75) to 5.14 (44) win.
Tom Barrass starred in defence and spoiled several of West Perth’s inside 50 entries with either his right fist or safe hands.
Midfielders Patrick McGinnity and Jackson Nelson threw their bodies at every contest and collected 30 and 27 disposals respectively, while Fraser McInnes earned 19 touches and flourished when moved into defence in the second half.
First-year Eagle Kurt Mutimer won the ball 18 times, Mitch Brown stifled West Perth’s free-flowing attack with some strong body work and Jonathan Giles exacted 24 hit-outs and followed up his tap work with 12 possessions and three tackles.
On-baller Corey Adamson and half-forward Tom Lamb each got 15 touches, Simon Tunbridge impacted the contested with 11 disposals while Lewis Jetta and Paddy Brophy worked tirelessly off the ball but only managed eight disposals each.
