TOPIC:

Yes, we might have got out of jail today as West Perth dominated all the stats bar the most important one, the scoreboard (and what has happened to the old Joondalup scoreboard?).
That said, there have been Perth derbies of the recent past (well, 10-20 years ago) where we've been pipped at the post after looking good things to take the chocolates.
This game was virtually a carbon copy of the win over East Fremantle at the port a few weeks ago in terms of our second and third quarters being pretty modest, only for us to regroup in the final quarter.
Full credit to the Falcons, because the likes of Nelson, West, Meadows and the young player Bevan won the midfield battle.
While Mitch Crowden got a lot of the ball and broke plenty of tackles, East Perth certainly missed the centre clearance presence of Angus Schumacher and Stan Wright's laser-like disposal from the half-back line. 
Coach Ross McQueen's move of Harrison Macreadie up forward in the last quarter was a match-winner, with Big Harry kicking two opportunist goals (his first for the club) and setting Hamish Brayshaw up for another.
And Tom Medhat's mark late in the last quarter was an absolute pearler.
Ultimately, East Perth's ability to manufacture goals kept us just in front or not far behind the Falcons, while, barring the loss to Peel, our last quarters in 2024 have generally been good enough to get us across the line.

Archie Duda Goal Machine wrote:

Yes, we might have got out of jail today as West Perth dominated all the stats bar the most important one, the scoreboard (and what has happened to the old Joondalup scoreboard?).
That said, there have been Perth derbies of the recent past (well, 10-20 years ago) where we've been pipped at the post after looking good things to take the chocolates.
This game was virtually a carbon copy of the win over East Fremantle at the port a few weeks ago in terms of our second and third quarters being pretty modest, only for us to regroup in the final quarter.
Full credit to the Falcons, because the likes of Nelson, West, Meadows and the young player Bevan won the midfield battle.
While Mitch Crowden got a lot of the ball and broke plenty of tackles, East Perth certainly missed the centre clearance presence of Angus Schumacher and Stan Wright's laser-like disposal from the half-back line. 
Coach Ross McQueen's move of Harrison Macreadie up forward in the last quarter was a match-winner, with Big Harry kicking two opportunist goals (his first for the club) and setting Hamish Brayshaw up for another.
And Tom Medhat's mark late in the last quarter was an absolute pearler.
Ultimately, East Perth's ability to manufacture goals kept us just in front or not far behind the Falcons, while, barring the loss to Peel, our last quarters in 2024 have generally been good enough to get us across the line.

Yes Archie this game,for many obvious reasons had danger written all over it,and we we’re certainly not the 5s on pops the betting markets had us set as.The loss of key forward Graham(who unfortunately seems very injury prone)and Schumacher from the midfield was a real worry against there very strong midfield ,and other than the efforts of the tireless midfield bull Mitch Crowden,Joondalup definitely took the honours,and although their young ruckman was shaded by Jonesy around the ground,he definitely nullified hiin at the bounce downs and prevented us from having any clearance dominance.       I am loathe to criticise the coaching panel for experimenting with the move of starting Jedd Edwards as a key forward,as we had very limited options,but he unfortunately,like a lot of other second string ruckman we’ve tried over the years,is not very effective in that role,but the silver lining was the switch of Macreedie from the backline to centre half forward,and he was a real revelation and announced himself in the last quarter as a bonafide quality key position swing man,who for team flexibility are players worth their weight in gold.

It's certainly a relief to end what had developed into a mini hoodoo, Lucky, having not won at the Arena since 2017.
I think Jedd Edwards is a very good ruckman, particularly last year as a replacement for Scott Jones, who was injured at the opening bounce against East Freo before most patrons had parked their derrieres.
He was also exceptional a few weeks ago against the very talented former Shark Brynn Teakle.
However, having both Jones and Edwards in the same line-up might be a luxury, notwithstanding that the Falcons had a pair of two-metre giants in their line-up yesterday.
I was surprised that Brad Fullgrabe was dropped after the Sharks game because he can fill a key defensive role, enabling Harry Macreadie to swing forward, as he did so well yesterday, and also have a spell in the ruck while Scott Jones has a well-deserved spell on the pine.
I know that Tom Medhat contested a few centre bounces in the Subiaco game, but I'd prefer that he solely played forward.
Tommy is an exceptional overhead mark, as he showed again a few times yesterday.
And wasn't fellow former Falcon Liam Tedesco's 60-metre-plus goal late in the third quarter a team lifter, given that West Perth had jumped out to a 13-point lead?      

Been a lot of close matches this season. Heard a report where qualifying round attendances are up on the corresponding time to last season. If crowd numbers are increasing it is fantastic news for the comp as a whole. The royals were expected to win this match easily is my Intel, but West Perth fell a hairs width short. All making for an interesting competition.

Indeed, WAG, it's quite remarkable how many close games we've had this year, with 10 of the 40 games decided by less than 5 points (including 4 of the 5 games in Round 3).
This has to be great for crowd numbers because - and it may seem like an over-used cliche - any team can beat any other on any given day (reference West Coast's upset win over East Fremantle and, to a lesser extent, Claremont comfortably beating Peel on Saturday).
Given that West Perth has been competitive in all bar one game this season, and because East Perth's recent record at Joondalup has been poor, I don't think many Royals supporters were overly optimistic.
When EP led 4 goals to 1 midway through the first quarter, I momentarily thought this might be an easy day out for the Royals, but the Falcons came back with a vengeance and kicked 9 of the next 14 goals.
It's always great to win a close one but I'm bloody glad the siren sounded when it did.
In terms of their goal-front inaccuracy, yesterday was almost a carbon copy of West Perth's loss to Subiaco in Round 3.