WAFL: West Perth star Shane Nelson says Falcons scrapping ‘complacency’ in bid for back-to-back flags

It’s just not something West Perth do. Cast an eye over their long history and you’ll see they find it hard to go back-to-back. Twenty proud premierships but none of them consecutive except for 1941 and ’42 when the league was compromised during the war. Season 2023, then, looms as a chance for the Falcons to change that trend, with their 2022 premiership team intact, a fit Mark Hutchings and the addition of fellow former West Coast Eagle Zac Langdon. It also marks the 10th anniversary of the club’s 2013 flag under now-rival coach Bill Monaghan against East Perth at Subiaco Oval. Champion midfielder and five-time Breckler Medal winner Shane Nelson was in that 2013 team along with Hutchings, the grand final’s Simpson medallist. Was the 29-year-old Nelson aware of the red and the blue’s history of struggling to win two flags in a row? “I am aware,” he said. “Somebody actually told me this the other day that after premiership success we’ve fallen off a bit. “Complacency is something we’ve spoken about already. “It’s something we will be trying to rectify coming into the 2023 season to try and get rid of that burden of not being able to compete for a flag after we’ve just won one.” Had coach Darren Harris mentioned another premiership as the goal? “I think it’s a goal every year,” Nelson said. “We’re all competitive people. “We’re such a strong-built club that wants to win premierships. “Going into this year is going to be no different to any other year. We want to win the flag and give ourselves the best chance of doing so.” Nelson rates his 2013 and 2022 Brecklers, which he shared with Andrew Strijk and Mitchell Peirce respectively, as his best because they came in premiership years; a great honour and “icing on the cake” after achieving the “main goal” of a flag. He is level with club legend Ray Schofield who won five fairest and best awards from 1948 to 1955. “Mel Whinnen has nine so I don’t think anyone’s catching him,” Nelson said. The Falcons’ preparations for 2023 are starting to pick up as the season draws near, training Monday, Tuesday and Thursday as well as a Saturday session. “We have a couple of real tough weeks ahead but that just puts us in good condition,” Nelson said. “And we can give ourselves the best chance of going into the season at full strength.” Nelson and West Perth supporters, including this writer’s cousin who raised with him the Falcons’ inability to win consecutive premierships, will he hoping a significant flag comes to Joondalup at the end of the season. “Absolutely,” Nelson said when asked if they could go back-to-back. “The groundwork we’ve built over the years to get ourselves in a winning position to be able to compete for a flag each year has really helped us to win last year. “And I think we can certainly perform to that level again and hopefully put ourselves into a position to go back-to-back.”