West Coast delivered their most complete performance of 1994 when they dismissed a hapless Richmond by 96 points at the MCG. The legitimacy of the Eagles as premiership contenders had been questioned after inconsistent showings in the first two rounds, but the comprehensive win stamped the Eagles as one of the teams to beat.
After a lean few years, the Tigers had started the season positively, breaking an 11 game losing streak with a thumping 62 point win over Brisbane in Round 2, after losing narrowly against the Bulldogs in Round 1. Young forward Matthew Richardson had been the star for the Tigers in the opening fortnight, booting 15 goals across the two games to lead the Coleman Medal.
However, the Eagles defence reigned supreme with Ashley McIntosh too strong for Richardson and Glen Jakovich dominating his duel with Brendan Gale. McIntosh stymied his third opponent in as many weeks, holding Richardson to just one goal – the same that Paul Salmon and Tony Modra had managed in previous weeks.
Guy McKenna and David Hart were just as stingy, with the West Coast backline holding the Tigers to their lowest ever score against the Eagles. At the other end, the Eagles cashed in on the midfield work of Dean Kemp and Peter Matera, with Peter Sumich (five goals), Chris Lewis (three) and Brett Heady (three) all hitting the scoreboard.
Even youngsters Shane Bond and Brett Spinks chimed in with two apiece, with Matlhouse saying the addition of the two rookies made the Eagles forward line ‘better equipped’. “One is 18 and the other one is 20. When we get them both firing, they will be terrific.”
“Seventeen of our twenty goals came from our forwards. I guess there was pressure on them today to perform and it was one of our better games, but we have to be careful not to get too carried away with the win.”
But while Malthouse heaped praise over his revitalised forward structure, he was less complimentary to the football media who had criticised the Eagles start to the season. “I think it’s a mistake to judge any side on its practice match form.”
Pre-match the Tigers had talked up their chances against West Coast, but they were never in the hunt against a more seasoned Eagles outfit. West Coast pounced on regular Richmond turnovers in the first half, with a seven goal burst in 13 minutes during the second quarter ending the contest.
“It was very disappointing, we expected a lot more. But we just came up against a solid, experienced team and we didn’t handle them at all well. They just gave us a lesson in football”, a subdued John Northey said.
The Tigers cause wasn’t helped with the loss of Paul Bulless and Matthew Francis during the game, while a host of other player came into the game under a cloud. Chris Bond passed a late fitness test to be one of the Tigers better players, but ruckman Greg Dear – who copped a heavy knock in the win over Brisbane the week before – was no match for the duo of Ryan Turnbull and Paul Harding.
Their ruck dominance translated into a possession spree for many of the Eagles midfielder, with Don Pyke (32 disposals), Dean Kemp (25) and Chris Mainwaring (22) all prominent. Peter Matera won his battle on the wing opposed to Wayne Campbell and Drew Banfield had the measure of Matthew Francis before he went off injured.
The win lifted the Eagles up to fourth on the ladder with Malthouse declaring that the current Eagles line-up were far better than the 1993 version.
“We’re slowly coming along… we haven’t rushed anything this year. The disappointment this year is we were in a position to win our first round and we didn’t win it. We could be three-zip.”
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