West Coast cruised through the second half of their match against St Kilda, recording their 11th win of the season with a 79 point victory at the WACA.
The Saints surprisingly stuck with the home side for much of the first half but twelve goals to two in favour of the Eagles after half-time resulted in the Eagles biggest win of the year.
Both sides were missing their key focal points, with Peter Sumich missing once again for the Eagles, while Tony Lockett and Stewart Loewe were both sidelined with injury at St Kilda.
After missing six of the previous seven games with recurring hamstring injuries, Sumich was available for selection but the West Coast match committee opted to bring the full forward back via the WAFL. With an eye towards the crunch match against reigning premiers Essendon in nine days time, Sumich lined up with South Fremantle – his first game with the Bulldogs since 1989 – to get some match conditioning under his belt before returning to the senior side.
The Eagles ultimately made two changes to the side that defeated Geelong the previous week. Paul Symmons was dropped after making his debut the week before, with Shane Bond returning to the line-up having recovered from a hamstring strain. West Coast captain John Worsfold, who was initially named despite limping off with a groin complaint against the Cats, was unsurprisingly a late withdrawal. His spot is taken by Brett Spinks.
The Saints make three changes to the side that drew with the Crows. Craig Davenport is recalled to the side after booting seven goals in the reserves, while Dean Greig comes in after serving a one week suspension. Brett Bowey is the third inclusion with Matthew Lappin, Kristin Bardsley and Shane Wakelin all going out of the side.
As had been the growing trend of recent weeks, Alves’ forward set up structured around how to dilute the influence of centre half back Glen Jakovich. Mid-sized forward David Grant was assigned the task of dragging Jakovich out of the play with Grant roaming up the field for much of the first half.
The Saints came with an obvious plan to run and move the ball quickly to prevent the defensive Eagles from setting up behind the ball. Tim Pekin and Damen Shaw gave plenty of drive of half-back and with Robert Harvey and Nathan Burke controlling the middle, the energetic Saints provided plenty of early concern.
At quarter time, Burke and Harvey had combined for 21 disposals, as well as kicking a goal each to lead St Kilda to a seven point advantage. Don Pyke and Drew Banfield were sent to the Saints playmakers at the start of the second quarter, but while Pyke was able to restrict Burke to just nine touches for the rest of the match, Harvey continued to rack up the possessions.
Peter Matera sprang to life in the opening minutes of the second term, twice setting up Ashley McIntosh for goals, but the Saints continued to show their dare.
Pekin and Shaw relentlessly attacked off half-back, with both venturing high enough up the ground to hit the scoreboard as St Kilda responded with three goals in a row. With three minutes remaining in the half, scores were level, but Michael Brennan had the Eagles back in front when he followed Craig Davenport into the Eagles forward line.
From the next centre bounce, Brennan was once again involved, charging off the back of the square and releasing Peter Wilson out of the middle who found Brett Spinks on the halftime siren. Spinks converted the set shot and the Eagles had a 12 point lead at the main break.
After half-time, the game was merely a procession.
The game was played completely on the Eagles’ terms with Dean Kemp controlling the middle of the ground, combining with David Hart who switched into the centre from the back pocket. Peter Wilson played freely around the ground and Pyke worked offensively off Burke.
The Saints on the other hand found many of their early winners were shut out of the game. The run dried up off half-back as Chris Lewis and Brett Heady got busy, while in the Saints forward line, the makeshift forward line of Craig Davenport, Craig O’Brien and Peter Everitt failed to function.
Davenport was well beaten by Brennan, while Jason Ball was used in defence on Everitt to allow McIntosh to stay forward. McIntosh, in turn, was the Eagles best forward on the night, booting three goals. Brett Heady also booted three second-half goals when he came off the bench in the third term.
Despite the presence of rain, the Eagles produced some of their most scintillating football of the season, kicking six goals to one in the third quarter, before repeating the dose in the final term.
The thrashing left first-year Saints coach Stan Alves in no doubt as to who the best team in the competition was. “I said Carlton were the best team after they beat us by 80 points two weeks ago but this side sort of jumped up tonight.”
While he praised the performance of the Eagles, Alves also lamented a lack of options up forward, with key targets Tony Lockett and Stewart Loewe injured. “The figures showed that we scored a goal every six times we went over the 50m line. The Eagles goaled every three times they went into that zone – that’s the difference.”
While Alves pondered the efficiency of the Eagles forward line, his counterpart was keenly focused on the defensive side of things.
“I’m not interested in what we kick, I am interested in what they kick,” Malthouse declared.
It may not have mattered to Malthouse, but West Coast booted their second highest score of the season – one point shy of their total in round 4 against Fitzroy – with the Eagles coach just happy his side got going after a poor start.
Dean Kemp finished with the most possessions for West Coast with 22 with Chris Mainwaring and Peter Wilson the next best with 21. Wilson also booted two goals, as did David Hynes and Tony Evans as multiple goal scorers along with McIntosh and Heady.
Most of the Saints dropped off in the second half, but one man who didn’t was Robert Harvey, who was arguably the visitors’ only four quarter performer. Harvey had the better of three opponents – Banfield, Craig Turley and Guy McKenna – to finish with 31 disposals. Danny Frawley and Jamie Shanahan stood strong in defence, keeping Hynes and Spinks relatively quiet, while Nicky Winmar had 21 touches off the wing.
Malthouse admitted post-match that he used the game against the Saints as a precursor to the following weeks game, which would see West Coast host reigning premiers Essendon.
“I was happy in the end because we were able to get most of our runners to play midfield at some stage so we could put them under the pump a bit.”
“I think it is important when you play Essendon that you have as many runners up as possible.”
Essendon set up a tantalising match-up when they defeated North Melbourne in an entertaining clash at the MCG. The Bombers jumped to a four goal lead at quarter time and then held off the Kangaroos for the rest of the afternoon to join them on eight wins. A poor percentage meant that the Bombers stayed in sixth spot, behind Collingwood who recorded a 20 point win over Sydney and the Kangaroos who occupied fourth position.
Carlton burst the Bears’ bubble when they thrashed Brisbane by 104 points to remain one win behind West Coast. The Bears had been giant-killers in recent weeks, but were no match for the Blues with the loss seemingly ending their finals hopes. Geelong were another team who seemed shot for 1994 when they fell to a six goal loss to Hawthorn, who moved up to third on the ladder.
The Cats dropped to 11th, replaced in the top eight by Richmond who scored an upset win over Adelaide at Football Park. The Tigers joined the Bulldogs – who had the bye – on seven wins, one game ahead of Melbourne who recorded an easy win over Fitzroy.
sportsphrase.blog 