Mainwaring & Malaxos Lead Midfield Battle
West Coast continued their winning ways in Perth, but it came at a cost with full-forward Peter Sumich suffering a concerning hamstring injury.
The Eagles recorded their 14th straight win at home, jumping out to a five goal lead at the first change before holding the Bulldogs at bay for the rest of the evening to run out 43 point winners.
Peter Sumich was the key difference in the first half, booting six of the Eagles’ seven goals for the half, but his night quickly soured when he was helped off by trainers early in the third term. While Sumich remained upbeat after the match that the injury wasn’t too serious, coach Mick Malthouse was more downcast.
“Peter (Sumich) says he’ll be right for next week, but that would mean a miracle cure,” Malthouse said.
“Injuries like that are generally two to four weeks, so we’ll have to get by without our major goal-scoring avenue.”
The Eagles made two changes to the side to tackle Footscray with Brad Gwilliam and Dean Turner coming into the line-up. Turner replaced Dean Kemp, who had originally been named as a replacement for Brett Heady but was forced to withdraw ahead of the opening bounce. Stevan Jackson was the other omission, serving a one week ban for striking Russell Jeffrey.
Footscray arrived in Perth on a three game winning streak, having broken into the top five the week before after their win over Sydney. The Bulldogs made just the one change with captain Doug Hawkins returning to the side, replacing Mark Williams.
After conceding nine goals in the opening quarter against the Saints a week earlier, it was a vastly different start for West Coast.
The Eagles held the Bulldogs goalless in the opening term, kicking five goals with the breeze to take an early advantage. Peter Sumich kicked the first four goals in the match, proving a handful for Footscray defender Adrian Campbell with Peter Wilson swooping on a loose ball to add a fifth late in the term.
Footscray got on the board with two majors early in the second term, but Sumich added his fifth and sixth goals for the game to keep West Coast four goals to the good at half-time. Bulldogs coach Terry Wheeler was forced to shuffle his defence in a bid to stop Sumich, but in the end it was Sumich’s left hamstring that halted the full-forward’s influence.
Not that Wheeler didn’t have other matters on his mind.
Malthouse was winning the tactical battle between the two coaches as West Coast smashed the Bulldogs through the midfield.
David Hart and Dwayne Lamb were both assigned negative roles restricting the influence of Tony McGuinness and Tony Liberatore. Stephen Malaxos was matched against former Hawthorn teammate Terry Wallace in the centre and he claimed the honours with Wallace dragged during the third term, remaining on the bench until the final siren.
Malaxos finished the game as one of the Eagles’ best with 35 disposals and a goal, but he was bettered for best afield honours by wingman Chris Mainwaring.
Mainwaring managed a personal best 45 disposals (20 kicks and 25 handpasses), falling just three possessions short of Malaxox’ club record 48 touches against the Saints in the final round of 1987.
The blonde Eagle provided the link between the Eagles defence and forward half, as West Coast regularly hurt the Bulldogs on the rebound. Without Sumich through the second half, the Eagles went small, with the goals shared amongst the midfield and half forwards.
As well as Malaxos and Mainwaring, Chris Lewis (23 diposals) and Craig Turley (22) were both proficient through the middle and Guy McKenna provided the rebound with 20 touches. David Hart was able to get the better of McGuinness with 19 disposals and two second half goals.
Despite the attention of Dwayne Lamb, Tony Liberatore still managed to lead the Bulldogs’ ball winners with 29 touches. Brian Royal was arguably Footscray’s best with 23 touches and a goal, while Glenn Coleman had the better of Dean Irving around the ground to collect 27 disposals and eight marks.
Up forward, Chris Grant was providing a strong focal point for the Bulldogs. The 17 year old was too nimble for Michael Brennan but he wasted his chances on goal finishing with an inaccurate 2.5. Grant’s tally was symbolic of the Bulldogs night, with Terry Wheeler remaining positive about his sides’ finals hopes post-match.
“We blew a chance to consolidate our place in the top five, but I couldn’t question the endeavour of the players or the way they fought the game out.”
“With a bit more goal-shooting luck, we could have been five points behind at quarter-time, not five goals and that would have made a big difference.”
The defeat saw Footscray fall back out of the five as the rest of Round 16 played out. Hawthorn moved back into fifth position with a percentage boosting win over Richmond, courtesy of an 11 goal performance from Dermott Brereton.
Brereton himself outscored the Tigers by four points as Hawthorn controlled the contest from the outset to run out 91 point winners. The Hawks had yet to show their premiership winning form of 1989 on a consistent basis, but were doing enough to keep themselves in the finals hunt.
Carlton also moved past the Bulldogs when they beat an inaccurate St Kilda at Princes Park. The Saints had five more scoring shots, but still went down by 15 points to the frustration of coach Ken Sheldon. Nicky Winmar (4.5) and Ricky Nixon (0.4) were the main culprits on the scoreboard, with the defeat all but ending St Kilda’s finals hopes for 1990.
1989 Grand Finalists Geelong also appeared done for 1990 when they slumped to a 27 point loss to Fitzroy. The Cats led by five points at half-time, but ten goals to five after the major break saw the Lions home at Waverley Park. Paul Roos (six goals) and Richard Osborne (four) were the difference between the two sides.
The race for the final spot in the top five was effectively down to four clubs, with the Hawks, Blues and Bulldogs all sitting on nine wins and the Kangaroos still in the hunt, one win back, after they came from four goals down at quarter time to defeat the Brisbane Bears by 36 points.
At the head of the ladder, the Magpies moved one game clear after Melbourne produced a stunning resurgence against the Bombers. The Demons were staring down the barrel of a fourth straight defeat early in the final quarter at Windy Hill when Greg Anderson’s goal from the boundary stretched the Bombers lead out to 34 points.
Melbourne then produced a stunning flurry, booting seven goals in 17 minutes to secure a narrow win, and right their ailing season. Collingwood moved to the top of the ladder with a 24 point win over the Swans in an entertaining clash. The two sides combined for 40 goals in the match with Sydney defying their second-last position to take it right up to the Magpies.
Collingwood led by five goals at three quarter time, but on three occasions in the final term the Swans closed within five points. However the Magpies were able to settle and bank the four points.
The Eagles sat comfortably third on the ladder following the win over Footscray and with games to come against Carlton, Sydney and Richmond, hopes of a double-chance finish were well within their sights.
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