Historic First Finals Win For West Coast
West Coast set up a meeting with Essendon in the preliminary final after defeating Melbourne by five goals in the semi final.
Mick Malthouse’s drastic changes at the selection table paid off, as West Coast overcame a poor recent record against Melbourne to produce the clubs first ever win in a final.
One of those selections – Chris Waterman – produced a career best outing booting six goals across half forward.
Waterman was one of six changes for West Coast, with Eagles coach Mick Malthouse ruthlessly axing a quarter of the side that was demolished by Collingwood the week before in the Qualifying Final replay.
The most controversial omission was captain Steve Malaxos, who lost his place after a period of indifferent form. Malaxos had spent much of the previous two games against Collingwood on the bench, with Malthouse later saying the Eagles needed greater leg speed and running power on the wide expanses of Waverley Park.
Joining Malaxos out of the side were ruckman Dean Irving, who had been well beaten in both Collingwood matches, Troy Ugle, Craig McGrath, Murray Rance with a fractured jaw and Peter Wilson who would be a late withdrawal ahead of the game with a hamstring strain.
Phil Scott returned to the Eagles line-up, after being dropped on the eve of the finals, to partner Laurie Keene in the ruck, while Scott Watters returned after missing the replay with a knee injury. Stevan Jackson replaced McGrath up forward after ten goals with South Fremantle in the previous fortnight, while Waterman and Tony Begovich were added for their ability to run and spread.
When Wilson pulled out ahead of the game, Andrew Lockyer was called up, slotting into defence in place of the missing Rance. Guy McKenna had been in doubt after breaking a nose late in the loss to the Magpies, but held his spot, as did Mainwaring whose knee was becoming a week by week proposition.
Melbourne made no change when teams were announced but were soon to have their own late drama. Captain Garry Lyon was pulled from the side on the morning of the game after he suffered a corked thigh colliding with teammate Steven O’Dwyer the day before at training. Todd Viney was called up to the side.
Despite being without Lyon and midfielders Brian Wilson and Alan Johnson, the Demons were still hot favourites to progress to the preliminary final.
It took just 90 seconds for West Coast to show they weren’t going to just whimper away.
Kicking into the wind, the Eagles had two goals on the board – both to Chris Mainwaring – before Melbourne had even worked out their direct match-ups.
As well as bringing in a host of new players, Malthouse also moved his side around as he sought to catch the Demons off guard. Mainwaring started at half forward and his quick brace forced a shuffle of the Melbourne defence with Steven Stretch moved from the wing to replace Matthew Febey.
John Worsfold also started forward, as did Chris Lewis as the Eagles looked to avoid an early tag. Lewis still had Stephen Newport for company, but was influential early as West Coast established an important 13 point lead at quarter time.
Andrew Obst had been instrumental in Melbourne’s win over the Eagles in Perth several weeks earlier and Malthouse wasn’t keen on letting the midfielder run unattended again. Guy McKenna shifted into the midfield in a run-with role, holding Obst to just 12 disposals for the game.
Laurie Keene led the ruck, with Phil Scott taking the resting ruckman in the back pocket, while Andrew Lockyer had first crack at Darren Bennett.
The Demons tried to repeat the physical approach that had seen them defeat West Coast twice during the regular season, but the Eagles kept their focus on the ball.
The 13 point advantage exploded to 45 points by the main break, with the Eagles booting six goals to none with the wind, and the match was as good as done.
Melbourne outscored the Eagles in the second half, but West Coast were never in danger of giving up their spot in the Grand Final playoff.
West Coast would have to get past Essendon if they were to make their first ever Grand Final, after the Bombers were comprehensively beaten by Collingwood in the other semi-final.
Kevin Sheedy denied the Bombers would be affected by the additional layoff because of the drawn Qualifying Final leading into the match, but they appeared sluggish going on to lose by 63 points. The Magpies led by 12 points at half time, but ten goals to two after half time saw Collingwood qualify for their first premiership decider in nine years.
While West Coast could feel satisfied with the history-making first ever finals win in the clubs history, there were concerns to come out of the five goal win.
Scott Watters had arguably been the Eagles’ best player in the first half, but spent the entire second half on the bench with a groin complaint. Guy McKenna suffered a suspected broken arm after clashing with Earl Spalding in the dying minutes of the game and three Eagles wound up on report from separate incidents in the game.
Chris Lewis was placed on report for charging Graeme Yeats and Stevan Jackson was reported for striking Jim Stynes. Both players would get off at the tribunal during the week, but Dwayne Lamb wasn’t so fortunate.
The Eagles tagger was also charged for reporting Stynes, copping a one week ban. Lamb, and many of the other Eagles, were still seeking retribution from the last match between the two sides which saw Stynes break Lamb’s arm with an attempted soccer off the ground.
The Eagles gave it to Stynes, every chance they could, and it appeared to work as Keene controlled the stoppages and provided plenty of attacking run off Stynes around the ground.
The move appeared to work with Melbourne unable to get any direction or structure on the field with their captain missing and their ruckman ineffective.
At the feet of Keene, Craig Turley, Dean Kemp and David Hart had plenty of the ball as they overwhelmed their Demons counterparts. For the second week in a row Turley was one of the best for West Coast, revelling in the centreman role in the absence of Malaxos.
Turley finished with 26 disposals, one behind Mainwaring who had a team high 27 possessions to go with his two goals at the start of the match. Hart, Kemp and Brett Heady all tallied 21 while Keene himself finished with 23 touches, four marks and ten hit-outs.
Up forward, the change in dynamic did wonders with West Coast kicking their highest score since round 19. Waterman was the surprise packet with six goals from 17 disposals and nine marks, while Peter Sumich booted four and Stevan Jackson three, the trio combining for 13 of the Eagles’ 19 goals.
Sumich and Jackson also each booted five behinds, with Jackson also gathering 21 disposals and five marks – highlighting the dominance of the Eagles’ tall forwards.
The Demons had few players who shone, with Simon Eishold and Greg Healy the leading ball winners with 20 disposals. Stephen Newport gathered 16 disposals and seven marks after starting in a tagging role on Chris Lewis. Newport was then replaced by Glenn Lovett, but Lewis had the better of both players as his blistering second half of the season continued.
Rod Grinter booted four last quarter goals when he was shifted forward, with Ricky Jackson, Graeme Yeats and Darren Bennett each kicking two.
Demons coach John Northey called his side’s performance ‘pathetic’, with Melbourne unable to live up to their favouritism billing heading into the match. “In finals football, you have to find something extra all the time, and our players weren’t prepared to do it.”
Northey believed that the underdog status had worked in the Eagles’ favour, after two testing weeks against the Magpies.
“When everyone is kicking us in the guts, we have something to prove, but as soon as we become favourites in something, we have always faltered, and not just once, it has happened many, many times,” expressed a frustrated Northey.
For Mick Malthouse, the performance was justification for their season and followed his earlier comments the week before that West Coast would bounce back. “I think a lot of people underestimated the fighting spirit of this group.”
“We didn’t make the finals series for the sake of making the finals series.”
Malthouse also believed the first ever finals win would be a great fillip for his side as they continued their push for a maiden flag.
“It (a finals win) is fantastic for the players… this year we have won in Sydney for the first time, the MCG for the first time. These are all little hurdles all along that are being looked at by the players.”
The Eagles coach also denied it was a risk making the mass number of changes ahead of the game, with many of the inclusions having a strong say in the final result.
“If it hadn’t come off, I suppose it may have been the biggest gamble of my coaching career,” Malthouse wryly admitted.
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