Tag: 2011

Eagles Fall Short Against Benchmark

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Magpie Magic the Difference

After an encouraging start to the season, West Coast tested themselves up against the best of the competition – and found they still had a way to go as Collingwood cruised to a 52 point win.

West Coast matched the reigning premiers at the stoppages and had just two less inside-50s, but the Magpies’ superior class and ability to produce magical moments showed the gulf in the two sides.

Dale Thomas was the standout on the ground, producing a mark-of-the-year and goal-of-the-year contender to go with 30 disposals and two goals. Thomas worked all over the ground, pushing back in defence with six rebound 50s while also floating forward to hit the scoreboard.

Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse praised the performance of Thomas after the win, as well as Leon Davis who finished with 25 disposals and seven rebounds. Few sides have been able to break the Eagles forward press in 2011, but the Magpies were able to burst through with speed, through the likes of Thomas, Davis, Heritier Lumumba and Heath Shaw.

Malthouse was full of admiration for West Coast in the lead up to the match for their rapid improvement on 2010, but after the win proudly acknowledged his side’s ability to eliminate the strengths of the new Eagles.

“When you analyse their contested ball, they hadn’t been beaten I don’t think this year. Their first quarters (travelling interstate), they’ve always won them.”

“We took both of those away from today, which is good.”

Much had been made about a host of Collingwood players in the lead up to the match with Davis one of a number of Magpies under a cloud. Dane Swan and Leigh Brown were limited to walking laps for much of the week, while Davis and Heath Shaw were both rumoured to miss.

However, all four lined up with the only change for Collingwood being Alan Toovey replacing Tyson Goldsack in defence.

West Coast also made the one change with Brad Sheppard called up to replace Sam Butler who suffered a thigh injury during training.

The Eagles couldn’t have asked for a better start with Josh Kennedy outmarked Chris Tarrant and slotted the opening goal after just 27 seconds. But Collingwood made the most of their chances through some remarkable individual efforts.

Steele Sidebottom rolled Collingwood’s first from the boundary line, Thomas hacked the ball out of mid-air for the Magpies’ second before Alan Didak swivelled through four Eagles for three in a row. Scott Pendlebury added a fourth to have the Magpies out to a 19 point lead at quarter time.

The Eagles had their best period of the match in the second term, but the Magpie defence held firm with Daniel Kerr adding the only goal for West Coast in the quarter. The deficit had been reduced to 10 points midway through the term before a quickfire three-goal burst to the Magpies extended their lead to 27 at the major break.

Adam Selwood was one of the best for West Coast

Collingwood continued to stretch their lead through the second half, taking their advantage out to beyond ten goals during the last term, before West Coast booted three of the final four goals in the match to add some respectability.  

Despite the poor showing against the competition benchmark, Worsfold remained upbeat after the match, keeping to the tune that the season was all about improvement.

“The margin is disappointing but the effort and matching Collingwood in certain areas shows that we are bridging the gap between the absolute best in the competition and where we’re at.”

Worsfold also boldly declared he was keen to coach on beyond this season when his current deal is set to expire. Having survived calls to be sacked over the preceding 18 months, Worsfold said he was as eager as ever to continue coaching, buoyed by the sharp improvement the club had seen across the opening ten rounds of the season.

“If we hadn’t shown any improvement, I would be guiding this team along and getting them as well prepared as I could for someone to take over.”

“Where I’m at is, when this season finishes, I’d love to sit down with our management and our board and find out the direction that, one, the club wants to go and, two, my direction.”

“If they match up and we’re all happy, then I’d expect to push forward with it.”

Matt Priddis was industrious as ever with 32 disposals and eight clearances, with Adam Selwood (27 disposals) and Daniel Kerr (24) the next best for West Coast. Josh Kennedy was the only clear winner up forward with three goals opposed to Chris Tarrant while Dean Cox and Nic Naitanui again were supreme in the ruck.

The Magpies held 2nd spot on the ladder with the win, with Geelong remaining undefeated after they easily accounted for former champion Gary Ablett’s Gold Coast side. The Eagles dropped to back to seventh on the ladder, with the Dockers falling to eighth after they lost their third match in four weeks, thrashed by St Kilda.

Sydney moved past both WA sides when they scraped past a horribly inaccurate Kangaroos side by one point. Hawthorn and Carlton both recorded simple wins over the Western Bulldogs and Melbourne to shore up their places in the top four, while Essendon sat fifth with the bye.

Richmond missed out on a chance to move into the top eight past the Eagles and Dockers when they fell to bottom-placed Port Adelaide by 15 points. That saw the Power jump out of last and coupled with Brisbane’s surprise 40 point win over the Crows, the Suns were relegated to the foot of the table.

While West Coast didn’t get the result, there was a noticeable name in the 25-man squad. Jacob Brennan was listed as an emergency, moving one step closer to becoming the first son of a former player to play for the Eagles.

Brennan was the final choice for West Coast at the 2010 National Draft, selected in the footsteps of father Michael who played 179 games with the club. Jacob’s selection in the Eagles squad was interesting timing after Trevor Nisbett earlier in the week professed frustration over the limitations of the current father-son eligibility that had cost the Eagles the chance at selecting several under-18 WA players in recent drafts.

Brandon Matera and Alex Rance had both been selected by other clubs, while promising defender Jordan Lockyer was another who the Eagles wouldn’t have first crack at due to the restrictive father-son rules imposed on the two WA clubs.

Under current rules, former players must have either played 100 AFL games with the Eagles or 150 WAFL games prior to the Eagles formation in 1986, to qualify as father-son selections. Nisbett had lobbied to the AFL that inaugural squad members should automatically be eligible for the father-son rule, claiming that many of the players selected in 1986 were older-aged recruits who would never have been able to meet either of the playing parameters.

As such, West Coast could have had first option at Brandon Matera (son of Wally) and Jordan Lockyer (son of Andrew). Nisbett’s suggestion was subsequently rejected by the AFL, leading the Eagles CEO to lament West Coast had missed out on a generation of father-son players.

Eagles End Derby Drought

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Shock Late Withdrawals Fail to Rock West Coast

West Coast ended a seven game losing streak against their cross-town rivals when they broke through for a 33 point win over the Dockers.

Despite losing key midfielders Daniel Kerr and Andrew Embley in the hour before bouncedown, West Coast managed to win the battle in the centre and implement their forward press to make it four wins from their first seven matches – equal to the number of wins they managed for the entire 2010 season.

Matt Priddis stepped up in the absence of Kerr and Embley to dominate the stoppages and claim his first Ross Glendinning medal. Priddis was a unanimous choice for the award, with 27 disposals (17 contested), six clearances and five tackles.

Priddis, in particular, was instrumental at winning the ball in the contest and feeding out possession to the outside runners in the likes of Matt Rosa, Chris Masten and Luke Shuey. The Eagles forward line functioned far better than their counterparts, with the three-pronged attack of Kennedy, Darling and Lynch proving too much for the Docker defence.

Lynch also rotated through the ruck as West Coast used the burly forward along with Nic Naitanui and Dean Cox to counter the impact of Fremantle beanpole Aaron Sandilands. Sandilands still got the better in the hit-outs (45-39) and picked up 14 disposals to go with five clearances to be one of Fremantle’s better players on the day, but West Coast would have a better spread of contributors in the match.

The 33rd Western Derby promised to be the most even contest in several seasons with West Coast showing improvement after three seasons at the bottom of the ladder. Certainly, hopes were raised amongst both sets of fans, with the match declared a sell out over a week before the match. However, the Eagles’ chances of ending their losing run against Fremantle took a major hit as the clubs prepared for the start of the match.

First, Andrew Embley pulled out after deciding his questionable hamstring wasn’t worth the risk. Then, with the sides completing their customary warm-up, Daniel Kerr strained an adductor and was deemed unable to take his place. Brad Sheppard and Andrew Gaff were called up as the late replacements, with Gaff donning the substitute vest and Chris Masten, who had already been added to the side for his first game since injuring a knee in the opening round, was elevated into the starting 21.

Fremantle had their own late drama with small forward Hayden Ballentine officially ruled out. Ballantine had not been expected to play due to injury, but was surprisingly named when teams were released during the week with the Dockers refusing to admit there had been an issue. Jayden Pitt was brought in as his replacement, starting as the Fremantle sub.

Despite the disrupted preparations, West Coast showed no signs of being rattled. They started the stronger of the two sides with Josh Kennedy taking a strong pack mark to boot the Eagles’ first goal, with Darling following shortly after.

Quinten Lynch and Mark Nicoski also kicked first-quarter goals as West Coast took a two-goal lead into the second term, where West Coast’s ascendancy around the ground would lead to its biggest impact on the scoreboard.

Fremantle became the latest casualty to the Eagles forward press, as West Coast locked the ball in their forward half. The Docker defence failed to handle the pressure from the Eagles forwards, who capitalised in booting five goals for the term to take a commanding 37-point lead into half time.

The Dockers got the match on a more even keel through the second half, twice closing withing 20 points, but the Eagles were able to hold their advantage to run out 33 point winners.

Josh Kennedy finished with three goals to get the better of Luke McPharlin, with Jack Darling, Mark LeCras and Mark Nicoski each finishing with a brace. Scott Selwood joined Priddis with the in-and-under work, finishing with 21 disposals and nine tackles while Matt Rosa picked up 24 disposals on the wing in a run-with role on Stephen Hill.

John Worsfold was impressed with his side’s ability to focus on the task at hand, despite the late disruptions. “It was a credit the players just got on with business.”

“The way that Gaff prepared, the way that Sheppard prepared. And also Masten who expected to be the sub and having to come on and play longer game time. Those players just got on with the job.”

“They are only young players who showed great maturity.”

While many of the plaudits were for the midfield and forward groups, the Eagles defence were also solid, with Darren Glass leading the way. Glass held Jack Anthony to just five disposals and a behind in his Dockers debut, with Sam Butler and Ashley Smith providing the rebound from the back half.

While Anthony’s first game since crossing over from Collingwood was underwhelming, he wasn’t alone with many of the key Fremantle players struggling. Matthew Pavlich was closely watched by Adam Selwood, and while he still found the ball 22 times, he lacked presence in the match.

Adam McPhee, Paul Duffield, Clancee Pearce and Greg Broughton were all below their best, with Mark Harvey admitting his side couldn’t handle the pressure brought on the Eagles.

“We appear to not have enough class at the moment in our side and we are putting ourselves under pressure with our disposal.”

Matt Priddis was the unanimous choice for the Ross Glendinning Medal

The result saw West Coast move back into the top eight, past the Dockers into 7th spot. The Eagles were able to climb several rungs with Melbourne and Richmond, who sat above them heading into the round, both suffering surprise defeats to lower placed sides.

The Tigers lost to the Bulldogs in a 43-goal shootout, while Melbourne fell to North Melbourne by 41 points after being outscored 12 goals to four in the second half. Many of the remainder games went as expected as the top half of the ladder began to take shape.

Essendon ran away to a six goal win over Brisbane after an even first half, Hawthorn claimed a five goal win over the Saints after also being even at the major break while Sydney thrashed Port Adelaide by ten goals.

The match of the round, however, was the opening game of the weekend that saw the undefeated pair of Collingwood and Geelong meet at the MCG. In a fiercely fought match, the inaccurate Cats came from behind to get over the top of the Magpies by three points.

Geelong registered 11 scoring shots in the opening term but could only manage 2.9, to hold a 14 point lead at the first change. Collingwood then took control with six of the next nine goals to head into the final term with a five point advantage. Andrew Krakouer kicked the first major in the final quarter to stretch the Magpies lead out to 11 and the reigning premiers appeared to have done enough.

However, three goals in seven minutes to the Cats flipped the match, with Geelong holding on due to some late controversy. Scott Pendlebury appeared to have slid home the winner for Collingwood in the final two minutes after taking advantage from a free kick, but the umpires pulled the ball back up the ground and the chance was lost.

For Eagles fans, the win over Fremantle had them dreaming of a return to finals actions after three seasons watching on in September. While Worsfold was happy with the result, bragging rights weren’t high on the agenda.

“It’s not about the derby. It’s where we want to get to as a team. We’re working hard to improve… and we’ve taken some steps. There are a lot of steps still to take. And the derby was another step on the way.”

“The big picture is to develop this side to be the absolute best it can be. It’s going to take a little while longer.”

Bomber Burst Undoes West Coast

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Third Quarter Lapse Proves Costly

There are two well known adages that are as old as the game itself. Poor kicking is poor football and the third quarter is the premiership quarter, where games can be won or lost.

Both of these proved true for West Coast when they fell to Essendon in round seven.

For three quarters, the Eagles controlled the contest and looked the better side. But the four points slipped from their grasp during a horrible 30 minute period after half time, when Essendon slammed on six goals to nil in the third term to open up the decisive break that would prove the difference between the two sides.

That the Bombers had the chance to sew up the win from one quarter was also down to the numerous chances that West Coast butchered during the first half, and then again in the final term as they valiantly tried to run the Bombers down.

For John Worsfold, the loss was a disappointing outcome from a match that presented the Eagles plenty of chances. “We had opportunities to make it either a closer result or get the result our way, but we weren’t good enough to take it… in the end… it was that third quarter where Essendon dominated for a period and we couldn’t kick a goal.”

After Essendon opened up the match with two of the first three goals, the game was played completely on the Eagles’ terms, with Daniel Kerr particularly outstanding. Kerr was in everything, tallying 14 disposals in the opening term, with four clearances, four inside-50s, six contested possessions and a goal.

Nic Naitanui also notched up a double figure possession total for the term with 10 and along with Matt Rosa (8 disposals) and Matt Priddis (6), the Eagles midfield provided plenty of opportunity for the Eagle forwards.

The Eagles were able to set up their press once again, at one stage cornering all 18 Bomber players in their forward 50. West Coast enjoyed the forward territory for the remainder of the quarter and their 13 point lead should have been far great.

It was much of the same to start the second quarter with Quinten Lynch extending the lead to 21 points. But all West Coast could manage further was a slew of behinds before Essendon worked their way into the match. The spark on the scoreboard came from an unlikely source with Heath Hocking booting two goals in four minutes. Stewart Crameri and David Zaharakis also booted majors and for all of the Eagles effort, scores were level approaching half time.

Brad Ebert and Josh Kennedy restored a two goal lead at the major break, but the 12 point advantage was poor reward for a half that had seen West Coast record 18 more inside-50s (34-16) and seven more scoring shots (18-11).

In a blink after half-time, the match was flipped on its head.

Kyle Reimers broke free of Adam Selwood’s watch to kick three goals in eight minutes as Essendon turned a 12 point deficit at the break into a 13 point lead. The Bomber midfield took a stranglehold in the midfield, with Jobe Watson and Heath Hocking controlling the stoppages.

Angus Monfries and David Hille made it six for the quarter and the Bombers turned for home with a four goal lead. Many of the Eagles early prime movers faded out of the game as Essendon were allowed to control the ball and the tempo in the match. The Bombers had 37 more disposals for the term as they worked through the Eagles press with a kick-mark method.

Crameri booted his third and the Bombers’ seventh in a row a minute into the final term with Essendon stretching their lead to a game high 33 points. Quinten Lynch broke the drought for the Eagles, which seemed to click them back into gear.

Such was the flow of the game, the Eagles had their chances, yet never seemed a realistic chance of hitting the lead in the final term. The Eagles finished with 9 of the last 11 scoring shots in the game but as they had done in the first half, butchered many of them to get as close as ten points before David Hille added his second goal after the final siren.

Josh Kennedy did whatever he could up front but West Coast would fall short

For Worsfold, another almost-result just added to his frustration. “We don’t want to keep playing OK and losing. For us as a club now, to show we really want to grow and get better and we are improving, we need to win some of these tough games against good opponents.”

For Essendon coach James Hird, the win was an important one as they looked to climb the ladder after a poor 2010 campaign. “That game should give both sides great confidence, both sides played some really hard, contested football.”

“I think they’re (West Coast) very well coached, they’re committed, they play hard football… it was a good game to be a part of for our players because they played a good football team.”

Captain Jobe Watson was the standout between the two sides, finishing with a game high 31 disposals, including nine clearances, six tackles and two goals. Heath Hocking played the sidekick with 15 disposals, five tackles and two goals, while Sam Lonergan (23 touches) and Jake Melksham (21) found the ball for Essendon as West Coast struggled.

Daniel Kerr still finished as the leading ball winner for the Eagles, finishing the match with 28 after collecting 14 in the first term. Matthew Priddis picked up 27 and Nic Naitanui had 24 touches to go with 27 hit-outs and seven clearances.

There were though, too many who failed to repeat the performances of the first five matches. Dean Cox was uncharacteristically subdued as Essendon challenged the Eagles duo with their own trio. Tom Bellchambers, David Hille and Paddy Ryder all spent time through the ruck and while Cox and Naitanui were dominant in the tap, winning the count 61-24, the Bombers were able to square the stoppages and limit the influence of the Eagle ruck pair around the ground.

It was a vital early result for Essendon and West Coast who entered the match on 14 and 12 points respectively. The loss saw West Coast fall back out of the top eight to 10th, while Essendon were able to rise to fourth.

The Eagles sat behind Melbourne, Sydney and Richmond who all moved two points ahead of West Coast following wins in round seven. The Tigers ran away from Fremantle with a second half avalanche to record a 49 point win at the MCG, Sydney held off a fast-finishing Bulldogs team to squeak home by eight points and Melbourne bounced back from their poor showing against West Coast the previous week to thrash a hapless Adelaide by 96 points.

The Dockers slipped to sixth following their defeat to the Tigers, with Hawthorn overtaking them in fifth after a stock standard 32 point win over Port Adelaide. At the top, Geelong joined the Magpies on six wins when they thumped North Melbourne by 11 goals. Collingwood, who had the bye in round seven, held onto top spot with a superior percentage, with the undefeated pair remaining the benchmarks of the competition.

Carlton were leading the challengers in third spot after Andrew Walker kicked the late winner against St Kilda to see the Blues home by three points. In the other match of the round, Gold Coast claimed victory against Brisbane in the first ever derby clash between the two Queensland sides.

After Simon Black raised tensions between the two clubs over the defection of Jarrod Brennan and Michael Rischitelli over the previous off-season, it was the upstarts who had the final say in a high-scoring encounter. The defeat left the Lions on the bottom of the ladder, winless after six games this season.

Eagles Resurgence Takes Next Step

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Fast Start Allows Eagles to Coast Home

West Coast showed that they would be a significant improver on their 2010 wooden spoon finish with a comprehensive nine goal win over Melbourne at Subiaco Oval.

The Demons had also been expected to rise after a strong finish to the 2010 season and started the season with two wins and a draw from their first four games.

However, they were no match for the Eagles’ famed forward press as West Coast locked the ball in their forward half for much of the night. The Eagles bounced to a five goal quarter time lead off the back of an astonishing 22-3 inside 50 advantage and they never looked like relinquishing the lead.

After their first four matches had been decided by 18 points or less (for two wins and two losses), Eagles coach John Worsfold was pleased to have the match out of the opposition’s reach early.

“We’ve had four pretty tight games leading into this one so to actually get the margin out a little bit is some good reward for the players”, Worsfold said.

Over 36,000 fans attended the rare Thursday night fixture in Perth, with the Eagles and Demons both coming off byes in round 5. West Coast made three changes to the side that lost to Hawthorn a fortnight earlier with Will Schofield and Mitch Brown unavailable due to injury and Bradd Dalziell omitted.

Mark LeCras returned for his first game since damaging a groin in the opening round, with Ashley Smith selected for his first match of the season and Patrick McGinnity also included. The Demons smashed newcomers Gold Coast by 90 points before the bye, with the Demons coaching staff sticking with the same 22 for the trip west.

However, it wouldn’t be long before Dean Bailey would have wished he could have called on more reinforcements.

Nic Naitanui took clean possession from the opening bounce and sent the ball deep into the Eagles’ forward line in what would prove indicative of the rest of the term. The Demons defence were under siege and the Eagles arguably could have led by more at the first break.

Jack Darling kicked the home sides first major shortly after and by the time Andrew Embley waltzed through for his second goal just before quarter time, there had been a distinct difference in level between the two sides.

It was much of the same for the second term before Melbourne briefly brought some life to the contest on the brink of half-time. Two goals in a minute to Colin Sylvia and Aaron Davey reduced the margin at the major break to 26 points but West Coast reasserted themselves in the second half, coasting to their third win of the year.

The tale of the match was told in the stats, with the Eagles well ahead in most areas. The Eagles had 40 more disposals on the night, which translated into a 65-36 inside-50 count, following their opening quarter blitz. The Eagles also out-tackled the Demons 68-57 and claimed a win in the clearances 35-29.

West Coast also made the most of the advantage they had in their forward line, with the likes of Kennedy, Lynch, Darling and the resting ruckmen of Naitanui and Cox proving too strong for the smaller Demon defence. The Eagles took 22 contested marks for the match, and had 14 marks inside 50.

Individually, Matt Priddis was the leading ball winner on the ground with 33 disposals (9 kicks, 24 handballs), while also amassing eight clearances and seven inside 50’s. Daniel Kerr tallied 27 possessions, six clearances and seven inside 50s with Matt Rosa picking up 26.

Dean Cox wasn’t as proficient as previous weeks but still managed 23 disposals and 12 marks to go with 20 hit-outs in an intriguing duel with Demons ruckman Mark Jamar. Jamar was easily the Demons best player and only four-quarter performer with the pair breaking even in their contest.

Ashley Smith gathered 25 disposals in his first senior outing of the year, Sam Butler had 21 and laid nine tackles, while Mark Nicoski was again lively in his new role across half forward. Nicoski kicked two goals and had a hand in several other goals from 15 disposals.

Young forward Jack Darling put in his best performance of his burgeoning career with three goals from 14 disposals and nine marks while Andrew Embley and Quinten Lynch also each booted three goals.

Apart from Jamar, it was slim pickings for the Demons.

With the ball spending much of the night in their defence, Jack Grimes finished with the most disposals (27), while Colin Garland (19) and James Frawley (18) also saw plenty of the pill. Nathan Jones collected 23 possessions, while Colin Sylvia tried hard through the middle and across half forward with 21 disposals, seven tackles and a goal.

Coach Dean Bailey couldn’t hide his disappointment after the match.

“It is a poor performance, it is a poor performance”, Bailey lamented.

“We turned the ball over too much. We’ve got to go back to the fundamentals of the game and get better in those areas.”

“You don’t start well, you get what you deserve really.”

The win catapulted the Eagles back into the top eight, into seventh spot ahead of Melbourne who slipped to eighth. With three wins, the Eagles were equal on points with Hawthorn, but there was already separation at the top of the ladder.

The last two premiers were the trendsetters early in the year, with both sides undefeated at the end of Round 6. The Magpies were a game clear, courtesy of having played an extra game, with Geelong, Hawthorn and Fremantle (who had started the year with four wins from five matches) all having byes this round.

Carlton overcame Sydney in the final quarter to record their fourth win of the season and move up to third behind the Magpies and Cats and in front of the Dockers who rounded out the top four. Essendon pushed up to fifth after they were the latest team to annihilate the Suns. The Bombers kicked a record 15 goals in the first term to lead by an astonishing 93 points at quarter time, ultimately ‘easing’ to a 139 point win. The victory bumped their percentage by almost 27 percentage points.

West Coast sat two points ahead of the Demons, Swans and Tigers who defeated the winless Brisbane by 26 points. The Lions were left last on the ladder after North Melbourne earned their first win of the season with a ten goal triumph over Port Adelaide.

The Eagles had showed in their win over Melbourne that the early season form was sustainable and three wins from five matches had put the team in good stead for a return to finals action ahead of a tough month with matches to come against Essendon, Fremantle, the Bulldogs and reigning premiers Collingwood.