Hurn Gets Eagles Across Line as Blues Await

Shannon Hurn stepped up as an unlikely major goal scorer for West Coast as they did what they needed to do to get past a dogged Port Adelaide.

The two sides met in Round 2, where the Eagles recorded an 18 point win, but the margin was expected to be far greater in this match as the two sides headed in opposite directions through the season.

While West Coast were positioning themselves to challenge for the top four, the Power had slumped towards the bottom of the ladder where they were in a battle with the Gold Coast Suns to avoid the wooden spoon.

Coach John Worsfold discussed the need for West Coast to find alternative midfield mixes, suggesting that a number of fringe players could be tried through the centre against the lowly Power. Brad Sheppard and Koby Stevens were brought into the extended squad, but in the end just one change was made.

Tom Swift worked his way into the starting 22 with Chris Masten sent back to the WAFL to find minutes after spending much of the preceding few weeks alternating between being the incoming and outgoing sub.

The Power made two changes as Matthew Primus found himself under growing pressure over his side’s poor season. Primus had remained defiant to the growing backlash through the season with senior players left in the SANFL as youngsters were tried in their place. The likes of Chad Cornes, Brad Ebert, Steven Salopek and Jason Davenport had spent little time in the seniors and were again overlooked for the trip west.

Instead, Daniel Stewart and Dom Cassisi were recalled with veteran Jacob Surjan and rookie Andrew Moore dropped.

If the task wasn’t already daunting enough, the Power were also caught up in the flights drama that was gripping the country. Volcanic ash from an eruption in Chile had drifted and settled over the mainland causing many commercial flights to be cancelled. To avoid possibly getting stuck in South Australia, the Power were forced to fly to Perth earlier in the week, disrupting their normal routine.

The first half played out as expected with the Eagles building a 33 point lead to half time. Mark LeCras booted three goals and Josh Kennedy two, with inaccurate kicking on goal preventing the lead from being far greater.

Shannon Hurn led the ball winners for the half with 16, while Matt Priddis and Daniel Kerr (each 15) were prominent through the middle as the Eagles held the upper hand in the clearances.

However, three goals on the trot to the Power straight after half time changed the complexion of the match. The Port Adelaide talls had had no influence in the first half, but Justin Westhoff and Daniel Stewart hit the scoreboard, as did Simon Phillips to drag the Power to within 14 points.

Nic Naitanui and Travis Boak traded majors before Shannon Hurn launched a booming long range effort for his second goal of the game to ease the nerves of the home fans heading into three quarter time.

West Coast would have felt more comfortable when Brad Ebert and Scott Selwood added goals inside the first two minutes of the final term to extend their lead out to 35 points but the Power made one final push.

Another run of three goals, in four minutes, had the Power back within 17 points and Eagles fans again on the edge of their seats. Port Adelaide kept pushing forward, with Danyle Pearce and Travis Boak taking control in the midfield.

Up stepped Hurn to seal the match.

The burly half back drifted forward, getting on the end of a ball just inside the 50m arc and casually snapping the ball through at goal post height. LeCras added a fourth and West Coast controlled the rest of the game to earn a 22 point win.

Matt Priddis finished as the leading ball winner for West Coast, with 28 to go with eight tackles and six clearances. Daniel Kerr tallied 27 disposals and seven clearances with Hurn and Rosa the next best with 25 possessions.

Tom Swift collected 23 touches to make a strong claim to remain in the Eagles side at his first chance of the season, while Luke Shuey was busy with 22 disposals, eight inside-50s and seven clearances.

LeCras and Josh Kennedy combined for seven goals, but it was a host of other unlikely contributors that hit the scoreboard to get West Coast across the line.

Hurn, Brad Ebert, Adam and Scott Selwood and Matt Priddis had booted just eight goals between them for the season, but all kicked goals against the Power with Jack Darling, Mark Nicoski and Quinten Lynch all goalless. It was the first time for the year that the trio didn’t manage to kick goals.

Travis Boak was the clear standout for the Power, finishing as the only multiple goal scorer with three from 24 disposals. Danyle Pearce gathered the most touches with 30 and Dom Cassisi finished with 24 disposals and 11 tackles as he and Boak engineered Port Adelaide’s second half revival.

Justin Westhoff had a solid second half after just four disposals to half time, while Hamish Hartlett had 18 possessions and eight tackles.

The victory saw the Eagles climb another rung to fifth on the ladder, overtaking the Swans who lost to Carlton. With Collingwood having the bye, Geelong moved two games clear at the top of the ladder making it 12 wins from 12 starts with a 28 point win over St Kilda. Hawthorn rounded out the top four with a comfortable 71 point win of the Suns.

Fremantle and Essendon both suffered untimely defeats that saw the battle for the final spots of the top eight open up. The Dockers were thrashed by Melboune to the tune of 89 points which saw the Demons join the Bombers on five and a half wins, two premiership points behind Fremantle in 7^th.

Richmond also moved to 22 premiership points with an easy win over the Lions and North Melbourne’s defeat of an inaccurate Essendon moved them into finals contention. Results meant the Eagles now were two and a half games inside the top eight with a top four spot up for grabs with a clash to come against Carlton.