Travel Load Catches Up With Young Eagles
West Coast’s 1990 campaign fizzled out to a 63 point defeat against Essendon in the Preliminary Final, with the Bombers progressing to face Collingwood in the Grand Final.
Four consecutive matches at Waverley Park, and six interstate trips in a row, finally caught up with the young Eagles line-up, as they battled injury, illness and air strikes in the lead up to the match.
The Eagles were again forced to compromise their travel plans amid the ongoing national air strikes that had plagued much of their travelling over the previous six weeks.
West Coast ventured to Melbourne on a chartered flight, sharing the trip with the Perth Wildcats and Melbourne Tigers who were in the middle of their NBL Grand Final series. The trip required several stops along the way, and saw the three teams land in Melbourne on the Thursday – a day earlier than the Eagles’ usual schedule.
There were also concerns at the selection table.
Dwayne Lamb was unavailable, courtesy of a one week ban from the AFL tribunal, while nuggety midfielder Scott Watters was ruled out with a groin complaint.
Chris Mainwaring was struggling with a knee issue, Guy McKenna was racing the clock after injuring his arm late against the Demons and Laurie Keene was managing a groin injury. Craig Turley – who had been the Eagles best player over the prior fortnight – hadn’t trained all week due to the flu.
All four would take their place, but only Mainwaring would be a serviceable contributor.
Peter Melesso and Dean Turner were the two replacements for Lamb and Watters, with the selection of Turner somewhat of a surprise. Turner earned selection ahead of captain Steve Malaxos, who was left out of the side for a second week, as well as Don Pyke and Phil Narkle who had both been favoured to be included in the side.
Melesso was named after serving a five match suspension, but would then be a late withdrawal. Melesso took part in the warm-up ahead of the match, before being replaced by Todd Breman.
West Coast started the brighter of the two sides, but despite controlling possession struggled to find a way past half forward. Simon Madden, who had been heavily criticised during the week after a poor showing against the Magpies in the semi-final, was dominant both in the ruck and as the spare man in defence clogging up the space of the Eagle forwards.
Madden tallied 10 disposals and five marks for the term, as well as booting Essendon’s fourth goal of after a strong mark over Phil Scott in the goal square. The Eagles had just one major for the quarter; a solo effort from Mainwaring when he intercepted a defensive kick in the Eagles forward 50m area, before kicking truly on the run.
The quarter time deficit of 17 points was soon 43 as Essendon made West Coast pay for some sloppy play. Craig Turley started the rot when he dropped a simple mark in the middle of the ground, allowing the Bombers to regain possession with Darren Bewick finishing off a chain of play.
Alan Ezard then capitalised after the Eagles turned the ball over at half back before Simon Madden was able to boot his second of the match when John Worsfold was unable to handle the ball in defence.
Gary O’Donnell missed a golden opportunity, hitting the post running into an open goal, before Essendon caught a lucky break to boot their fourth major of the quarter. A scrappy kick forward by Derek Kickett eluded Phil Scott as he led Paul Salmon to the ball, allowing the Bomber full forward to hand off to Mark Harvey for a simple finish.
At this point, nothing was going right for West Coast.
Guy McKenna had copped a heavy hit that left him with a bloodied nose to along with the arm injury he was carrying, while Chris Mainwaring and Mark Harvey were involved in a brutal head clash that left both players on the ground for several minutes.
Finally, the Eagles found their second goal of the match. While they had been outplayed in most areas on the ground, the one spot they were winning was the centre clearances, even with Laurie Keene restricted.
Some good work out of the middle ended with Brett Heady steering through a second goal on his left foot from half forward, with the Eagles able to boot three more to give them an outside chance of victory.
However, a horrible handpass by Todd Breman deep in the Eagles defence gifted Ezard his second major of the quarter and the Bombers held a six goal lead at the main break.
Things only got harder straight after the restart when Karl Langdon was carted off after being knocked out cold in an accidental clash with Terry Daniher. Langdon attempted a diving mark, running back with the flight of the ball, with Daniher’s hip collecting Langdon in the head. With Keene also done for the day, the Eagles were without a bench, with a half to play and six goals behind.
Still, they refused to give up the fight. West Coast were the better side for much of the third term, with the play almost completely in their forward line. Essendon couldn’t find a way out of defence as West Coast continually pumped the ball into their forward 50, but they couldn’t make it count on the scoreboard.
Peter Sumich kicked the Eagles first goal, but then missed two more set shots, before Stevan Jackson hit the post from close range, and then Tony Begovich missed from directly in front after receiving a 50m penalty.
Mainwaring had a chance that failed to score, as did Michael Brennan, whose long range shot was marked on the line by Ezard. Sumich had a third chance that sailed out of bounds and for all their dominance, the Eagles had posted just 1.5 for the quarter.
Dean Turner then best exemplified the Eagles’ frustration when he cannoned into Ezard, well after the Bomber forward had taken a running shot on goal. Ezard’s effort missed, but the umpire awarded a second shot following Turner’s indiscretion, with Ezard able to boot his third goal and all but finish West Coast’s resistance in the match.
The Bombers added a further five goals in the final quarter to run out easy, albeit unconvincing, winners.
Malthouse admitted the heavy travel load had caught up with his side, but had nothing but praise, despite bowing out in penultimate week of the season.
“We looked and acted tired.”
“But I think the spirit was there to generate as much play as possible… it all caught up with them,” Malthouse said.
“The players showed enormous courage and fortitude… at no stage in six weeks of criss-crossing Australia was their a complaint. There was no sign of weakness during a severe test of the team’s character and competitiveness.”
Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy was happy enough with the performance, confident his side would bounce back from the thrashing by Collingwood the week before. “We were switched on early, and the players worked hard to get 18 wins this year and they did not want to let that slip.”
“I feel that will make us 10 percent better next week.”
Greg Anderson and Chris Mainwaring were both their respective sides’ best players, despite being opposed to each other on the wing for much of the afternoon. Anderson finished with 25 touches and booted 1.3, while Mainwaring had 19 disposals and booted a goal.
Terry Daniher and Mark Thompson also finished with 25 touches to lead the way at Essendon, while Tim Watson picked up 22 disposals and booted a goal. Simon Madden was another standout during the game with 21 possessions, 12 marks, 10 hitouts and two goals.
Alan Ezard and Mark Harvey each booted three goals.
At West Coast, Chris Lewis finished as the leading ball winner with 22 in his battle with Mark Thompson. Thompson was influential in the opening term, but Lewis had the better of the match-up over the remainder of the match despite Thompson still finding plenty of the ball. Lewis had been sublime through the second half of the season, with his consistent showing culminating in winning the club best and fairest, as well as being named in the All-Australian side (along with John Worsfold).
Dean Kemp picked up 21 touches and Brett Heady 20, as the two finished their impressive debut seasons with strong performances. Stevan Jackson offered plenty in the forward line with three goals from 14 disposals and six marks, while Peter Sumich would rue a wasteful day, finishing with 2.5.
Andrew Lockyer won his battle at centre half back on Paul Van der Haar, keeping the veteran Bomber to just nine disposals and two late goals. Craig Turley (17 disposals) and Guy McKenna (16) toiled hard despite their operating below their capacity.
The Eagles coach was openly proud of his side’s season, but the gains made in season 1990 were best summed up by opposing coach Kevin Sheedy. The Bombers coach – a former teammate of Malthouse’s at Richmond – praised Malthouse, saying he had added professionalism to the four year old club, while also lauding WA’s ‘sensational’ year.
Sheedy said playing four finals in a row was the equivalent of two finals series’ worth of experience, which would be ‘invaluable’.
“After physically and mentally going through it, the standard for West Coast has been set.”
The Eagles for their part had risen from a bit-part team out in the west, to one of premier clubs in the revamped competition in just one season. The addition of Malthouse had been an immediate success – and the board knew as much.
Days before Christmas, the Eagles announced that Malthouse had signed a three year extension to his initial contract, keeping him at the club until the end of 1994.
The ’90s had begun – as had the first Eagles dynasty.
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