Looking to build on the previous season's surprise top-4 finish, 2012 got off to a horror start when star forward Mark LeCras did his knee in the pre-season. With Josh Kennedy missing most of the season with an ankle injury, 2011's surprise goalsneak Mark Nicoski out for the year after ripping his hamstring and Quinten Lynch down on form, West Coast were severely lacking in firepower and heavily reliant on second-year forward Jack Darling and Bulldogs recruit Josh Hill. Despite that, the Eagles were in top-4 contention all season, eventually finishing 5th in the regular season and earning a home elimination final. West Coast easily disposed of North Melbourne (with even fullback Eric MacKenzie getting amongst the goals) before falling to Collingwood in a semi-final at the MCG.
Captain Darren Glass again led from the front, his strong form leading to him being named captain of the All-Australian side, his fourth AA guernsey. He was joined in the team by ruck pair Dean Cox (his sixth selection) and Nic Naitanui and defender Beau Waters. Young midfielder Scott Selwood capitalised on strong early-season form to take out his first Club Champion award, narrowly edging out Cox and Shannon Hurn. Darling stood up in the absence of LeCras and Kennedy to lead the goalscoring, the youngest ever Eagle to do so. And other youngsters continued their promising development, including Andrew Gaff, Luke Shuey and Jacob Brennan, the son of dual premiership defender Michael Brennan.
Honour board[]
Coach: John Worsfold (coaching staff)
Captain: Darren Glass
Leadership group: Beau Waters (vc), Matt Priddis, Dean Cox, Scott Selwood, Matt Rosa, Josh Kennedy, Shannon Hurn, Adam Selwood, Mark LeCras, Andrew Embley
Club Champion: Scott Selwood
Rookie of the Year: Jacob Brennan
Best Clubman: Mitch Brown
Leading Goalscorer: Jack Darling (53)
All-Australians: Dean Cox, Darren Glass, Nic Naitanui, Beau Waters
Rising Star nominees: Nil
Milestones:
250 games: Dean Cox
200 games: Quinten Lynch, Daniel Kerr
100 games: Shannon Hurn, Beau Waters
Squad[]
| Senior list | ||||||||
| 34 | Jacob Brennan | 33 | Josh Hill* | 36 | Fraser McInnes* | 5 | Brad Sheppard | |
| 1 | Mitch Brown | 25 | Shannon Hurn | 9 | Nic Naitanui | 13 | Luke Shuey | |
| 26 | Sam Butler | 17 | Josh Kennedy | 19 | Ryan Neates | 28 | Ashley Smith | |
| 20 | Dean Cox | 4 | Daniel Kerr | 38 | Murray Newman* | 14 | Koby Stevens | |
| 18 | Bradd Dalziell | 2 | Mark LeCras | 6 | Mark Nicoski | 47 | Lewis Stevenson | |
| 27 | Jack Darling | 29 | Scott Lycett | 11 | Matt Priddis | 41 | Andrew Strijk | |
| 32 | Andrew Embley | 21 | Quinten Lynch | 24 | Matt Rosa | 15 | Tom Swift | |
| 3 | Andrew Gaff | 16 | Eric MacKenzie | 31 | Will Schofield | 8 | Beau Waters | |
| 23 | Darren Glass | 7 | Chris Masten | 37 | Adam Selwood | 44 | Gerrick Weedon | |
| 43 | Ashton Hams | 35 | Patrick McGinnity | 10 | Scott Selwood | 30 | Blayne Wilson | |
| Rookie list | ||||||||
| 39 | Brad Dick* | 22 | Michael Mascoulis* | 45 | Callum Papertalk* | |||
| 40 | Anton Hamp | 42 | Jeremy McGovern | 46 | Simon Tunbridge* |
(* indicates new addition to playing list)
| # | Player | Games | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brown | 8 | 0 |
| 3 | Gaff | 24 | 9 |
| 4 | Kerr | 24 | 13 |
| 5 | Sheppard | 12 | 6 |
| 7 | Masten | 24 | 20 |
| 8 | Waters | 20 | 8 |
| 9 | Naitanui | 22 | 24 |
| 10 | S.Selwood | 24 | 11 |
| 11 | Priddis | 22 | 8 |
| 13 | Shuey | 21 | 19 |
| 14 | Stevens | 4 | 0 |
| 15 | Swift | 6 | 1 |
| 16 | MacKenzie | 22 | 1 |
| 17 | Kennedy | 8 | 18 |
| 18 | Dalziell | 2 | 1 |
| 19 | Neates | 1 | 0 |
| 20 | Cox | 24 | 28 |
| 21 | Lynch | 21 | 33 |
| 23 | Glass | 22 | 0 |
| 24 | Rosa | 18 | 2 |
| 25 | Hurn | 24 | 12 |
| 26 | Butler | 14 | 1 |
| 27 | Darling | 24 | 53 |
| 28 | Smith | 5 | 1 |
| 29 | Lycett | 2 | 1 |
| 31 | Schofield | 20 | 8 |
| 32 | Embley | 8 | 6 |
| 33 | Hill | 22 | 36 |
| 34 | Brennan | 16 | 2 |
| 35 | McGinnity | 21 | 11 |
| 37 | A.Selwood | 20 | 2 |
| 38 | Newman | 4 | 3 |
| 41 | Strijk | 2 | 0 |
| 43 | Hams | 16 | 22 |
Results[]
| Rd | Date | Opponent | Venue | Res | Score | Posn |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NAB Cup | ||||||
| 1 (pool) | Sun 19 Feb | Essendon | Subiaco | W | 57-36 | |
| Fremantle | W | 30-10 | ||||
| 2 | Sat 3 March | Port Adelaide | Rushton Park | W | 92-87 | |
| 3 | Sat 10 March | St Kilda | Subiaco | W | 85-52 | |
| GF | Sat 17 March | Adelaide | Football Park | L | 61-95 | |
| Home & away | ||||||
| 1 | Sun 1 April | Bulldogs | Docklands | W | 136-87 | 3rd |
| 2 | Sat 7 April | Melbourne | Subiaco | W | 166-58 | 1st |
| 3 | Sun 15 April | GWS Giants | Blacktown | W | 150-69 | 1st |
| 4 | Sat 21 April | Hawthorn | Subiaco | W | 51-46 | 1st |
| 5 | Sun 29 April | Richmond | Docklands | W | 107-97 | 1st |
| 6 | Sun 6 May | North Melbourne | Subiaco | W | 120-95 | 1st |
| 7 | Sat 12 May | Essendon | Docklands | L | 52-113 | 1st |
| 8 | Sun 20 May | St Kilda | Subiaco | W | 121-91 | 1st |
| 9 | Sun 27 May | Fremantle | Subiaco | W | 84-36 | 1st |
| 10 | Sun 3 June | Brisbane | Gabba | L | 100-102 | 1st |
| 11 | Bye | 3rd | ||||
| 12 | Thur 14 June | Carlton | Subiaco | W | 79-69 | 1st |
| 13 | Sat 23 June | Collingwood | MCG | L | 82-85 | 4th |
| 14 | Sat 30 June | Gold Coast | Subiaco | W | 166-40 | 3rd |
| 15 | Sat 7 July | North Melbourne | Bellerive | W | 86-84 | 2nd |
| 16 | Sun 15 July | Sydney | Subiaco | L | 69-121 | 5th |
| 17 | Sat 21 July | Adelaide | Football Park | L | 75-124 | 5th |
| 18 | Sun 29 July | Brisbane | Subiaco | W | 175-77 | 5th |
| 19 | Sat 4 Aug | Fremantle | Subiaco | L | 48-113 | 5th |
| 20 | Fri 10 Aug | Geelong | Subiaco | W | 102-97 | 5th |
| 21 | Sun 19 Aug | Port Adelaide | Football Park | W | 98-50 | 5th |
| 22 | Sat 25 Aug | Collingwood | Subiaco | W | 107-58 | 4th |
| 23 | Fri 31 Aug | Hawthorn | MCG | L | 70-95 | 5th |
| EF | Sun 9 Sept | North Melbourne | Subiaco | W | 162-66 | |
| SF | Sat 15 Sept | Collingwood | MCG | L | 60-73 |
Final ladder[]
| Pos. | Team | W | D | L | % | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hawthorn | 17 | 0 | 5 | 154.6 | |||||
| 2 | Adelaide | 17 | 0 | 5 | 132.5 | |||||
| 3 | Sydney | 16 | 0 | 6 | 140.6 | |||||
| 4 | Collingwood | 16 | 0 | 6 | 116.5 | |||||
| 5 | West Coast | 15 | 0 | 7 | 124.2 | |||||
| 6 | Geelong | 15 | 0 | 7 | 117.1 | |||||
| 7 | Fremantle | 14 | 0 | 8 | 115.7 | |||||
| 8 | North Melbourne | 14 | 0 | 8 | 112.5 | |||||
| ____ | _ | ______________ | _ | ___ | _ | ___ | _ | ___ | _ | _______ |
| 9 | St Kilda | 12 | 0 | 10 | 123.3 | |||||
| 10 | Carlton | 11 | 0 | 11 | 108.0 | |||||
| 11 | Essendon | 11 | 0 | 11 | 100.0 | |||||
| 12 | Richmond | 10 | 1 | 11 | 111.6 | |||||
| 13 | Brisbane | 10 | 0 | 12 | 91.0 | |||||
| 14 | Port Adelaide | 5 | 1 | 16 | 78.9 | |||||
| 15 | Western Bulldogs | 5 | 0 | 17 | 67.0 | |||||
| 16 | Melbourne | 4 | 0 | 18 | 67.5 | |||||
| 17 | Gold Coast | 3 | 0 | 19 | 60.8 | |||||
| 18 | GWS Giants | 2 | 0 | 20 | 46.2 |
Qualifying Finals: Hawthorn def. Collingwood; Sydney def. Adelaide
Elimination Finals: West Coast def. North Melbourne; Fremantle def. Geelong
Semi Finals: Collingwood def. West Coast; Adelaide def. Fremantle
Prelim Finals: Hawthorn def. Adelaide; Sydney def. Collingwood
Grand Final: Sydney 14.7.91 def Hawthorn 11.15.81
Jumpers[]
(footyjumpers.com)
Club Champion leaderboard[]
| # | Player | Votes | Games | # | Player | Votes | Games | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | S.Selwood | 403 | 24 | 11th | Naitanui | 359 | 22 | |||||
| 2nd | Cox | 400 | 24 | 12th | Shuey | 357 | 21 | |||||
| 3rd | Hurn | 396 | 24 | 13th | Waters | 338 | 20 | |||||
| 4th | Darling | 393 | 24 | 14th | Hill | 303 | 22 | |||||
| 5th | Gaff | 385 | 24 | 15th | McGinnity | 300 | 21 | |||||
| 6th | Glass | 383 | 22 | 16th (tied) | Schofield | 277 | 20 | |||||
| 7th | Masten | 382 | 24 | 16th (tied) | A.Selwood | 277 | 20 | |||||
| 8th | Priddis | 367 | 22 | 18th | Rosa | 254 | 18 | |||||
| 9th | Kerr | 364 | 22 | 19th | Lynch | 250 | 21 | |||||
| 10th | MacKenzie | 360 | 22 | 20th | Hams | 212 | 16 |
Stats leaders[]
| # | Goals | Disposals | Disp/game | Marks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Darling | 53 . | S.Selwood | 597 . | Priddis | 26.14 . | Waters | 146 |
| 2nd | Hill | 36 | Gaff | 591 | S.Selwood | 24.88 | Cox | 144 |
| 3rd | Lynch | 33 | Priddis | 575 | Gaff | 24.63 | Darling | 131 |
| 4th | Cox | 28 | Kerr | 552 | Rosa | 23.17 | Hurn | 119 |
| 5th | Naitanui | 24 | Masten | 521 | Kerr | 23.00 | Gaff / Glass / S.Selwood | 114 |
| # | Kicks | Handballs | Clearances | Tackles | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Gaff | 374 . | Priddis | 379 . | Priddis | 148 . | Priddis | 122 |
| 2nd | Hurn | 339 | S.Selwood | 332 | Kerr | 129 | S.Selwood | 117 |
| 3rd | Masten | 298 | Kerr | 261 | S.Selwood | 126 | Shuey | 89 |
| 4th | Kerr | 291 | Masten | 223 | Shuey | 115 | McGinnity | 80 |
| 5th | Shuey | 286 | Gaff | 217 | Naitanui | 64 | Masten | 78 |
Tribunal[]
| Rd | Player | Charge | Outcome | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Waters | Rough conduct against J.Grimes | Accepted reprimand | |||
| 5 | Schofield | Striking J.Riewoldt | Accepted 2 match suspension | |||
| 8 | Kerr | Negligent contact with an umpire | Accepted $900 fine | |||
| 9 | Shuey | Striking P.Duffield | Accepted 1 match suspension | |||
| 10 | Waters | Rough conduct against J.Redden | Accepted 1 match suspension | |||
| 15 | Lynch | Tripping S.Atley | Tribunal upheld 1 match penalty | |||
| 15 | Shuey | Striking L.Thomas | Tribunal upheld 2 match penalty | |||
| 16 | McGinnity | Rough conduct against R.O'Keefe | Accepted reprimand | |||
| 18 | Glass | Rough conduct against J.Brown | Accepted 1 match suspension | |||
| 18 | S.Selwood | Wrestling S.Black | Accepted $1800 fine | |||
| 21 | Kerr | Striking C.Wingard | Accepted reprimand | |||
| EF | Lynch | Charging S.McMahon | Dismissed by Tribunal |
| Season summaries |
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