2015 season

2015

Photo: aflphotos.com.au

Position

2nd

H&A record

16-5-1 (2nd)

Finals

Lost GF

Captain

Shannon Hurn

Coach

Adam Simpson

Best & Fairest

Andrew Gaff

Most goals

Josh Kennedy (80)

<--2014

2016-->

West Coast's hopes of a first finals appearance since 2012 took a heavy hit during the pre-season when reigning club champion Eric MacKenzie suffered a serious knee injury, and looked extremely remote when his replacement Mitch Brown suffered the same fate during the opening quarter of Round 1. However, following those early setbacks and a poor start to the year, Adam Simpson's Eagles clicked into gear, winning 11 of 12 games through the middle of the season to raise the side's hopes of not only participating in the finals, but going deep into September. Despite a couple of hiccups late in the season, West Coast held on to second spot on the ladder to earn a home qualifying final, then beat reigning premiers Hawthorn to book a home preliminary final for the first time in a decade. After overcoming a plucky North Melbourne the Eagles progressed to a Grand Final berth that had seemed almost impossible at the start of the year, but that was the end of the fairytale as the inexperienced side was overwhelmed by Hawthorn on the big day.

The Eagles' massive improvement from 2014 was built on career-best seasons by a number of players, most significantly spearhead Josh Kennedy who won the Coleman Medal with 80 goals. Kennedy was joined in the All-Australian side by midfielders Andrew Gaff and Matt Priddis, with Gaff winning the John Worsfold Medal and Priddis following on from his 2014 Brownlow Medal with a second-placed finish in the 2015 count and running second to Gaff in the club's best and fairest. Will Schofield and Jeremy McGovern were tremendous in key defensive posts in the absence of MacKenzie and Brown, and Brad Sheppard and Sharrod Wellingham also became unlikely heroes down back after previously inconsistent West Coast careers. A couple of young midfielders in Dom Sheed and Liam Duggan also showed great promise, with Sheed finishing third in the Rising Star award and Duggan playing 12 impressive games in his rookie season.

Diary

Honour board

Coach: Adam Simpson (coaching panel)

Captain: Shannon Hurn

Leadership group: Josh Kennedy (vc), Scott Selwood (vc), Eric MacKenzie, Matt Priddis, Beau Waters

Club Champion: Andrew Gaff

Rookie of the Year: Dom Sheed

Best Clubman: Josh Kennedy

Leading Goalscorer: Josh Kennedy (80)

All-Australians: Andrew Gaff, Josh Kennedy, Matt Priddis

Rising Star nominees: Dom Sheed (round 15)

Milestones: 150 games: Mark LeCras (round 22)
100 games: Luke Shuey (round 15), Andrew Gaff (round 16), Jack Darling (round 21)

Squad

Offseason player movements

Playing squad

	Senior list
37	Tom Barrass	3	Andrew Gaff	40	Dylan Main	10	Scott Selwood
44	Jamie Bennell	33	Josh Hill	7	Chris Masten	4	Dom Sheed
1	Mitch Brown	25	Shannon Hurn	35	Patrick McGinnity	5	Brad Sheppard
26	Sam Butler	34	Mark Hutchings	20	Jeremy McGovern	13	Luke Shuey
19	Damien Cavka*	39	Malcolm Karpany	36	Fraser McInnes	22	Callum Sinclair
21	Brant Colledge	17	Josh Kennedy	9	Nic Naitanui	32	Simon Tunbridge
15	Jamie Cripps	28	Tom Lamb*	30	Jackson Nelson*	42	Alec Waterman*
27	Jack Darling	2	Mark LeCras	11	Matt Priddis	8	Beau Waters
14	Liam Duggan*	29	Scott Lycett	24	Matt Rosa	12	Sharrod Wellingham
18	Xavier Ellis	16	Eric MacKenzie	31	Will Schofield	6	Elliot Yeo
	Rookie list
45	Corey Adamson*	47	Kane Lucas*	38	Murray Newman
46	Paddy Brophy*	41	Will Maginness	43	Rowen Powell

(* indicates new addition to playing list)

Player Reviews 2015

#	Player	Games	Goals
1	Brown	1	0
2	LeCras	24	45
3	Gaff	25	11
4	Sheed	23	10
5	Sheppard	25	3
6	Yeo	24	18
7	Masten	22	2
9	Naitanui	23	17
10	Selwood	13	2
11	Priddis	24	7
12	Wellingham	24	4
13	Shuey	25	24
14	Duggan	12	1
15	Cripps	25	34
17	Kennedy	25	80
18	Ellis	15	1
20	McGovern	20	3
21	Colledge	1	0
22	Sinclair	20	13
24	Rosa	17	3
25	Hurn	25	3
26	Butler	17	2
27	Darling	15	26
28	Lamb	1	1
29	Lycett	6	3
30	Nelson	11	1
31	Schofield	21	0
32	Tunbridge	1	0
33	Hill	22	40
34	Hutchings	13	7
35	McGinnity	9	4
36	McInnes	7	6
37	Barrass	3	0
38	Newman	2	1
44	Bennell	9	0

Results

Rd	Date	Opponent	Venue	Res	Score	Posn
	Pre-season
1	Fri 27 Feb	Carlton	Rushton Park	W	78-47
2	Sun 8 March	Port Adelaide	Norwood Oval	L	49-89
3	Sun 22 March	Fremantle	Subiaco	L	85-104
	Home & away
1	Sat 4 April	Bulldogs	Docklands	L	87-97	11th
2	Fri 10 April	Carlton	Subiaco	W	131-62	7th
3	Sun 19 April	Fremantle	Subiaco	L	81-111	10th
4	Sun 26 April	Brisbane	Gabba	W	118-65	8th
5	Sat 2 May	GWS Giants	Subiaco	W	120-33	5th
6	Sun 10 May	Port Adelaide	Adelaide Oval	W	78-68	2nd
7	Sat 16 May	Gold Coast	Subiaco	W	135-43	2nd
8	Sat 23 May	St Kilda	Docklands	W	131-78	2nd
9	Sun 31 May	Geelong	Subiaco	W	120-64	2nd
10	Sun 7 June	North Melbourne	Bellerive	L	75-85	3rd
11	Sat 13 June	Essendon	Subiaco	W	96-46	3rd
12	Fri 19 June	Richmond	MCG	W	90-70	2nd
13		Bye				2nd
14	Sat 4 July	Melbourne	Marrara Oval	W	114-60	2nd
15	Sat 11 July	Adelaide	Subiaco	W	147-91	2nd
16	Sat 18 July	Collingwood	Docklands	W	87-56	2nd
17	Sun 26 July	Sydney	Subiaco	W	103-51	2nd
18	Sat 1 August	Gold Coast	Carrara	D	83-83	2nd
19	Sat 8 August	Hawthorn	Subiaco	L	74-88	2nd
20	Sun 16 August	Fremantle	Subiaco	W	104-80	2nd
21	Sun 23 August	Bulldogs	Subiaco	W	162-85	2nd
22	Sun 30 August	Adelaide	Adelaide Oval	L	69-126	2nd
23	Sat 5 September	St Kilda	Subiaco	W	125-30	2nd
QF	Fri 11 September	Hawthorn	Subiaco	W	96-64
SF	18-19 September	Bye
PF	Sat 26 September	North Melbourne	Subiaco	W	80-55
GF	Sat 3 October	Hawthorn	MCG	L	61-107

Final ladder

	Team	P	W	L	D/NR	%	Pts
1	Fremantle	22	17	5	0	118.7	68
2	West Coast	22	16	5	1	148.2	66
3	Hawthorn	22	16	6	0	158.4	64
4	Sydney	22	16	6	0	127.1	64
5	Richmond	22	15	7	0	123.1	60
6	Western Bulldogs	22	14	8	0	115.1	56
7	Adelaide	22	13	8	1*	115.7	54
8	North Melbourne	22	13	9	0	106.5	52
_	____________________	_	_	_	_____	___	___
9	Port Adelaide	22	12	10	0	106.8	48
10	Geelong	22	11	9	2*	101.1	48
11	GWS Giants	22	11	11	0	99.0	44
12	Collingwood	22	10	12	0	106.3	40
13	Melbourne	22	7	15	0	77.0	28
14	St Kilda	22	6	15	1	78.4	26
15	Essendon	22	6	16	0	74.0	24
16	Gold Coast	22	4	16	1	72.9	18
17	Brisbane	22	4	18	0	67.5	16
18	Carlton	22	4	18	0	64.8	16

(*Adelaide and Geelong each received 2 points after Round 14 match called off)

Qualifying finals: Fremantle def. Sydney, West Coast def. Hawthorn

Elimination finals: North Melbourne def. Richmond, Adelaide def. Western Bulldogs

Semi finals: Hawthorn def. Adelaide, North Melbourne def. Sydney

Preliminary finals: Hawthorn def. Fremantle, West Coast def. North Melbourne

Grand Final: Hawthorn 16.11.107 def. West Coast 8.13.61

Jumpers

(footyjumpers.com)

Home

Away

Clash

Indigenous (round 9)

Club Champion leaderboard

#	Player		Votes		Games		#	Player		Votes		Games
1st	Gaff		210		25		11th	Hurn		126		25
2nd	Priddis		206		24		12th	Masten		116		22
3rd	Kennedy		183		25		13th	Schofield		105		21
4th	Shuey		174		25		14th	Hill		105		22
5th	LeCras		163		25		15th	McGovern		102		20
6th	Sheppard		161		25		16th	Sheed		102		23
7th	Cripps		158		25		17th	Butler		91		17
8th	Naitanui		156		23		18th	Sinclair		67		20
9th	Wellingham		133		24		19th	Rosa		66		17
10th	Yeo		129		24		20th	Darling		59		15

Stats leaders

	Goals		Disposals		Disp/game		Marks
1st	Kennedy	80 .	Gaff	738 .	Priddis	29.63 .	Kennedy	168
2nd	LeCras	45	Priddis	711	Gaff	29.52	Sheppard	141
3rd	Hill	40	Shuey	593	Masten	24.91	LeCras	122
4th	Cripps	34	Masten	548	Shuey	23.72	Yeo	120
5th	Darling	26	Sheed	449	Sheed	19.52	Wellingham	115
#	Kicks		Handballs		Clearances		Tackles
1st	Gaff	415 .	Priddis	472 .	Priddis	183 .	Priddis	176
2nd	Hurn	297	Gaff	323	Shuey	152	Cripps	139
3rd	LeCras	284	Shuey	320	Naitanui	93	Shuey	123
4th	Shuey	273	Masten	296	Gaff	70	Naitanui	82
5th	Sheppard	264	Sheed	220	LeCras/Sheed	55	Yeo	82

Tribunal

Rd		Player		Charge		Outcome
4		Naitanui		Tripping J.Redden		Accepted $1,000 fine
8		Yeo		Striking J.Webster		Accepted 1-week suspension
11		Ellis		Rough conduct against J.Daniher		Accepted $1,000 fine
14		LeCras		Striking N.Jetta		Accepted $1,000 fine
18		LeCras		Rough conduct against M.Shaw		Accepted $1,500 fine
19		LeCras		Rough conduct against J.Frawley		Accepted 1-week suspension
20		Masten		Biting N.Suban		Suspended for 2 weeks by Tribunal