Elimination Final 2020

West Coast v Collingwood
Elimination Final, 2020

Ryan in action. Photo: aflphotos.com.au

Date

Sat, 3 October 2019 (6.10pm WST)

Venue

Perth Stadium

Attendance

32,865

Result

Lost by 1

Score

COL 12.4.76 - 11.9.75 WCE

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West Coast's 2020 season ended in heartbreaking fashion with a one-point loss to Collingwood in a home elimination final. In a pulsating contest reminiscent of the 2018 grand final, West Coast were jumped early and trailed for much of the match, but hit the front during the third and fourth terms, only to lose the lead each time to the eerily accurate Magpies. As he had done all season, Andrew Gaff ran tirelessly to rack up a team-high 24 possessions, while All-Australian ruckman Nic Naitanui had 17 to go with his 24 hitouts in an entertaining duel with Brodie Grundy.

Summary

		1/4 time		1/2 time		3/4 time		Final
West Coast		1.2.8		5.4.34		7.6.48		11.9.75
Collingwood		4.0.24		6.1.37		9.4.58		12.4.76

Goals: Darling, Kennedy 3, Allen 2, Ainsworth, Cripps, Ryan

Best: Naitanui, Ryan, Kennedy, Duggan, Gaff, Darling

Injuries: Nil

Jumper: Home, blue shorts

Named sides

	West Coast				North Melb
B:	28.Cole	37.Barrass	5.Sheppard	B:	25.Crisp	23.Roughead	44.Madgen
HB:	25.Hurn	20.McGovern	14.Duggan	HB:	37.Maynard	30.Moore	3.Quaynor
C:	8.Redden	11.Kelly	3.Gaff	C:	16.Mayne	7.Treloar	26.Daicos
HF:	15.Cripps	27.Darling	2.Waterman	HF:	32.Hoskin-Elliott	41.Mihocek	19.Greenwood
F:	12.Allen	17.Kennedy	1.Ryan	F:	5.Elliott	46.Cox	2.De Goey
R:	9.Naitanui	4.Sheed	13.Shuey	R:	4.Grundy	13.Adams	10.Pendlebury
I:	33.Ainsworth	21.Petruccelle	30.Nelson	I:	14.Cameron	24.Thomas	1.Stephenson
	41.Ah Chee				9.Noble
E:	32.Williams	23.Jetta	31.Schofield	E:	6.T.Brown	47.Keane	17.C.Brown
	10.Brander				18.Varcoe

In: McGovern, Shuey, Redden, Cripps

Out: Rotham (heel), Foley, Williams, Schofield

Quarter by quarter

Both sides went in as named. The game was played under nights in fine and clear conditions.

From the coach

"Not a great feeling in the rooms after the game. It’s disappointing we didn’t take our chances. Collingwood started really well again, we worked our way back in to the game and missed out on a couple of opportunities when we had our dominance and then it came down to whoever was in front at the right time in the last quarter and unfortunately it wasn’t us.

It (reliance on centre clearances)'s probably been a bit of an issue for us all year. Centre bounces have been a real strength of ours, but you can’t rely on that for field position. We need to find another way. Our inability to keep it in our front half and capitalise was a concern. There were moments when their midfield was on top or their forwards were on top and they made the most of their opportunities and when we had an opportunity to put some damage on the scoreboard we probably weren’t as sharp or not as clean or polished in front of goals.

"...I thought the guys that came in were pretty good. I think Luke (Shuey) was a little bit off his best, Jamie Cripps was pretty good and Reddo (Jack Redden), it probably wasn’t his best game but not his worst. I thought as a collective Collingwood just had better moments where their dominance turned into scores. That’s about it. When you lose by a point, as much as you want to be critical or praise the opposition, it’s a pretty even game. I’m sure Bucks (Nathan Buckley) and the Pies and really proud of what they’ve done. Look, both teams played with spirit."

From the papers

The West Australian

"The Eagles were down by 10 points at the final change, the same deficit they came back from in the qualifying final at the same venue two years ago, but they had the lead by the five-minute mark of the last quarter.

They were riding a wave of crowd emotion and the Magpies needed something special. Mihocek and Jordan De Goey obliged.

West Coast were playing catch-up from the outset after American Mason Cox’s extraordinary opening.

After two weeks to prepare, it took just 16 minutes for Adam Simpson’s defensive plans to unravel after Cox tore apart a quarter in a final for the second time in his career."

The Age

"Collingwood had looked the most likely winners for most of the contest, but when Oscar Allen marked and put the Eagles in front five minutes into the fourth term, the Collingwood coaching box would have been more than nervous.

They came again though. And Mihocek’s second goal gave the Magpies a 13-point lead with only six minutes to play. It looked enough.

But the 32,865 people watching the game live – the biggest crowd at an AFL game this season – lifted Josh Kennedy to kick two late goals <sic - one was from Darling> to get the margin back to just one.

However the McGovern push forward was turned over this time. There was no Eagles dream finish."

Reserves

No scratch match was played.

Injury list

In the leadup to the match the following players were listed as injured or unavailable:

Player		Injury		Expected return
Venables		Concussion		Season		(placed on inactive list 4/3/20)
Watson		Knee		Season
Yeo		Groin		Season
Johnson		Groin		Season
Rioli		Suspension		Indefinite
McGovern		Hamstring		Test
Shuey		Hamstring		Test
Redden		Thumb		Test
Kennedy		Ankle		Test
Hutchings		Hamstring		Test
Jetta		Calf		Test
Vardy		Thigh		Test
Cripps		Personal		Available
Jones*		Hamstring		1-2 weeks

References

https://afltables.com/afl/stats/games/2020/041820201003.html

https://www.afl.com.au/matches/2897