Preliminary Final 2006

Adelaide v West Coast
Preliminary Final, 2006

Hunter kicked four goals. Photo: aflphotos.com.au

Date

Sat, 23 September 2006 (3:00 PM CST)

Venue

Football Park

Attendance

50,514

Result

Won by 10

Score

WCE 11.19.85 - 11.9.75 ADL

<--Prev

Next-->

West Coast produced yet another second-half comeback to book a grand final rematch against Sydney, taking control of the match in the third quarter through the brilliance of Ben Cousins who picked up 11 touches and a goal in the period. Dean Cox won his ruck duel and had 27 possessions, while Cousins also had 27 and swingman Adam Hunter kicked 4 goals.

Summary[]

		1/4 time		1/2 time		3/4 time		Final
Adelaide		3.3.21		6.5.41		8.8.56		11.9.75
West Coast		0.4.10		2.7.19		6.12.48		11.19.85

Goals: Hunter 4, Embley 2, Butler, Cousins, Hansen, Kerr, Lynch

Best: Cox, Judd, Cousins, Embley, Hunter, Butler, Kerr

Injuries: Nil

Milestones: Selwood 50th game

Named sides[]

	West Coast				Adelaide
B:	B.Jones	Glass	Selwood	B:	Johncock	Rutten	Bassett
HB:	Waters	Hunter	Stenglein	HB:	Mattner	Bock	Torney
C:	Embley	Cousins	Braun	C:	Burton	Goodwin	Van Berlo
HF:	Chick	Hansen	Butler	HF:	Thompson	Perrie	Reilly
F:	Kerr	Lynch	Seaby	F:	Bode	Welsh	Biglands
R:	Cox	Judd	Fletcher	R:	Clarke	Shirley	Edwards
I:	Armstrong	Banfield	Graham	I:	Doughty	McLeod	Stevens
	R.Jones				Porplyzia
E:	LeCras	Rosa	Staker	E:	Massie	McGregor	Douglas

In: Banfield, Graham

Out: Wirrpanda (hamstring), Rosa

From the papers[]

The West Australian[]

"The sheer brilliance of Cousins, Cox, Judd, Kerr and Embley just heightened the surge. The critical numbers that decide football matches all turned West Coast's way. The stoppages, dominated by Adelaide until half-time, were completely hijacked by Judd and Cousins.

The critical match-ups started to swing the Eagles' way as well. Van Berlo lost control of Cousins, Robert Shirley battled to hold Kerr. Clarke could hold his own against Cox in the ruck contests but couldn't get near him around the ground. Cox took the ball inside the Eagles' attacking 50 six times, as many as the brilliant Cousins. Only lead-up forward Ash Hansen (seven) did it more often.

The Crows were defenceless. The midfield zone Craig uses to stifle opposition ball movement was pointless because many of the attacks were being launched from centre bounces before the zone could be set up."

The Sunday Age[]

"Adelaide led until seven minutes and 19 seconds into the last quarter, when its midfield was officially pronounced "dead". Like so many times before, the Eagles' intensity and ability to run out the game better was far too daunting.

The Crows continued to battle gamely, and with two goals from Nathan Bock in the last four minutes of the game to put Adelaide within four points, there was the slightest of hopes that it could steal back the lead within the last 30 seconds.

With the crowd roaring, Adelaide won what was thought the most important clearance of the day, and Goodwin was about to deliver a pin-point pass to a forward. But the whistle blew, Tyson Stenglein was given a free kick, and it was game over. Hansen kicked a meaningless goal after the siren.

Ultimately the Eagles were too good. In fact, they should have made Adelaide pay even more dearly in the third quarter when the Crows almost completely broke down but missed easy shots at goal."