Preliminary Final 2015

West Coast v N.Melbourne
Preliminary Final, 2015

Priddis in action. Photo: aflphotos.com.au

Date

Saturday, 26 September 2015 (5.45pm WST)

Venue

Subiaco Oval

Attendance

43,080

Result

Won by 25

Score

WCE 10.20.80 - 7.13.55 NM

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West Coast overcame a poor start, some terrible goalkicking and a determined Roos to win their way into a Grand Final berth that seemed a fanciful prospect at the start of the season. The home side started hot favourites but were held goalless in the first term, before working their way into the match in the second and seizing control after half-time as their strangling press clicked into gear. Sharrod Wellingham had a big game in defence with 27 possessions and Coleman Medallist Josh Kennedy kicked two goals from 20 possessions and could have had more.

Summary

		1/4 time		1/2 time		3/4 time		Final
West Coast		0.2.2		3.8.26		8.14.62		10.20.80
North Melbourne		3.4.22		4.7.31		5.11.41		7.13.55

Goals: Kennedy, Shuey 2, Darling, Hill, LeCras, Priddis, Sheed, Shuey

Best: Wellingham, Priddis, Sheed, Ellis, Kennedy, LeCras

Injuries: Nil

Sub: Rosa for Masten in the fourth quarter

Named side

	West Coast				N.Melbourne
B:	25.Hurn	31.Schofield	12.Wellingham	B:	11.Firrito	16.Thompson	18.Atley
HB:	6.Yeo	20.McGovern	5.Sheppard	HB:	6.Hansen	34.MacMillan	43.Gibson
C:	15.Cripps	11.Priddis	24.Rosa	C:	19.Wright	7.Ziebell	5.Jacobs
HF:	4.Sheed	27.Darling	2.LeCras	HF:	4.Higgins	20.Petrie	15.Dal Santo
F:	33.Hill	17.Kennedy	22.Sinclair	F:	40.Turner	30.Waite	29.Harvey
R:	9.Naitanui	13.Shuey	3.Gaff	R:	22.Goldstein	9.Swallow	10.Cunnington
I:	26.Butler	18.Ellis	34.Hutchings	I:	50.Brown	12.Thomas	27.Garner
	7.Masten				25.Tarrant
E:	35.McGinnity	10.Selwood	29.Lycett	E:	3.Bastinac	21.McDonald	28.Nahas

In: Priddis, Masten

Out: Selwood, McGinnity

From the coach

"A little bit surreal to be honest, but full credit to the players and how they handled it tonight. A big occasion with a young group, down at quarter time - to respond the way we did, I'm really pleased.

"What was I thinking (at quarter time)? Do we back ourselves in or do we try and change things structurally and strategically? So we thought we'd back ourselves in for the first five minutes, change a few things, but in the end I think our ball movement got a little bit better. But North's pressure and their way of playing is really hard to break and it's a prelim.

"...Yes, well he (Kennedy) was massive for us the whole night. I thought our backs were the guys that stood up when it really mattered. Obviously we've been undersized for a big chunk of the year and we got exposed in that first quarter and throughout the night North looked really dangerous with their talls. I thought Josh was rewarded with some good ball movement and some brave ball movement in the back half and good contests, but he's an exceptional player."

From the papers

The West Australian

"When Luke Shuey drew a dubious high tackle from Dal Santo to kick a third, the Eagles were within a kick at half time. They were back in the contest, but a long way from shutting the visitors out of it.

But they were a lot closer to doing just that by three quarter time. West Coast piled on five goals to North’s one to take a 21-point lead to the final change. In a low scoring game, it looked like a match winning edge.

West Coast’s important playmakers and runners were imposing themselves on the game now.

Priddis went to the final change with 17 touches and kicked the critical first goal of the third term, a weave and snap from 40 metres. As he so often does, the slow Priddis let quicker players move around and past him, then stepped into a hole and kicked truly."

The Age

"This is what happened before West Coast kicked a goal: the whole first quarter and six minutes of the second, and a Josh Kennedy set shot and a Mark LeCras snap, both missing. This is what happened after North kicked a goal: they kicked two more, and threatened to turn Perth's big weekend into one giant pooped party."

"From this, you would correctly deduce that this was a game of almost outlandish ferocity and commitment, but almost no clean handling and efficiency, as might have been expected between the two top-ranked contested footy sides in the country, playing in a game in which no-one remembers the loser. This was about what West Coast expected from the Roos, and North from the Eagles.

It began at the first bounce, when Natanui bowled Todd Goldstein over. It continued, well, until about mid-way through the third quarter, because it would have been impossible for two teams to keep up that sort of fanaticism. This is what influence the vaunted Nic Nat v Todd Goldstein had on proceedings: negligible. They broke even for hit-outs, but, on a blustery night, lumbered around the ground. Between them, they took six marks."

Sunday Times

"West Coast was desperate for a team-lifting first goal and Coleman medallist Josh Kennedy delivered in emphatic fashion.

Kennedy was crunched by opponent Scott Thompson after marking on the 50m arc, but jumped to his feet, played on and slotted a running goal.

He added another from a set shot as the Eagles began to make some inroads but West Coast lived dangerously throughout the second term.

The Eagles added four behinds in a frustrating three-minute period, with the most painful being Gaff’s curling left-foot snap which missed after he elected to take the advantage when Kennedy had a free kick."

Injury list

In the lead-up to the game the following players were listed as injured or unavailable:

Player		Injury		Expected duration
MacKenzie		Knee		Season		(Placed on LTI list 2/4/15, replaced by Lucas)
Brown		Knee		Season		(Placed on LTI list 23/7/15, replaced by Newman)
Tunbridge		Ankle/shoulder		Season
Duggan		Knee		Season
Cavka		Ankle		Season
Waterman		Glandular fever		Indefinite
McInnes		Hamstring		2 weeks
Lycett		Knee		Test
Masten		Hamstring		Test
Priddis		Quad		Test
McGovern		Shoulder		Test
Maginness*		Foot		Season

References

http://www.afl.com.au/match-centre/2015/26/wce-v-nmfc

https://afltables.com/afl/stats/games/2015/121820150926.html