Round 11 2023

West Coast v Essendon
Round 11, 2023

Rotham gets spoiled. Photo: aflphotos.com.au

Date

Sat, 27 May 2023 (5.30pm WST)

Venue

Perth Stadium

Attendance

39,269

Result

Lost by 50

Score

ESS 14.12.96 - 6.10.46 WCE

Brownlow

Ladder

18th

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West Coast slumped to another heavy loss, this time at home to Essendon. Unlike the previous week, there were signs of effort but a lack of polish and cohesion cost the Eagles as they were unable to string regular goals together with the Bombers extending their lead at every change. Jayden Hunt tallied 34 possessions and a game-high 684 metres gained, while the returning Shannon Hurn had 27 disposals at 100% efficiency and acting captain Oscar Allen kicked four of his side's six goals.

Summary

		1/4 time		1/2 time		3/4 time		Final
West Coast		2.3.15		4.5.29		5.9.39		6.10.46
Essendon		4.1.25		8.5.53		11.6.72		14.12.96

Goals: Allen 4, Petruccelle, Waterman

Best: Allen, Hunt, Duggan, Kelly, Hurn, Yeo

Injuries: L.Edwards (concussion), Sheed (leg)

Substitutes: (WCE) Clark for L.Edwards (concussion) at half-time; (ESS) D'Ambrosio for Bryan in the third term

Jumper: Indigenous, blue shorts

Named sides

	West Coast				Essendon
B:	33.Bazzo	37.Barrass	23.Witherden	B:	1.McGrath	30.Zerk-Thatcher	15.Laverde
HB:	25.Hurn	35.Rotham	14.Duggan	HB:	27.Redman	14.Ridley	4.Langford
C:	5.Hunt	11.Kelly	16.L.Edwards	C:	22.Durham	7.Merrett	21.Heppell
HF:	4.Sheed	2.Waterman	21.Petruccelle	HF:	37.Martin	25.Stringer	6.Caldwell
F:	44.Long	12.Allen	40.Jamieson	F:	11.Snelling	10.Wieideman	43.McDonald-Tipungwuti
R:	32.B.Williams	6.Yeo	3.Gaff	R:	2.Draper	8.Hobbs	16.Perkins
I:	7.Ginbey	19.Hough	29.Foley	I:	9.Shiel	19.Hind	35.Guelfi
	36.West				47.Menzie
E:	18.Chesser	24.O'Neill	26.Trew	E:	24.Bryan	26.Baldwin	42.D'Ambrosio
	39.Clark				33.A.Davey

In: Hurn, Barrass, Yeo, L.Edwards

Out: Jones (ankle), H.Edwards (groin), Chesser, O'Neill, Clark (sub)

Late changes: (WCE) O'Neill for Jamieson; (ESS) Bryan for Shiel (foot)

Quarter by quarter

Both sides made late changes, with West Coast dropping ruckman Callum Jamieson for Xavier O'Neill and Essendon going the other way, bringing in backup ruck Nick Bryan to replace injured midfielder Dylan Shiel. The match was played under lights in fine conditions.

From the coach

"It was probably the minimum we wanted tonight, like we obviously didn't win and the score blew out, but we won the inside 50s. We were brave with the footy to a point where we got hurt on the turnover, but probably a little bit more of the identity we're trying to chase without being anywhere near satisfied. But our senior players stood up and played as well as they could. It's been a heavy week for the club. So I thought the intent was there, but we weren't good enough. And we fell down in the front half. So the Barrass movement lasted three goals and then we had to pull that. But we're going to keep looking at those things whilst we don't have our full complement.

"...The Bombers are a tough side to play. Uncontested marks are a really big part of their game, not the whole part, but it's a strong part of their game and trying to deny them some of those marks was a challenge. But the first three quarters we did a reasonable job. And we couldn't stop it in the last. So yeah, I think most of the plays that we conceded probably come off our poor turnovers and just fundamentals which, we can work on that because that if you bring effort and a bit of method around it, then you can work on those things.

"...We haven't had any moments recently, so it's good to have moments that we missed, albeit our set shots tonight probably cost us a little bit. I think going into three quarter time the shots might have been pretty close one or two down and then the last quarter blew out a little bit. So yeah, where we're at the moment, we've got to convert, we need to make the most of our opportunities. So getting shots in good spots is important as well, a few of them were pretty hard but there's some gettable ones there. And Essendon had gettable ones as well, so lets not live in that land. But we realise we've got to convert."

From the papers

Sunday Times

"West Coast played old school footy with man-on-man replacing zoning, and a fast, risk taking approach when they won the ball back.

The moves meant Essendon had to think hard about how to move the footy, and once West Coast won the ball, they had forwards with the advantage of one-on-one contests.

But when you're the bottom team, you need things to go right.

The Eagles were within 20 points in the second quarter and had their chances to challenge, but just couldn't land a blow. Rotham dropped a mark when alone inside 50 and Allen was denied a mark when the umpire called a ball-up after feeling two players grabbed the ball simultaneously."

The Age

"Early on, the game had an almost inevitably grim look. Within a minute, the Bombers were on the board, with Stringer having two kicks in the chain to find Langford in the goal square. Mason Redman outran his forward all the way to the goal square for another.

At that point, the Eagles hadn’t notched a single disposal inside their own attacking arc, and Archie Perkins quickly made it three goals to zip for the Bombers. But the Eagles found something, and Allen was leading from the front.

He got things moving for the home side with a sharp lead, marking an equally sharp kick by Luke Foley. He quickly had another, on the end of a long chain from the back half – probably the single most fluent piece of play by the Eagles all year.

The Eagles ran hard and moved the ball more quickly to break up the Bombers’ possession-based game. Tom Barrass – who’d started the game in attack – was quickly repatriated to defence, and immediately looked more at home."

Reserves

Round 7 (28 May)

West Coast showed fight in a loss to East Perth at Lathlain, appearing set for another triple-figure loss before a fourth-term rally reduced the margin to 74 points. Zane Trew had a team-high 30 possessions while omitted ruck Callum Jamieson recorded 22 touches and a goal.

		1/4 time		1/2 time		3/4 time		Final
West Coast		2.3.15		4.5.29		5.7.37		9.12.66
East Perth		6.1.37		11.2.68		18.7.115		22.8.140

Goals: Garlett 3, Chesser, Deegan, Dewar, Jamieson, Nelson, Trew

Best: Trew, Creasey, Jamieson, Burgiel, Browne

Injuries: Sumich (knee)

Named side:

	West Coast
B:	63.Hansen	50.Sumich	56.Creasey
HB:	38.Baker	81.Mouritz	45.Burgiel
C:	61.McCarthy	48.Nelson	59.Nitschke
HF:	55.A.Waterman	75.Eastough	43.Dewar
F:	34.J.Williams	51.Garlett	68.Watson
R:	30.Barnett	8.Hewett	54.Browne
I:	60.Deegan	62.Downsborough	64.Mercer
	80.Sambo
E:	66.Collins	73.J.Edwards	70.Lucassen
	65.Stevens

In: Burgiel, J.Williams, Hewett, Sumich, A.Waterman, Downsborough

Out: Chesser, Trew (AFL), Burke, Levien, J.Edwards, Lucassen

Late changes: Jamieson, Chesser, Trew for A.Waterman, Downsborough, Sambo

Injury list

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

Player		Injury		Expected return
Culley		Knee		Season
Jones		Ankle		TBC
Cripps		Ankle		9-10 weeks
Ryan		Hamstring		7-9 weeks
Winder		Knee		7-9 weeks
Naitanui		Achilles		6-7 weeks
Cole		Ankle		6-7 weeks
McGovern		Hamstring		4-5 weeks
Darling		Arm		3-4 weeks
Shuey		Ankle/hamstring		2-3 weeks
Petrevski-Seton		Quad		2-3 weeks
Yeo		Adductor		Test
Hurn		Adductor		Test
Allen		Knee		Test
Burgiel		Hamstring		Available		(not on official list)
Duggan		Neck		Available		(not on official list)
Barrass		Illness		Available		(not on official list)
L.Edwards		Illness		Available		(not on official list)