Round 13 2020

West Coast v GWS Giants
Round 13, 2020

Duggan in action. Photo: aflphotos.com.au

Date

Sun, 23 August 2020 (4.10pm WST)

Venue

Perth Stadium

Attendance

27,339

Result

Won by 12

Score

WCE 9.7.61 - 7.7.49 GWS

Brownlow

3 J.Kelly (GWS)
2 J.McGovern (WCE)
1 A.Gaff (WCE)

Ladder

4th

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West Coast survived a late scare from GWS Giants to win their eighth straight game ahead of a shift back to Queensland. The Eagles set the stage early with a dominant first term, kicking four goals while holding the visitors to a solitary point, and led by as much as 37 points early in the final term before the Giants made a late move, kicking the final four goals of the game to reduce the margin to a much-less-comfortable 12 points. Jeremy McGovern controlled the air, taking eight intercept marks in the backline, and Jack Darling kicked three goals.

Summary

		1/4 time		1/2 time		3/4 time		Final
West Coast		4.3.27		5.4.34		8.7.55		9.7.61
GWS Giants		0.1.1		1.6.12		3.6.24		7.7.49

Goals: Darling 3, Ah Chee 2, Gaff, Kennedy, Naitanui, X.O'Neill

Best: Naitanui, McGovern, Sheed, Sheppard, Gaff, Ah Chee, Barrass

Injuries: Allen (hip)

Milestones: Cole 50th game, X.O'Neill AFL debut

Jumper: Indigenous, blue shorts

Named sides

	West Coast				GWS Giants
B:	25.Hurn	37.Barrass	5.Sheppard	B:	25.Keeffe	35.Corr	19.Haynes
HB:	14.Duggan	20.McGovern	30.Nelson	HB:	40.Kennedy	29.Williams	8.Ward
C:	4.Sheed	13.Shuey	15.Cripps	C:	6.Whitfield	3.Coniglio	22.Kelly
HF:	10.Brander	27.Darling	1.Ryan	HF:	19.Greene	27.Himmelberg	38.Lloyd
F:	41.Ah Chee	17.Kennedy	46.Reid	F:	18.Cameron	26.Riccardi	16.Daniels
R:	9.Naitanui	11.Kelly	3.Gaff	R:	41.Mumford	2.Hopper	14.Taranto
I:	12.Allen	24.X.O’Neill	28.Cole	I:	5.Caldwell	23.Shaw	36.Perryman
	35.Rotham				37.Hill
E:	22.Brayshaw	23.Jetta	32.Williams	E:	9.Hately	10.Jacobs	17.Langdon
	34.Hutchings				39.Idun

In: Duggan, X.O’Neill

Out: Redden (groin), Ainsworth

New: Xavier O’Neill (Oakleigh Chargers/Blackburn JFC)

Quarter by quarter

Both sides went in as named. The game was played in generally fine conditions although a shower during the second term made things slippery.

From the coach

“We’re really happy with the win; really happy. We knew this was going to be a bit of a fight with the Giants coming off a disappointing game. Getting the early lead was important and they didn’t stop. A lot of the stats don’t look great, but we’ll take the win and move on.

“Nic set us up and Gov probably saved us and between that we had some really good performances. We probably didn’t handle the run on as well as we liked in the last 15 minutes, but apart from that we thought we played a quality side on the rebound at almost full strength, so to get the win we’re really happy with our players. But we’ve got the Tigers this week and we’ve got to go up another level to compete with them.

“I thought Gov was pretty good last week too. I’m really pleased we won without him for the four weeks he was out. We are challenging our list and we debuted another player today, which is great. With some youth coming through … Rotham is taking another step (along with) Jack Nelson, Tom Cole and Reid. Our side is looking different, but we are still winning which is great. We do understand that we do need to go to another level though.”

From the papers

The West Australian

“West Coast set up the win with the first five goals when Naitanui was on fire.

The Giants had plenty of chances, kicking 1.6 in the first half from more inside 50s at half-time.

They then reduced the margin to only 11 points during the third quarter after kicking the first two goals.

But they were playing catch-up football and fighting against tide because they couldn’t stop Naitanui when it mattered.“

The Age

“Not even the return of talisman Toby Greene was enough to put things right, with GWS held goalless in the first quarter for the third consecutive game. It would have been the entire first half were it not for a late effort from Brent Daniels, just minutes before the long break.

By that stage, West Coast had already booted five unanswered majors - the first four coming in an utterly dominant opening term. Naitanui kicked one himself, to go with his eight possessions (seven contested) and six clearances for the quarter, while Jack Darling booted two of his three goals for the night.

The Giants were better in the second but had nothing to show for it until Daniels struck. When they returned from the sheds, Daniels set up first-gamer Jake Riccardi for his debut AFL goal, which sparked their best sequence of the match.

Stephen Coniglio chimed in next, and all of a sudden a 31-point deficit had been trimmed back to just 10. That's as close as they got, with Xavier O'Neill and Brendon Ah Chee giving the Eagles back their breathing space.”

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
Rioli		Suspension		Indefinite
Vardy		Thigh		5 weeks
Petruccelle		Hamstring		3-4 weeks
Yeo		Groin		2-3 weeks
Schofield		Elbow		2-3 weeks
Waterman		Hand		2-3 weeks
Duggan		Hamstring		Test
Hutchings		Toe		Test
Jones*		Hamstring		Season
M.O'Neill*		Back		6 weeks

References

https://afltables.com/afl/stats/games/2020/182120200823.html

https://www.afl.com.au/matches/2848