Round 13 2021

West Coast v Richmond
Round 13, 2021

Hurn in action. Photo: aflphotos.com.au

Date

Sun, 13 June 2021 (5.20pm WST)

Venue

Perth Stadium

Attendance

50,834

Result

Won by 4

Score

WCE 13.7.85 - 12.9.81 RIC

Brownlow

3 K.Lambert (RIC)
2 J.Kennedy (WCE)
1 N.Naitanui (WCE)

Ladder

7th

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West Coast recorded an epic and stirring come-from-behind win over reigning premiers Richmond. In front of a raucous home crowd, the Eagles took it up to Richmond for most of the match but trailed by 22 points midway through the final term before ramping up the pressure on the Tigers and booting the last four goals of the match, the winner coming from a Josh Kennedy set shot in the pocket with under a minute remaining. Kennedy wound back the clock to kick four goals from eight score involvements and second-gamer Luke Edwards turned in a stunning performance with 27 possessions, many of them coming in the critical last term.

Summary

		1/4 time		1/2 time		3/4 time		Final
West Coast		3.0.18		7.1.43		8.3.51		13.7.85
Richmond		2.2.14		7.5.47		9.9.63		12.9.81

Goals: Kennedy 4, Allen, Cripps, Waterman 2, Jones, Naitanui, Ryan

Best: Kennedy, Naitanui, Redden, Yeo, Sheed, Hurn, Foley, L.Edwards

Injuries: Nil

Medical subs: (WCE) O'Neill, unused; (RIC) Ralphsmith, unused

Milestones: Allen 50th game

Jumper: Home, blue shorts

Named sides

	West Coast				Richmond
B:	25.Hurn	37.Barrass	28.Cole	B:	35.Broad	21.Balta	2.Grimes
HB:	35.Rotham	42.H.Edwards	14.Duggan	HB:	7.Baker	15.Short	1.Vlastuin
C:	8.Redden	4.Sheed	30.Nelson	C:	33.McIntosh	9.Cotchin	50.Pickett
HF:	15.Cripps	27.Darling	21.Petruccelle	HF:	11.Castagna	16.Aarts	29.Bolton
F:	12.Allen	17.Kennedy	1.Ryan	F:	40.Coleman-Jones	4.Martin	8.Riewoldt
R:	9.Naitanui	6.Yeo	3.Gaff	R:	41.Chol	10.Edwards	23.Lambert
I:	7.Langdon	16.L.Edwards	29.Foley	I:	14.Houli	34.Graham	17.Rioli
	31.Jones				22.Caddy
E:	2.Waterman	10.Brander	19.Vardy	E:	31.Mansell	36.Martyn	45.Ralphsmith
	24.O'Neill				46.Miller

In: Duggan, Allen, Kennedy, Jones (medical sub)

Out: Sheppard (concussion), Williams (hamstring), Waterman, O'Neill

Late change: Waterman for Petruccelle (hamstring)

Quarter by quarter

West Coast were forced into a late change with Petruccelle failing to come up from his hamstring injury, replaced by Waterman. The match was played under lights in clear conditions.

From the coach

"It was a great game, it felt like a heavyweight battle, for the boys to do what they did in the end, both teams I think looked pretty tired towards the end there, our crowd really helped, 50,000, it was a great response from our players in the last 10 minutes. We hung in there, probably Richmond overall played a bit better than us for the four quarters, but when it mattered most, I thought we made the most of it.

"Goal kicking is important, we train it a lot, yeah that’s not everything, but the last quarter I think we had three inside 50s for three goals at one stage, and I think we had 18 or 19 inside 50s for whatever we kicked, so probably accuracy kept us in it for the first three quarters, and then field positioning got us over the line in the end.

"...I just felt like it was a great game, we hung in there, Richmond are the best side in the comp, let’s be honest, they’re at full strength, they play a brand that’s really hard to stop, quite often the game’s on their terms a lot, so our goal was to try and get on our terms as much as we could, didn’t quite get that right for three quarters, but the last quarter we dug in and played with plenty of sprit. So yeah, I’m not surprised there was elation after the game."

From the papers

The West Australian

"The first goal of the third term took a tense 14 minutes, as Callum Coleman-Jones kicked his second and when Jason Castagna slipped out the back to follow it up the Tigers were clear by three goals and the alarm bells were ringing.

Ryan provided a crucial lifeline just before three-quarter time, with his set shot - West Coast’s only goal of the third term – coming on the back of some fortune after a hack forward from Naitanui fell into his arms.

A classy left-foot snap from Kennedy dragged the Eagles to within a kick to start the final term.

But when Martin punished a sluggish Luke Foley, who was generally excellent, by sliding home his second and the returning Kane Lambert added his second, it looked like it was over.

Nobody told the Eagles."

The Age

"There was a five to 10 minute period through the second term where Richmond kicked four goals on the trot to go from trailing by nine points to leading by 15.

Dustin Martin cut the lead to three points when he read a West Coast ruck tap and snapped from the pocket. The fourth goal in the run was the most extraordinary, more for the marking contest that led to the shot than the shot itself.

Bolton jumped so high to mark he needed a parachute. He couldn’t grab it but Lambert crumbed and goaled.

Overall, Richmond made their messy, scrappy, forward-at-all-costs game look as electrifying as it had all season because of its irrepressible rush, and the coordination with which they commited to it."

Reserves

Round 10 (12 June)

West Coast's WAFL side had a bye.

Injury list

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

Player		Injury		Expected return
Cameron		Ankle		TBC		(on inactive list 1/6/21)
Rioli		Suspension		10 weeks
Winder		Knee		4-5 weeks
Kelly		Knee		2-3 weeks
Witherden		Groin		2-3 weeks
Shuey		Hamstring		2-3 weeks
McGovern		Knee		2 weeks
Sheppard		Concussion		1 week
Ah Chee		Calf		1 week
Duggan		Knee		Test
Allen		Concussion		Test
Petruccelle		Hamstring		Test
Brander		Adductor		Test
Venables*		Concussion		Indefinite		(on inactive list 1/6/01)

References

https://www.afl.com.au/matches/3705

https://afltables.com/afl/stats/games/2021/141820210613.html