Round 14 2015

Melbourne v West Coast
Round 14, 2015

Players gather after the siren to honour Phil Walsh. Photo: aflphotos.com.au

Date

Fri, 4 July 2015 (7:10 PM CST)

Venue

Marrara Oval

Attendance

11,873

Result

Won by 54

Score

WCE 16.18.114 - 9.6.60 MEL

Brownlow

3 J.Darling (WCE)
2 C.Masten (WCE)
1 A.Gaff (WCE)

Ladder

2nd

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In a game overshadowed by the death of Crows coach and former Eagles assistant Phil Walsh earlier in the week, West Coast cruised to an easy win over Melbourne to record a successful first trip to Darwin. The Dees were competitive for the first three quarters but West Coast kicked six goals in the final term to run away with the match. Jack Darling kicked five goals in just his third game for the year, and Dom Sheed kicked a goal from 24 possessions in one of the better games of his short career.

Summary

		1/4 time		1/2 time		3/4 time		Final
Melbourne		2.4.16		5.5.35		8.6.54		9.6.60
West Coast		5.4.34		7.8.50		10.14.74		16.18.114

Goals: Darling 5, Cripps, Kennedy, Shuey 2, Hill, LeCras, McGovern, Sheed, Sinclair

Best: Darling, Gaff, Naitanui, Kennedy, Wellingham, Masten, Sheed

Injuries: Priddis (cut lip)

Reports: LeCras for striking N.Jetta

Sub: Selwood for Duggan in the third quarter

Named side

	West Coast				Melbourne
B:	25.Hurn	31.Schofield	5.Sheppard	B:	39.Jetta	25.T.McDonald	20.Garland
HB:	26.Butler	20.McGovern	12.Wellingham	HB:	18.Cross	14.Dunn	5.Toumpas
C:	6.Yeo	11.Priddis	3.Gaff	C:	44.Bail	7.Viney	4.Watts
HF:	7.Masten	27.Darling	15.Cripps	HF:	36.Garlett	6.Dawes	38.Howe
F:	2.LeCras	17.Kennedy	33.Hill	F:	10.Brayshaw	1.Hogan	42.Spencer
R:	9.Naitanui	10.Selwood	13.Shuey	R:	11.Gawn	23.Vince	2.N.Jones
I:	4.Sheed	14.Duggan	18.Ellis	I:	12.Tyson	15.Stretch	30.Neal-Bullen
	22.Sinclair				45.M.Jones
E:	24.Rosa	34.Hutchings	36.McInnes	Em:	27.Riley	48.Fitzpatrick	24.Kennedy-Harris

In: Butler

Out: Rosa

Quarter by quarter

Both sides went in as named. Selwood started in the vest for the Eagles and draftee Alex Neal-Bullen filled that role for the Dees.

From the coach

"I think there's probably been a bit of a release after the game. There's some guys who are emotional. We're trying to stress to our players and our staff that there's no one way to handle these situations, and we addressed that yesterday morning and we tried to bring it all together tonight. They were very flat at the breaks and before the game, but I thought they got the job done, but there was a distinctly different feel tonight.

"...The game in itself, Melbourne play a way that's really hard to get space with and I thought for most of the night we were playing their style. I'm happy that we matched it and we ended up getting over the top of them in the second half or the last quarter. But it was one of those games from a coach's point of view where it just felt uncomfortable for a long period of time. Our players found a way.

"We've scored pretty heavily in terms of shots for most of the year. It was disappointing we didn't convert but it's probably a sign of good team defence (from Melbourne) when you're having your shots from so wide. It's probably crept into our game a little, our inaccuracy."

From the papers

The West Australian

"Darling was an imposing figure in the forward line during the first quarter, kicking 2.2 as the major target inside 50m.

There was a glaring difference in the way the two sides used the ball coming out of defence and through the middle in the first quarter.

While West Coast were generally direct and precise, Melbourne often went wide and committed a string of costly turnovers.

A tight second quarter resulted in Melbourne edging back into the contest, trimming the margin to 15 points by half-time as their midfield began to have more of a say."

The Age

"West Coast dominated the stoppages and kept the ball in their forward 50 for most of the second term, but a late goal by the Demons kept the difference to just 15 points by the main break.

A cool-down swim at half-time appeared to refresh Paul Roos' men, who laid on two quickfire majors from turnovers in the third term to reduce their deficit further.

The Eagles made just six tackles in the quarter, their lowest this season, and were shaky in front of goal — kicking 3.6 to 3.1 for a 20-point lead.

But exhaustion and inexperience prevented any chance of a comeback for the Demons. West Coast booted six of the last seven goals, plus four behinds for the victory."

East Perth report

Round 15 (4 July)

East Perth fell to Swan Districts in a close battle at Bassendean, losing by 4 points. Matt Rosa kicked a goal from 32 possessions in a strong performance after being dropped.

Appearing for East Perth: Barrass, Bennell, Brophy, Colledge, Lucas, Lycett, McInnes, Nelson(*WAFL debut), Newman, Powell, Rosa. Reserves: Karpany, Lamb, Main

Injury list

In the lead-up to the round 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
Tunbridge		Ankle/shoulder		Season
McGinnity		Wrist		2 weeks
Lamb		Knee		Test
McGovern		Thigh		Test
Schofield		Hip		Test
Cripps		Thigh		Test
Maginness		Foot		Unknown		(rookies not officially listed)

References

http://www.afl.com.au/match-centre/2015/14/melb-v-wce

http://afltables.com/afl/stats/games/2015/111820150704.html