A flat West Coast were held to their first draw of 2015 by the lowly-placed Suns, with the visitors' inaccurate goalkicking contributing to the surprise result. A Callum Sinclair goal looked to have given the Eagles the win but a late Tom Lynch mark and goal levelled the scores just before time expired. Luke Shuey had 33 possessions and the much-improved Sinclair had 18 touches and 20 hitouts despite hyperextending a knee early in the match.
Summary[]
| 1/4 time | 1/2 time | 3/4 time | Final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold Coast | 2.2.14 | 5.5.35 | 8.9.57 | 12.11.83 | ||||
| West Coast | 2.6.18 | 5.11.41 | 7.12.54 | 11.17.83 |
Goals: Darling, Kennedy, Sheed 2, Ellis, Hurn, LeCras, Sinclair, Yeo
Best: Priddis, Sheed, Gaff, Shuey, Schofield
Injuries: Sinclair (knee)
Reports: LeCras for rough conduct on M.Shaw
Sub: Selwood for Hill at three-quarter time
Records: WCE lowest score vs Gold Coast
Named side[]
| West Coast | Gold Coast | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B: | 6.Yeo | 37.Barrass | 25.Hurn | B: | 42.Saad | 16.Thompson | 28.Kolodjashnij |
| HB: | 24.Rosa | 5.Sheppard | 12.Wellingham | HB: | 40.Lemmens | 17.May | 20.Schade |
| C: | 18.Ellis | 11.Priddis | 3.Gaff | C: | 5.Harbrow | 4.Martin | 7.Malceski |
| HF: | 7.Masten | 17.Kennedy | 34.Hutchings | HF: | 11.Bennell | 19.Lynch | 32.Matera |
| F: | 2.LeCras | 27.Darling | 22.Sinclair | F: | 33.A.Hall | 12.Day | 23.Dixon |
| R: | 9.Naitanui | 10.Selwood | 13.Shuey | R: | 22.Nicholls | 37.Lonergan | 44.Miller |
| I: | 15.Cripps | 33.Hill | 31.Schofield | I: | 8.Russell | 13.Boston | 26.Shaw |
| 4.Sheed | 34.Glenn | ||||||
| E: | 30.Nelson | 44.Bennell | 26.Butler | E: | 2.Smith | 27.Cameron | 29.Raines |
No change
Quarter by quarter[]
Club Champion votes[]
| [1] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Priddis | 8 | Rosa | 2 | |||
| Sheed | 8 | Kennedy | 1 | |||
| Hurn | 6 | LeCras | 1 | |||
| Darling | 5 | Barrass | 0 | |||
| Gaff | 5 | Ellis | 0 | |||
| Schofield | 5 | Hill | 0 | |||
| Shuey | 5 | Hutchings | 0 | |||
| Masten | 4 | Naitanui | 0 | |||
| Sinclair | 4 | Selwood | 0 | |||
| Cripps | 3 | Wellingham | 0 | |||
| Sheppard | 3 | Yeo | 0 |
From the coach[]
"It definitely didn't feel like a win. No, we're not happy, but I thought you've got to give credit to Gold Coast with the way they played and the way they handled the night. We kicked ourselves out of it a little bit, but I thought they played better.
"You wouldn't want to just blame goal kicking. We did have seven more scoring shots, but the game wasn't played on our terms. We didn't handle situations the way that we have been recently. I've always thought the maturity of our group is still building and we're not quite there yet, and it's the same with our coaches. It's one of those nights where we're disappointed, but we've got to give a lot of credit to Gold Coast and how they played four quarters.
...
"The way you move the ball helps how you defend. Where you turn the ball over - I think we scored 10 goals from stoppgages to none, so all of their goals came from turnovers in transition. How we defend as a team was off and they took full advantage."
From the papers[]
The West Australian[]
"A huge mark and goal from Tom Lynch with four seconds left in the match snatched a share of the spoils for Gold Coast in a thrilling draw with West Coast at Metricon Stadium tonight.
The Eagles, chasing a coveted top spot, led by a goal in the dying stages.
But Lynch floated across a pack to have the final say in a remarkable 12.11 (83) to 11.17 (83) result."[2]
The Age[]
"The one thing the Suns didn't have on their side was luck. Touk Miller, who played another wonderful game, might have sealed the match, and was celebrating to that effect, only to see the ball brought back for a free kick. Henry Schade slid into Shannon Hurn's legs, desperate to save a goal, and duly gave one away.
That gave the Eagles back the lead, and even though it was a couple of points, they didn't really look like giving it up from there. But they kept missing: Mark Hutchings, Jack Darling, Matt Priddis and Dom Sheed all squandered opportunities to win the game for their side.
They could have put the Suns away much earlier, too: Mark LeCras dribbled the ball from every angle, but managed two behinds and two out of bounds to go with a goal in the first half. Andrew Gaff, Darling and Kennedy all missed chances they should have taken.
But the Suns were the story of the night. No one gave them a snowflake here. It was a draw. But a side that weeks ago seemed so corrupted, on top of crippled, has won the most moral of victories in its short life in the league."[3]
Herald-Sun[]
"Harley Bennell played on running machine Andrew Gaff however from the way they lined up next to each other on the wing at ball-ups and then took off in opposite directions it looked more like an old-school head to head battle rather than either player operating under instructions to be accountable.
Bennell was good, collecting 28 touches and winning seven clearances and booting a goal while Gaff was probably is side’s best player, also gathering 28 disposals and pumping the ball inside 50m seven times.
Jesse Lonergan was given a negating job on Brownlow medallist Matt Priddis.
He found the going tough as the prolific Eagle collected 34 possessions, but Eade is happy for his young players to earn those tough lessons."[4]
East Perth report[]
Round 19 (2 August)
East Perth beat traditional rivals West Perth in a thriller at Leederville, with Tom Lamb kicking the game-winner for the Royals. Lamb finished with four goals for the second straight week, while Patrick McGinnity battled him for best on ground honours with 30 possessions and seven tackles.
Appearing for East Perth: Adamson, Brophy, Butler, Colledge, Karpany, Lamb, Lucas, Lycett, Main, McGinnity, Nelson, Newman. Reserves: Powell
Injury list[]
In the lead-up to the match 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 | ||||
| Waterman | Glandular fever | TBC | ||||
| Cavka | Foot | TBC | ||||
| McInnes | Hamstring | 8-10 weeks | ||||
| McGovern | Hamstring | 1-2 weeks | ||||
| Schofield | Calf | Test | ||||
| Maginness* | Foot | Season |
References[]
http://www.afl.com.au/match-centre/2015/18/gcfc-v-wce
https://afltables.com/afl/stats/games/2015/182020150801.html
- ↑ West Coast Eagles Year Book 2015, p.44
- ↑ Shayne Hope, The West Australian (1 August 2015), "Last-gasp Suns grab draw against Eagles": https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sport/a/29159251/last-gasp-suns-grab-draw-against-eagles/
- ↑ Andrew Stafford, The Age (1 August 2015), "Gold Coast v West Coast: First draw of 2015 season": http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-match-report/gold-coast-v-west-coast-first-draw-of-2015-season-20150801-gipjgx.html
- ↑ Andrew Hamilton, Herald-Sun (1 August 2015), "Lynch's last-second goal earns Suns draw": http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/afl-2015-west-coast-eagles-draw-with-gold-coast-suns-at-metricon-stadium-in-round-18/story-fni5f22o-1227465107966
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