West Coast survived a scare from St Kilda to consolidate their position in the top eight as the season approached the pointy end. The Eagles put breathing space between themselves and the Saints with a six-goal second term, then held on as the visitors staged a late fightback to get almost within a goal. Dom Sheed augmented his team-high 32 possessions with two vital late goals, and Elliot Yeo showed he was back to his bullocking best with a staggering 20 contested possessions, but the Eagles lost star forward Liam Ryan to a hamstring injury.
Summary[]
| 1/4 time | 1/2 time | 3/4 time | Final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Coast | 2.2.14 | 8.6.54 | 11.7.73 | 14.10.94 | ||||
| St Kilda | 2.1.13 | 4.3.27 | 7.6.48 | 13.8.86 |
Goals: Darling, Kennedy 3, Sheed 2, Cripps, Kelly, Langdon, Naitanui, Ryan, Waterman
Best: Sheed, Kelly, Kennedy, Cripps, Darling, Yeo, Naitanui, Hurn
Injuries: Ryan (hamstring)
Medical subs: (WCE) Brander for Ryan (hamstring) in the first quarter; (STK) Sharman, unused
Milestones: McGovern 150th game
Jumper: Home, blue shorts
Named sides[]
| West Coast | St Kilda | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B: | 25.Hurn | 42.H.Edwards | 28.Cole | B: | 1.Coffield | 20.Howard | 29.Webster |
| HB: | 14.Duggan | 20.McGovern | 5.Sheppard | HB: | 44.Wilkie | 35.Sinclair | 8.Hill |
| C: | 36.West | 11.Kelly | 4.Sheed | C: | 15.Billings | 9.Steele | 6.Ross |
| HF: | 7.Langdon | 27.Darling | 15.Cripps | HF: | 28.Membrey | 31.Byrnes | 16.Butler |
| F: | 12.Allen | 17.Kennedy | 1.Ryan | F: | 21.Long | 12.King | 25.Kent |
| R: | 9.Naitanui | 6.Yeo | 3.Gaff | R: | 18.Ryder | 7.Dunstan | 3.Jones |
| I: | 2.Waterman | 24.O'Neill | 34.Hutchings | I: | 5.Crouch | 37.Connolly | 38.Clavarino |
| 35.Rotham | 41.Hunter | ||||||
| E: | 10.Brander | 23.Witherden | 29.Foley | E: | 13.Lonie | 23.Bytel | 30.Allison |
| 32.Williams | 43.Sharman |
In: Kennedy, Waterman, O'Neill, Hutchings
Out: Shuey (calf), Petruccelle (hamstring), L.Edwards (hamstring), Williams, Nelson (medical sub)
Quarter by quarter[]
Both sides went in as named, with Brander and debutant Cooper Sharman starting as subs. The match was played in fine but cool conditions.
Club Champion votes[]
| Kelly | 12 | McGovern | 5 | ||
| Sheed | 12 | Langdon | 4 | ||
| Naitanui | 11 | Waterman | 4 | ||
| Yeo | 10 | Allen | 3 | ||
| Darling | 8 | Brander | 3 | ||
| Gaff | 8 | H.Edwards | 3 | ||
| Kennedy | 8 | Hutchings | 3 | ||
| Cripps | 7 | O'Neill | 3 | ||
| Sheppard | 7 | Rotham | 3 | ||
| Cole | 6 | West | 3 | ||
| Duggan | 5 | Ryan | 0 | ||
| Hurn | 5 |
From the coach[]
"They showed good resilience today, and so did St Kilda. Both of us have had bad patches this year, and we scouted them in the last month as good as any, the way they play, they’re probably number one or two in defence at the moment, and they’re building. So we thought we were a bit behind them in terms of best football, but today we were really pleased, we fought it out and hung on.
"Yeah definitely, it (aggressive ball movement)’s never not been there, perhaps we haven’t looked for it as much. You can’t define your game off your ball movement, you need to get the contest right, and I think the last three weeks we’ve got better and better, in our work rate and effort. They’re the pillars. We did have opportunities today to move the ball a bit quicker and we took it, in particular the first half, but it did dry up in the last quarter and a half. But the ball movement was back to somewhere near our best.
"...I’ve never lost faith in our players, and they’ve held up pretty well over the years, especially some of our senior players, so that hasn’t been an issue for us internally, we’ve always backed them in. I thought today there was little periods of players who just dominated for us at stages. Tim Kelly’s second quarter, I think Nic for most of the day, Darling, Kennedy, (Shannon) Hurn doing some really good things down back, Gov had his moments. So our leaders, I thought, were really resilient, Dom Sheed standing up in the second half, and Yeoy looks like he’s back to his best, so while we did all that, we obviously tip our hat to the Saints, and what they were doing as well, they never gave up either."[2]
From the papers[]
The West Australian[]
"Kelly has regularly saved his best games in blue and gold for when the midfield is depleted and he again discovered his best with captain Luke Shuey and fellow onballer Jack Redden sidelined.
Kelly was slowed by injury in the second half but put the Eagles on his back in the second term, as West Coast kicked six goals to two to take control of the match.
He had 13 disposals, three clearances, five inside 50s, a goal and two score assists in a sizzling quarter, with his own goal the highlight as he read Paddy Ryder’s tap from a stoppage and sent it forward before following it up to slot a running goal.
The efficient Eagles added 6.4 from 15 forward entries, with Kennedy the major presence as his three goals came before half-time."[3]
The Age[]
"This game went down to the wire and its tone was set in the early exchanges as the Saints scrambled to mute the Eagles’ big battalions led by Darling and Kennedy.
In fact, it took 11 minutes before either side was able to nail a major, but there would be little surprise that when a goal did come it was Kennedy, back in the team again after injury, who struck to put his side in the lead. When exciting forward Liam Ryan kicked a second it looked as though the Eagles might take control early, although Ryan’s afternoon was finished within seconds as he clutched a hamstring and took no further part in the game.
The Saints showed their fighting qualities after those setbacks as Billings and Paddy Ryder snagged majors to leave the visitors only one point adrift at the first change."[4]
Reserves[]
Round 16 (24 July)
West Coast continued their late-season revival with a narrow win over East Perth at Leederville. The Eagles had the best of their former affiliate for three quarters and had a seemingly comfortable 38-point lead at the final break, but were held scoreless in the fourth quarter as the Royals made an enormous late charge that fell just two points short. Jackson Nelson was the Eagles' best with 32 possessions and nine tackles, while Nathan Vardy kicked three goals to go with his 31 hitouts.
| 1/4 time | 1/2 time | 3/4 time | Final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Perth | 3.0.18 | 6.2.38 | 8.6.54 | 13.12.90 | ||||
| West Coast | 5.4.34 | 8.7.55 | 14.8.92 | 14.8.92 |
Goals: Vardy 3, Busher 2, Ainsworth, Brayshaw, Garlett, Hug, Johnson, Nelson, Nitschke, Williams, Winder
Best: Vardy, Witherden, Brayshaw, Nelson, Jamieson, Ainsworth, Johnson
Injuries: Nil
Named side:
| West Coast | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B: | 63.Hansen | 70.Sumich | 38.Johnson | |
| HB: | 60.Deegan | 58.Busher | 43.Collins | |
| C: | 54.Sinclair | 33.Ainsworth | 51.Marlin | |
| HF: | 56.Hug | 22.Winder | 49.Garlett | |
| F: | 61.Robilliard | 40.Jamieson | 59.Nitschke | |
| R: | 19.Vardy | 30.Nelson | 45.Brayshaw | |
| I: | 67.Borgogno | 53.Humble | 18.Sears | |
| 63.Young | ||||
| E: | 57.Bentley | 62.Cary | 52.Feeney | |
| 55.Flint |
In: Collins, Nelson, Garlett, Humble, Sears, Young
Out: Brander, Foley, O'Neill, Waterman, Witherden (AFL), Bentley
Late changes: Foley, Williams, Witherden for Borgogno, Humble, Young
Injury list[]
In the leadup to the match the following players were listed as injured or unavailable:
| Player | Injury | Expected return | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cameron | Ankle | TBC | (on inactive list 1/6/21) | |||
| Rioli | Suspension | 4 weeks | ||||
| Barrass | Hamstring | 2 weeks | ||||
| Redden | Knee | 2 weeks | ||||
| Shuey | Calf | 2 weeks | ||||
| Kennedy | Calf | Test | ||||
| Venables* | Concussion | Indefinite | (on inactive list 1/6/21) | |||
| Ah Chee* | Hand | 5-6 weeks | ||||
| Jones* | Ankle | 4 weeks | ||||
| Trew* | Hamstring | 1 week | ||||
| Collins* | Hamstring | Test |
References[]
https://www.afl.com.au/matches/3175
- ↑ West Coast Eagles Yearbook 2021, p.43
- ↑ westcoasteagles.com.au (26 July 2021), "Round 19: Pressing questions": https://www.westcoasteagles.com.au/news/993537/round-19-pressing-questions
- ↑ Braden Quartermaine, The West Australian (24 July 2021), "West Coast Eagles hold on to beat fast-finishing St Kilda despite Max King's six goals": https://thewest.com.au/sport/west-coast-eagles/west-coast-eagles-hold-on-to-beat-fast-finishing-st-kilda-despite-max-kings-six-goals-c-3495373
- ↑ Michael Lynch, The Age (25 July 2021), "Eagles hold on against gallant St Kilda as King kicks six": https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/eagles-hold-on-against-gallant-saints-as-king-kicks-six-20210724-p58cjq.html
| 2021 season <--2020-21 offseason | Playing squad | Coaching panel | 2021-22 offseason--> |
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| AFLW | Reserves |
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Pre-season : 1 (FRE) | 2 (FRE) |