A bitter season-opening defeat was compounded by an apparent serious knee injury suffered by Mitch Brown in the first quarter, with the key defender facing the prospect of joining Eric MacKenzie on the sidelines for all of 2015. In a fast-paced affair at Docklands, the lead changed hands many times and West Coast went into the final change with a slender lead, but were unable to hold off the Bulldogs. Jamie Cripps kicked a career-high five goals and the sole remaining tall defender Jeremy McGovern was a rock down back.
Summary[]
| 1/4 time | 1/2 time | 3/4 time | Final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Western Bulldogs | 4.0.24 | 7.5.47 | 11.6.72 | 14.13.97 | ||||
| West Coast | 3.1.19 | 7.1.43 | 12.2.74 | 14.3.87 |
Goals: Cripps 5, Kennedy, Shuey 2, Gaff, Lamb, LeCras, Lycett, Naitanui
Best: Cripps, McGovern, Hurn, LeCras, Rosa, Gaff
Injuries: Brown (knee)
Sub: Lamb for Brown (knee) in the first quarter
Milestones: Lamb AFL debut and only appearance, Nelson AFL debut
Named side[]
| West Coast | Bulldogs | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B: | Butler | McGovern | Sheppard | B: | Wood | Roughead | Morris |
| HB: | Hurn | Brown | Rosa | HB: | Murphy | Talia | M.Boyd |
| C: | Gaff | Shuey | Yeo | C: | Jong | Macrae | Picken |
| HF: | Masten | Lamb | LeCras | HF: | Dickson | Redpath | Crameri |
| F: | Cripps | Kennedy | Lycett | F: | Stringer | T.Boyd | Dahlhaus |
| R: | Naitanui | Priddis | Wellingham | R: | Minson | Wallis | Bontempelli |
| I: | Nelson | McGinnity | Selwood | I: | Grant | Honeychurch | Johannisen |
| Sheed | Goodes | ||||||
| E: | Bennell | Lucas | Tunbridge | E: | Hrovat | Stevens | Cordy |
New: Tom Lamb (Dandenong Stingrays/Edithvale-Aspendale JFC), Jackson Nelson (Geelong Falcons/St Mary's JFC)
Quarter by quarter[]
Club Champion votes[]
| McGovern | 15 | Rosa | 5 | |||
| Cripps | 14 | McGinnity | 5 | |||
| Hurn | 9 | Selwood | 5 | |||
| Naitanui | 9 | Gaff | 4 | |||
| Yeo | 8 | Priddis | 4 | |||
| Butler | 7 | Wellingham | 3 | |||
| Sheppard | 7 | Nelson | 3 | |||
| Shuey | 7 | Brown | 0 | |||
| Kennedy | 6 | Lamb | 0 | |||
| LeCras | 6 | Lycett | 0 | |||
| Masten | 5 | Sheed | 0 |
From the coach[]
"We had to change a few things, there's no doubt. We had to play Sharrod down back and Elliot Yeo had to play as a permanent defender, and we had to mix a few things round. But I think it'd be doing the Bulldogs a disservice to say that the reason why we lost was we lost Brown. I thought they clearly held up for longer than we did. Tackles - we got blown away. Clearances - blown away. The game was played in their half. I thought our defenders actually held up pretty well, it was just the supply and the lack of it up the other end.
...
We're going to learn from tonight. It was disappointing. We're still learning, we're still developing, we're still building, but at the moment we can't do it for long enough so it's something we've got to work on.
...
We had patches where we were good but not for long enough. And I've spoken about this before, until we do that it'll be a 50/50 call on supply and then result. They know that, we've been working on it a lot. We're still a young developing list but there's got to be a time when we actually step up and take some accountability."
From the papers[]
The West Australian[]
"In the first half, the Eagles were outgunned in the key statistical categories of clearances (29-12), forward 50m entries (28-20) and contested possessions (80-65).
But the Bulldogs led by just four points at the main break and their failure to capitalise on that statistical dominance looked like it might back to bite them.
The Eagles booted the first three goals of third quarter to gain the upper hand and were two points in front at the final change.
But they ran out of legs, with Tom Boyd and Tory Dickson kicking the final two goals of the match to seal a season-opening win for the Bulldogs"[1]
The Age[]
"This was a cracking game. Quick. Attacking. Never more than 15 points the difference. Thirteen lead changes. A toss of the coin job. But still one the Western Bulldogs would have been very disappointed to lose.
When the final siren heralded Luke Beveridge's first win as an AFL senior coach, his new side had enjoyed 10 more scoring shots. They'd had 17 more inside 50 entries. And they had dominated the final quarter.
Yet such was the nature of this gripping contest you could never rule West Coast out of contention. Indeed, it was the Eagles who had twice skipped to that match-high lead after four unanswered goals to start the second term and another three to begin the second half."[2]
Herald-Sun[]
"Without Brown, Eagles’ defender Jeremy McGovern battled heroically playing the lone key defensive hand, hauling in 12 marks for the night to continue his remarkable breakout season last year.
Former Saint Jamie Cripps also kicked a personal best five goals to keep the Eagles in the contest.
McGovern has played only 14 games but again looked like one of the best backmen in the competition and now one of the Eagles most important players, if Brown follows Eric Mackenzie on the sidelines for the rest of the season."[3]
East Perth report[]
Round 1 (21 Mar)
East Fremantle demolished a disjointed East Perth by 55 points in the WAFL season opener at Subiaco Oval. Kane Lucas worked hard all night for 31 possessions and Murray Newman kicked two goals. Rowen Powell impressed in the reserves with 5 goals from 24 possessions.
Appearing for East Perth: Brophy(*first East Perth appearance), Colledge, Duggan*, Hill, Karpany, Lucas*, Newman*, Waterman*. Reserves: Adamson, Barrass, Main, Powell
Round 2 (28 Mar)
East Perth withstood a late Swan Districts charge to hold on for their first win of the 2015 season, finishing 13 points ahead. Brant Colledge had 30 possessions and Alec Waterman kicked two goals from 26 touches as most Eagles contributed well, but Murray Newman suffered an ankle injury in the first half.
Appearing for East Perth: Bennell, Brophy, Colledge, Duggan, Hill, Karpany, Lucas, McInnes, Newman, Tunbridge, Waterman. Reserves: Adamson, Barrass, Main, Powell
Round 3 (3 Apr)
The Royals got revenge on their Leederville co-tenants for the previous year's grand final defeat, demolishing Subiaco by 64 points. Brant Colledge had another big game with 36 possessions and three goals, Fraser McInnes led the ruck with 32 hitouts and 22 possessions, and Murray Newman kicked four goals.
Appearing for East Perth: Bennell, Brophy, Colledge, Duggan, Hill, Karpany, McInnes, Newman, Schofield, Tunbridge. Reserves: Adamson, Barrass
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) | |||
| Cavka | Foot | 8-9 weeks | ||||
| Darling | Foot | 4-8 weeks | ||||
| Sinclair | Thumb | 2-3 weeks | ||||
| Hutchings | Groin | TBC | ||||
| Brown | Hamstring tightness | Test | ||||
| Schofield | Ankle | Test | ||||
| Ellis | Hamstring | Test | ||||
| Maginness | Foot | Unknown | (rookies not officially listed) | |||
| Newman | Ankle | Unknown | (rookies not officially listed) |
References[]
http://www.afl.com.au/match-centre/2015/1/wb-v-wce
http://afltables.com/afl/stats/games/2015/071820150404.html
- ↑ Shayne Hope, The West Australian (4 April 2015), "Brown injured as Eagles crash to Dogs": https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sport/afl/a/26934069/brown-injured-as-eagles-crash-to-dogs/
- ↑ Rohan Connolly, The Age (4 April 2015), "Gritty Bulldogs eke out narrow win over Eagles": http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-match-report/gritty-bulldogs-eke-out-narrow-win-over-eagles-20150404-1mep6v.html
- ↑ Jay Clark, Herald-Sun (4 April 2015), "Western Bulldogs defeat West Coast by 10 points at Etihad Stadium": http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/afl-season-western-bulldogs-defeat-west-coast-by-10-points-at-etihad-stadium/story-fni5f22o-1227290453211
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