West Coast opened their 2021 premiership campaign with a solid if unconvincing win over Gold Coast at home. The Eagles burst out of the blocks with three goals in the first five minutes, but the Suns were able to peg the lead back. Much of the match was an arm wrestle and the Suns were seven points ahead early in the final term, but West Coast was able to go up a gear and kicked the last five goals of the game. Oscar Allen kicked a career-high four goals and Shannon Hurn had 31 possessions at 93% efficiency.
Summary[]
| 1/4 time | 1/2 time | 3/4 time | Final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Coast | 3.3.21 | 5.3.33 | 7.7.49 | 12.10.82 | ||||
| Gold Coast | 2.4.16 | 4.5.29 | 7.8.50 | 8.10.58 |
Goals: Allen 4, Darling, Kennedy 2, Cripps, Petruccelle, Ryan, Vardy
Best: Allen, Sheed, Kelly, Hurn, Barrass, Duggan
Injuries: Nil
Substitutes: (WCE) Jones, unused; (GC) Holman for Rowell (knee) at quarter time
Milestones: Langdon WCE debut
Jumper: Home, blue shorts
Named sides[]
| West Coast | Gold Coast | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B: | 25.Hurn | 37.Barrass | 5.Sheppard | B: | 35.Budarick | 25.Collins | 23.Lemmens |
| HB: | 28.Cole | 20.McGovern | 30.Nelson | HB: | 27.Powell | 10.Ballard | 17.Markov |
| C: | 14.Duggan | 4.Sheed | 8.Redden | C: | 4.Ellis | 21.Greenwood | 13.Lukosius |
| HF: | 24.O'Neill | 27.Darling | 15.Cripps | HF: | 24.Swallow | 12.Day | 14.Weller |
| F: | 1.Ryan | 17.Kennedy | 12.Allen | F: | 22.Rankine | 34.King | 44.Macpherson |
| R: | 9.Naitanui | 11.Kelly | 3.Gaff | R: | 28.Witts | 18.Rowell | 11.Miller |
| I: | 7.Langdon | 19.Vardy | 21.Petruccelle | I: | 3.Bowes | 7.Brodie | 15.Anderson |
| 35.Rotham | 6.Sexton | ||||||
| E: | 31.Jones | 10.Brander | 23.Witherden | E: | 29.Burgess | 5.Harbrow | 46.Graham |
| 41.Ah Chee | 39.Holman |
New: Zac Langdon (GWS Giants/Claremont)
Quarter by quarter[]
Both sides went in as named, with Jones (WCE) and Holman (GC) the medical subs. The match was played in very warm sunny conditions.
Club Champion votes[]
| Allen | 12 | Rotham | 6 | ||
| Hurn | 12 | Duggan | 5 | ||
| Kelly | 11 | Kennedy | 5 | ||
| Sheed | 11 | Naitanui | 5 | ||
| Barrass | 10 | Redden | 5 | ||
| Darling | 9 | Langdon | 4 | ||
| Cole | 8 | Gaff | 2 | ||
| Cripps | 8 | O'Neill | 2 | ||
| McGovern | 7 | Vardy | 2 | ||
| Ryan | 7 | Petruccelle | 0 | ||
| Sheppard | 7 | Jones | 0 | ||
| Nelson | 6 |
From the coach[]
"It was a slog. Pretty open game I would have thought it would have looked like. A lot of width for both teams. They’re going to be a very good side – they probably are a good side really – they’re not as young as you think they are. They’re ready to go, so coming over here, losing one of their best players in the first five minutes and they didn’t go away at all. It probably took some really good performances from our mature players, but I also thought some of our younger guys really stood up today as well in a game that felt a little bit different to normal. I think we had 33 tackles to 39 ... so dealing with that in oppressive heat was interesting. Probably our maturity got us over the line in the end.
"I think the players just went to another level, our guys. They’ve been around a bit longer than some of the Gold Coast boys. Elevated in the contest, got good field (position), all the basic stuff. We didn’t change anything strategically. Spoke a lot about how to try and stop the flow of the ball movement from our front end to their front end, it was quite hard to stop. In the last 15 minutes we probably had a bit of field position and we won the important contest.
"...Every time we went quick we got rebounded on, we couldn’t lock it in there. The game is going to work itself out no doubt, it always does, there’s always different things to work out in the first four or five rounds. Today was a unique-looking game. The quicker we went the more we got rebounded on, the slower we went it became a bit of a turnover (game). It was just a weird game but we worked through it and eventually we got on top.”[2]
From the papers[]
The West Australian[]
"Allen relished being the beneficiary of a mismatch with Suns defender Jack Bowes thanks to the loaded forward division, with Jack Darling and Josh Kennedy contributing two goals each.
Jamie Cripps’ snapped goal late in the third term was the first West Coast major not kicked by the key forward trio, yet it was still created by a tall thanks to an inspired piece of ruckwork from Nic Naitanui at a boundary throw-in.
With the Suns having kicked three goals in a row to lead by a kick, Naitanui took the ball out of the ruck and offloaded to Cripps who did the rest.
The visitors led by seven points when substitute Nick Holman got the first goal of the final quarter, before the Eagles got the last five goals to close out the game."[3]
The Age[]
"West Coast edged home in an epic final term after trailing by a point at the last break, led by premiership hero Dom Sheed, former captain Shannon Hurn and star recruit Tim Kelly.
Forward Oscar Allen notched a career-best four goals, while defender Jeremy McGovern was helped from the ground in the third term but played out the game.
The Suns stayed focused and played determined football after Rowell’s exit, taking a seven-point lead in the opening minute of the final term but missed opportunities to extend it.
A seesaw last quarter broke open in the final five minutes when Allen and then ruckman Nathan Vardy goaled before Jack Petruccelle kicked his side’s fourth consecutive major to seal victory.[4]
Reserves[]
West Coast's reserves played a pre-season match against Swan Districts at Bassendean Oval, going down by five points. Brendon Ah Chee starred with two goals and a number of score involvements.
Appearing for West Coast: Ah Chee, Ainsworth, Brander, H.Edwards, L.Edwards, Foley, Johnson, Trew, Winder, Witherden, Bentley, Borgogno, Brayshaw, Busher, Deegan, Feeney, Fitzgerald, Hansen, Hug, Humble, Marlin, McGee, Nitschke, Robilliard
Injury list[]
In the leadup to the match the following players were confirmed as being unavailable:
| Player | Injury | Expected return | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rioli | Suspension | 22 weeks | ||||
| Yeo | Groin | TBC | ||||
| Cameron | Groin | TBC | ||||
| Shuey | Hamstring | 2-3 weeks | ||||
| Waterman | Back | 2-3 weeks | ||||
| Williams | Ankle | 2-3 weeks | ||||
| Kelly | Thumb | Test | ||||
| Kennedy | Calf | Test | ||||
| Langdon | Concussion | Test | ||||
| Venables* | Concussion | Indefinite | ||||
| Hutchings* | IT band | 4-5 weeks |
References[]
https://www.afl.com.au/matches/2988
https://afltables.com/afl/stats/games/2021/182020210321.html
- ↑ West Coast Eagles Yearbook 2021, p.26
- ↑ westcoasteagles.com.au (22 March 2021), "Round one: Pressing questions": https://www.westcoasteagles.com.au/news/886668/round-one-pressing-questions
- ↑ The West Australian (21 March 2021), "West Coast Eagles survive scare to overcome Gold Coast Suns by 25-points at Optus Stadium": https://thewest.com.au/sport/afl/west-coast-eagles-survive-scare-to-overcome-gold-coast-suns-by-25-points-at-optus-stadium-ng-b881827294z
- ↑ David Prestipino, The Age (21 March 2021), "Suns star Matt Rowell injured as West Coast win season-opening thriller":https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/suns-star-matt-rowell-injured-as-west-coast-wins-season-opening-thriller-at-optus-stadium-20210321-p57cpr.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) |