2 T.Miller (GC)
1 I.Rankine (GC)
A badly-depleted West Coast suffered their first ever home loss to the Suns, but not without putting up a fight for three and a half quarters. Missing numerous stars including most of their midfield, the Eagles started brightly and led by a kick at the final change, and were within a kick heading into time-on of the last quarter, but Gold Coast kicked the last four goals to leave Perth with the four points. Jack Redden stood up in the absence of his fellow midfielders with 28 possessions and Jamaine Jones had 21 touches and two goals.
Summary[]
| 1/4 time | 1/2 time | 3/4 time | Final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Coast | 5.1.31 | 7.3.45 | 10.5.65 | 12.8.80 | ||||
| Gold Coast | 2.2.14 | 5.6.36 | 8.11.59 | 16.11.107 |
Goals: Jones, Kennedy, Petruccelle 2, Barrass, Dixon, Langdon, O'Neill, Rioli, Waterman
Best: Redden, Jones, Hurn, Gaff, Barrass, McGovern
Injuries: Nil
Reports: Rioli for rough conduct against M.Rowell
Substitutes: (WCE) Winder, not used; (GC) Sexton, not used
Milestones: Barrass 100th game, Dixon WCE debut, Hough AFL debut, Naish WCE debut, Petrevski-Seton WCE debut
Jumper: Home, blue shorts
Named sides[]
| West Coast | Gold Coast | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B: | 25.Hurn | 37.Barrass | 35.Rotham | B: | 24.Swallow | 25.Collins | 23.Lemmens |
| HB: | 30.Nelson | 20.McGovern | 29.Foley | HB: | 14.Weller | 10.Ballard | 27.Powell |
| C: | 10.Petrevski-Seton | 8.Redden | 7.Langdon | C: | 20.Sharp | 11.Miller | 4.Ellis |
| HF: | 21.Petruccelle | 41.Dixon | 44.Rioli | HF: | 7.Holman | 30.Casboult | 13.Lukosius |
| F: | 31.Jones | 17.Kennedy | 2.Waterman | F: | 22.Rankine | 1.Chol | 9.Ainsworth |
| R: | 9.Naitanui | 24.X.O'Neill | 3.Gaff | R: | 28.Witts | 18.Rowell | 15.Anderson |
| I: | 19.Hough | 32.B.Williams | 42.H.Edwards | I: | 5.Davies | 8.Fiorini | 46.Graham |
| 43.Naish | 44.Macpherson | ||||||
| E: | 22.Winder | 34.J.Williams | 40.Jamieson | E: | 29.Burgess | 49.Moyle | 6.Sexton |
| 52.Mountford* | 26.Fletcher |
(*Ryan (health and safety protocols) withdrawn from team, replaced by Mountford)
New: Hugh Dixon (East Fremantle), Brady Hough (Peel Thunder), Patrick Naish (Richmond), Sam Petrevski-Seton (Carlton)
Quarter by quarter[]
Both sides went in as named. The game was played under a majestic sunset, although some light sprinkling rain made ball-handling difficult at times.
Club Champion votes[]
| Redden | 11 | Petrevski-Seton | 5 | ||
| Jones | 10 | Hurn | 4 | ||
| Foley | 9 | Hough | 3 | ||
| Gaff | 9 | Kennedy | 3 | ||
| Langdon | 7 | Naitanui | 3 | ||
| Barrass | 6 | O'Neill | 3 | ||
| McGovern | 6 | Rotham | 3 | ||
| Petruccelle | 6 | Waterman | 2 | ||
| Rioli | 6 | B.Williams | 1 | ||
| H.Edwards | 5 | Dixon | 0 | ||
| Naish | 5 | Winder | 0 | ||
| Nelson | 5 |
From the coach[]
"I will take a lot from tonight, the adversity that we hit, showed some real resilience, tried really hard to execute our roles and we hung in there. I thought our backs, it reminded me of our backs at our best, just holding up and unfortunately we couldn’t get it out of our back half as the game went on and we got overwhelmed with the contest. And that wasn’t to say we didn’t have a crack, because I thought we did, for the most part our method that we’ve been working on, some of the things we’ve been trying, I saw some really good improvement. So, I’ll take the good signs, but we’re here to win. So, the players are disappointed, we’re disappointed, but I think we’ll take a bit from it.
"Well there was seven minutes to go, and we were four points down, weight of numbers with the contest. Six goals against from centre bounce, free kick goals, the chain where there was a free kick part of the goal, that hurt us. Those things you hope with some more growth and some personnel coming back that we can work on that. But we got stuck deep in our defensive 50, so any club that does that for a long period of time, the wall will break. But they didn’t stop trying, and I know it blew away in the last five minutes, and credit to Gold Coast, I thought they stuck at it and their good players overwhelmed us in the end, but like I said I think we’ll take some positives from it.
"...Everyone will grow from tonight, so debuting four players, one first gamer, getting to see Patrick (Naish), he’s been here for two weeks, two-and-a-half weeks, thought he started really well. Dixon, he was raw, he’s got a lot to learn, but he wasn’t with us four weeks ago. So I think the belonging piece from the club is something we work really hard on, and they feel like they belong, they feel like they deserved to be there tonight, and that’s a real step forward. Our identity, what we want to be and what kind of brand we want to play, that’s something that’s new and something we want to work on as well, so they’re part of it, and it feels like that’s grown, that group through the last two or three weeks because we’ve exposed everyone. Brady Hough played his first game tonight, perhaps will take a year or two, so he wasn’t miles off, obviously he’s pretty raw and he was under the pump a little bit, all those little things I think will pay us back one day."[2]
From the papers[]
The West Australian[]
"The Eagles had held up in the clearance battle and overall contested ball fight in the opening stanza, but worrying signs emerged in the second term when the Suns won the clearances 8-3.
The visitors had erased the deficit by early in the third term when another recruit, former Richmond big man Mabior Chol, found the opening off the ground and WA product Jeremy Sharp followed up.
Willie Rioli briefly took the lead back for the Eagles with a goal on return, before he flattened Rowell in a passage of play that ended with Hugh Dixon's first goal for the club.
With key forwards Dixon and Josh Kennedy goalless entering time-on of the third term as Jack Darling and Oscar Allen watched on, Kennedy (two goals) got on the scoresheet as well to ensure the Eagles would lead at the final change."[3]
Reserves[]
There was no reserves match scheduled.
Injury list[]
In the leadup to the match the following players were listed as being injured or unavailable:
| Player | Injury | Expected return | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cole | Ankle | Indefinite | (On inactive list) | |||
| Chesser | Ankle | Indefinite | (On inactive list) | |||
| Darling | Foot | TBC | ||||
| Sheed | Ankle | 8 weeks | ||||
| Clark | Shoulder | 6-7 weeks | ||||
| Cripps | Pectoral | 6-7 weeks | ||||
| Trew | Shin | 5-6 weeks | ||||
| Allen | Foot | 4-5 weeks | ||||
| Joyce | Ankle | 4-5 weeks | ||||
| Yeo | Calf | 2-3 weeks | ||||
| West | Hamstring | 2 weeks | ||||
| Duggan | Knee | 1-2 weeks | ||||
| L.Edwards | Groin soreness | 1 week | ||||
| Witherden | Suspension | 1 week | ||||
| Shuey | Hamstring | Test | ||||
| Ryan | Health and safety protocols | TBC | ||||
| Kelly | Health and safety protocols | Unavailable | ||||
| Bazzo | Health and safety protocols | TBC |
References[]
https://www.afl.com.au/matches/3816
- ↑ West Coast Eagles Yearbook 2022, p.24
- ↑ westcoasteagles.com.au (21 March 2022), "Pressing questions: Round 1": https://www.westcoasteagles.com.au/news/1083397/pressing-questions-round-1
- ↑ Braden Quartermaine, The West Australian (21 March 2022, p.GAM6), "Honourable loss for a patched-up West Coast outfit"
| 2022 season <--2021-22 offseason | Playing squad | Coaching panel | 2022-23 offseason--> |
|---|
| AFLW 2022, Seven (Spring 2022) | Reserves |
|
Pre-season : 1 (FRE) | 2 (FRE) |