Round 23 2011

Brisbane v West Coast
Round 23, 2011

Glass led his side to a top-4 spot. Photo: aflphotos.com.au

Date

Sat, 27 August 2011 (7:10 PM EST)

Venue

Gabba

Attendance

13,500

Result

Won by 8

Score

WCE 13.11.89 - 11.15.81 BRI

Brownlow

3 C.Masten (WCE)
2 T.Rockliff (BRI)
1 A.Gaff (WCE)

Ladder

4th

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On a wet and slippery Gabba, West Coast overcame a big deficit to beat the Lions and lock in a top-4 spot and an important double finals chance. The Eagles trailed by 29 points midway through the third quarter, but piled on eight of the next nine goals to steal the points. In his 50th appearance Chris Masten had probably the best game of his career with 31 possessions and three goals, and big man Quinten Lynch defied the soggy conditions to record 25 touches and a goal.

Summary

		1/4 time		1/2 time		3/4 time		Final
Brisbane		4.4.28		7.6.48		9.12.66		11.15.81
West Coast		5.2.32		5.5.35		9.10.64		13.11.89

Goals: Masten 3, Nicoski 2, Ebert, Gaff, Hams, Kennedy, LeCras, Lynch, Priddis, Shuey

Best: Lynch, Gaff, Priddis, Masten, Shuey

Injuries: Cox (cut head)

Reports: Kennedy for striking M.Golby

Sub: Smith for Cox (cut head) in the third quarter

Milestones: Lynch 200th official game (184 premiership, 16 pre-season), Masten 50th game

Named sides

	West Coast				Brisbane
B:	25.Hurn	23.Glass	31.Schofield	B:	9.McGrath	36.Maguire	39.Drummond
HB:	28.Smith	16.MacKenzie	8.Waters	HB:	11.Hanley	40.McKeever	7.Adcock
C:	13.Shuey	11.Priddis	32.Embley	C:	6.Power	29.Raines	10.Rich
HF:	3.Gaff	17.Kennedy	6.Nicoski	HF:	31.Polkinghorne	14.Staker	3.Sheldon
F:	9.Naitanui	21.Lynch	2.LeCras	F:	18.Banfield	44.Cornelius	37.Retzlaff
R:	20.Cox	10.S.Selwood	37.A.Selwood	R:	23.Leuenberger	20.Black	30.Redden
I:	7.Masten	5.Ebert	35.McGinnity	I:	32.Stiller	38.Rockliff	41.Golby
	43.Hams				28.Karnezis
E:	1.Brown	14.Stevens	34.Brennan	E:	12.Hawksley	22.Collier	26.Harwood

In: McGinnity

Out: Kerr (back)

From the coach

"Yeah, it was obviously very tough conditions and a good pressure game in those conditions, so it was always going to be tough to score. I'm not sure what the actual score was in the end, but 10 goals in pretty slippery conditions you'd be reasonably happy with.

"...Probably our decision-making (was a concern), we thought we were making too many errors ... a bit reactionary, we didn't act as well to the ball movement as we could have. We probably didn't run to good spots, smarter spots that we have in the past.

"I thought we did take a while to really get going. We got challenged early, Brisbane really controlled probably the first half, the inside 50s and scoring shots. But we managed to keep ourselves within reach and that was pretty important for us. Our challenge at half-time was to enjoy the contest that Brisbane were throwing up at us and see what we could make of it."

From the papers

The West Australian

"While a goal to Josh Kennedy after the quarter-time siren gave the visitors a four-point lead, a gallant Brisbane were doing their best to salute the final game of stalwart Luke Power.

They held the Eagles to just three behinds in the second term and took a 13-point buffer into the main break.

West Coast had scored only 36 points when the Lions led by 29 on a Tom Rockliff goal 17 minutes into the third term. It appeared they would have to go back home to stone the Crows to ultimately secure their spot in the top four.

But just as team unity has become a foundation, their depth of contribution became their saviour."

The Age

"West Coast got back into the match when their forwards flexed muscle late in the third term to rattle off four straight goals and be only two points down at the last change.

The Eagles had their own anxious moments after forward Josh Kennedy was booked for striking in the last term.

Brisbane defender Brett Staker sustained a knee injury midway through the first term and may require a second knee reconstruction.

Staker was playing only his fourth game back from reconstruction with LARS surgery to reduce his recovery from 12 months to three."

Herald-Sun

"For the winners, ruckman Dean Cox will be assessed before Saturday night's home game against the Crows after being subbed out in the third quarter with an eye injury.

Cox's eye closed over after copping a blow and coach John Worsfold said the club would weigh up whether to rest him.

When the word leaked through during the first half about Power's emotive pre-game address to his teammates, it was hard to follow the rest of the action.

Power was his usual busy self, running himself to a standstill and willing himself and his teammates into every contest."

WAFL

Round 23 (27 August)

Claremont (B.Jones, Swift) vs Peel (J.Jones). Broome, Hamp and McGovern played reserves

Subiaco vs East Fremantle (Brown, Dalziell, Sheppard, Stevens, Houlihan)

Perth (Butler) vs East Perth

Swan Districts vs West Perth

Bye: South Fremantle

Injury list

In the lead-up to the match the following players were listed as injured:

Player		Injury		Expected duration
Neates		Knee		Season
Rosa		Knee		2-3 weeks
Butler		Calf		Test
Kerr		Back		Test
Darling		Soreness		Test
B.Jones		Knee		Test

References

http://afltables.com/afl/stats/games/2011/181920110827.html

http://www.afl.com.au/match-centre/2011/23/bl-v-wce