Round 23 2015

West Coast v St Kilda
Round 23, 2015

Sinclair contests the ruck. Photo: aflphotos.com.au

Date

Sat, 5 September 2015
(5:40pm WST)

Venue

Subiaco Oval

Attendance

36,165

Result

Won by 95

Score

WCE 18.17.125 - 4.6.30 STK

Brownlow

3 N.Naitanui (WCE)
2 A.Gaff (WCE)
1 M.Priddis (WCE)

Ladder

2nd

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West Coast locked in second spot and tuned up for the finals with a thumping win over St Kilda. The Eagles started strongly but thereafter struggled through a scratchy first half, before blowing the Saints away in the second half. Andrew Gaff continued his strong season with 36 possessions and two goals, and Nic Naitanui gave raw American ruckman Jason Holmes a lesson with 30 hitouts and three goals.

Summary

		1/4 time		1/2 time		3/4 time		Final
West Coast		4.4.28		7.7.49		13.14.92		18.17.125
St Kilda		2.1.13		3.5.23		4.5.29		4.6.30

Goals: LeCras 4, Kennedy, Naitanui 3, Darling, Gaff 2, Cripps, Hill, Sinclair, Yeo

Best: Naitanui, Priddis, Gaff, Kennedy, Shuey, Hurn, LeCras

Injuries: Masten (hamstring)

Sub: Ellis for Masten (hamstring) in the second quarter

Records: WCE biggest win vs St Kilda

Named side

	West Coast				St Kilda
B:	5.Sheppard	20.McGovern	6.Yeo	B:	24.Dempster	33.Goddard	25.Fisher
HB:	26.Butler	25.Hurn	18.Ellis	HB:	14.Geary	17.Roberton	29.Webster
C:	15.Cripps	11.Priddis	3.Gaff	C:	22.Ray	20.Armitage	16.Newnes
HF:	33.Hill	27.Darling	7.Masten	HF:	11.Montagna	12.Riewoldt	6.Ross
F:	2.LeCras	17.Kennedy	22.Sinclair	F:	44.Weller	27.Bruce	37.Lonie
R:	9.Naitanui	4.Sheed	13.Shuey	R:	45.Holmes	3.Steven	7.Dunstan
I:	34.Hutchings	24.Rosa	30.Nelson	I:	5.Savage	19.Gilbert	30.Murdoch
	12.Wellingham				41.Minchington
E:	44.Bennell	35.McGinnity	10.Selwood	E:	21.Delaney	35.Sinclair	42.Pierce

In: Butler, Masten, Wellingham, Nelson

Out: Barrass, Newman, Bennell, McGinnity

Quarter by quarter

St Kilda made a late change, with Jack Sinclair replacing Darren Minchington in the side and starting as the sub. Ellis began in the vest for West Coast.

From the coach

"I thought the second half we played a way that reminded us of what we want to stand for as a club and how we want to play. We want to attack, but we want to defend well as well. So the game wasn't really played in our half in the first half, I thought we probably, just because we were a little more experienced and had a little bit more to play for, we had ascendancy at half time. But I thought in the second half, the Saints got a bit tired, but we played a more solid brand of footy.
...
We're really happy, we're ecstatic. We hope all our members and supporters are enjoying the ride as much as we are. We're all pretty young, despite my hair, we're a young coaching group as well. We've probably exceeded a lot of people's expectations, internally I don't think we have put a ceiling on what we can achieve and we're enjoying the ride. We're a little bit different than the other top-four sides, they're hardened, year-in year-out top-four teams. So this is great learning for us and you never know."

From the papers

The West Australian

"Gaff, Priddis and Shuey had all been prolific to three quarter time. On the rare occasions the Saints managed an attack, Sharrod Wellingham, Shannon Hurn and Brad Sheppard mopped the ball up effectively.

And in the last quarter it officially became a rout. The Eagles only kicked five goals, but they held the Saints to a single point to take the margin close to the 100 point barrier.

Naitanui, now pressing for best on ground honours, kicked his third goal after a screamer 20 metres out. He also engineered a remarkable ground level turnover on centre wing when he turned a tackle on Armitage into a possession of his own, followed by a brilliant handball to a teammate in space to launch an attack.

Jack Darling, kept quiet for three quarter, came into the game for two last quarter goals and Elliot Yeo, steady all night, took a towering goal square mark."

The Age

"West Coast did their best to douse any challenge the Saints were prepared to fire at them early.

Leigh Montagna, Jack Newnes and David Armitage did their best to stem the flow, but as the game went on the home side gained in confidence.

There were early signs that the margin could blow out.

At half-time West Coast had turned their 15-point quarter-time lead to 26 points, despite kicking seven points without a goal.

The problem for the Saints was that at the main break, they had managed only 3.5, one point less than what the Eagles had kicked in the first 11 minutes of the game."

Sunday Times

"Andrew Gaff (36 disposals), Matt Priddis (35), Dom Sheed (33) and Luke Shuey (30) did as they pleased, with the hard-working Mark Hutchings (29) continued to stake his claim for a full-time berth in the engine room.

The midfield supremacy was again orchestrated by Nic Naitanui, who emerged as the best player on the ground opposed to AFL newcomer Jason Holmes.

Naitanui showed he can seemingly do it all, bagging three majors to go with 30 hit-outs, a collection of brutal tackles, and a spectacular pack mark and goal late in the contest.

Only a string of errant shots spanning the late first term and early second term prevented West Coast from blowing out the margin even further in its 200th win at Subiaco Oval."

East Perth report

Elimination Final (6 September)

At Leederville, East Perth withstood a Claremont challenge to knock the Tigers out of the finals. Rowen Powell impressed with three important goals, Kane Lucas kicked two goals from 30 possessions and Malcolm Karpany picked up 22 touches in a strong showing.

Appearing for East Perth: Adamson, Barrass, Bennell, Brophy, Karpany, Lamb, Lucas, Main, Newman, Powell, Selwood.

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)
Brown		Knee		Season		(Placed on LTI list 23/7/15, replaced by Newman)
Tunbridge		Ankle/shoulder		Season
Duggan		Knee		Season
Cavka		Ankle		Season
Waterman		Glandular fever		Ongoing
McInnes		Hamstring		4 weeks
Lycett		PCL		2 weeks
Wellingham		Ankle		1 week
Schofield		Hamstring		Test
McGovern		Shoulder		Test
Butler		Hamstring		Test
Maginness*		Foot		Season

References

http://www.afl.com.au/match-centre/2015/23/wce-v-stk

https://afltables.com/afl/stats/games/2015/151820150905.html