Round 23 2016

Adelaide v West Coast
Round 23, 2016

Gaff had leather poisoning. Photo: aflphotos.com.au

Date

Fri, 26 August 2016 (7.40pm CST)

Venue

Adelaide Oval

Attendance

50,875

Result

Won by 29

Score

WCE 14.16.100 - 10.11.71 ADL

Brownlow

3 A.Gaff (WCE)
2 J.Kennedy (WCE)
1 T.Barrass (WCE)

Ladder

6th

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West Coast upset the Crows' chances of a top-two finish and hit the finals in red-hot form with a surprise win. Despite the loss of Nic Naitanui the previous week, the Eagles dominated around the contests to lead throughout the match, locking the win away with a five-goals to nil third term. Andrew Gaff set a new career high with 41 possessions and young defender Tom Barrass took 10 marks to stymie numerous Crows attacks.

Summary

		1/4 time		1/2 time		3/4 time		Final
Adelaide		2.3.15		6.4.40		6.11.47		10.11.71
West Coast		2.4.16		7.9.51		12.12.84		14.16.100

Goals: Kennedy 5, Darling, LeCras 2, Cripps, Giles, Hill, Hutchings, Jetta

Best: Gaff, Giles, Barrass, Kennedy, Priddis, Sheed, Hurn, Shuey

Injuries: Lycett (knee)

Milestones: Barrass Rising Star nomination

Named sides

	West Coast				Adelaide
B:	37.Barrass	31.Schofield	25.Hurn	B:	16.Brown	15.Hartigan	6.Lever
HB:	12.Wellingham	20.McGovern	5.Sheppard	HB:	29.Laird	12.Talia	25.Cheney
C:	6.Yeo	11.Priddis	23.Jetta	C:	14.Mackay	5.Thompson	45.Henderson
HF:	33.Hill	27.Darling	7.Masten	HF:	41.McGovern	4.Jenkins	26.Douglas
F:	15.Cripps	17.Kennedy	2.LeCras	F:	27.Lynch	13.Walker	18.Betts
R:	29.Lycett	3.Gaff	13.Shuey	R:	24.Jacobs	2.B.Crouch	44.M.Crouch
I:	4.Sheed	22.Giles	26.Butler	I:	21.Atkins	23.Cameron	28.Ellis-Yolmen
	34.Hutchings				31.Lyons
E:	1.Brown	8.Redden	30.Nelson	E:	1.Beech	43.O'Brien	47.Kelly

In: Giles, Barrass

Out: Naitanui (knee), Nelson

From the coach

"The talk is expectations, where we are at, rated too highly, not rated highly enough; it’s a bit of noise on the outside. It was more about the process and what we were going to do and how we were gong to go about it with Giles and Scotty with the ruck stuff. And then how we are going to beat Adelaide over here. It was the planning. The players are in a pretty good space. They have been playing some pretty good football.

"...I think there is a good, even spread at the moment across the board. I’m not quite sure how Dom Sheed faired, but I would have thought he had a decent impact on the game. There are always one or two guys who miss out, but they are playing their role and they’re making good contributions. It always helps when you get 18-20 guys digging in. I thought we got that tonight.

"...I’m not going to go into the details of what we did. We’ve got a way that we like to play as well. When you get to play teams like this there is not a lot of change in the style of play. The top four or five teams seem to go, ‘We’re going to back ourselves in and good luck trying to beat us’. I think that’s justified for teams that are in the top four. We’re not quite there yet, but I think when we play our way and we play a pretty good brand we are hard to beat as well."

From the papers

The West Australian

"West Coast controlled proceedings early and were on top in the middle, with their slick ball use a feature.

But their lead should have been greater at the main break after it had blown out to 26 points midway through the second quarter.

The Eagles dominated inside 50s (30-19) in the first two quarters, but let Adelaide off the hook with a string of missed chances in front of goal.

Jack Darling was the major culprit.

He twice missed easy chances after horror Crows turnovers and squandered another opportunity from 30m in space."

The Age

"Adelaide have crashed out of the top four and probably grand final contention with this poor performance – their worst for the season and they were lucky the Eagles missed so many easy attempts at goal.

Giles dominated the rucks and was strong around the ground to often give the Eagles first chance, and with a brilliant structure – players like Matthew Priddis in there fighting for the ball and handballing out to unattended teammates – it proved invaluable.

The Eagles were sharp from the opening bounce and with accuracy could have had four goals before the Crows looked like scoring.

Adelaide missed chances too, which compounded the pressure. They struggled to get out of their backlines, kicked-and-hoped too often and lost control, and their skills level was surprisingly low."

AdelaideNow

"Small forwards Jetta and Josh Hill goaled in the opening 90 seconds of the [second] quarter and when Kennedy bagged two in a row — including a magnificent 50m set shot from just inside the boundary line — the Eagles’ lead had blown out to 26 points and Adelaide was in serious trouble.

With Giles well on top in the ruck and proving a dangerous marking target in attack, the Crows could not get their hands on the ball.

They stayed in the match with a blistering four-minute spell that produced three goals, illustrating their efficiency in attack.

But the discrepancy in key numbers told the half-time tale.

West Coast led disposals by 41, contested possessions by 18 and inside 50s by 11."

East Perth report

Round 23 (27 August)

In tricky conditions at East Fremantle Oval, East Perth defeated East Fremantle by eight goals to leapfrog the Sharks into fifth spot and an elimination final berth. Luke Partington continued his recent good form with 30 disposals and Malcolm Karpany kicked two goals from 23 touches.

Appearing for East Perth: Bennell, Brophy, Brown, Cole, Duggan, Karpany, Lamb, MacKenzie, McGinnity, McInnes, Mutimer, Nelson, Partington, Redden, Snadden.
Reserves: Adamson.

Injury list

In the leadup to the round, the following players were listed as injured or unavailable:

Player		Injury		Expected duration
Naitanui		Knee		Season
Ellis		Calf		Season
Tunbridge		Suspension		2 weeks
Lycett		Knee		Test
Lamb		Finger		Test
Lucas*		Knee		Season
Waterman*		Glandular fever		Indefinite

References

http://www.afl.com.au/match-centre/2016/23/adel-v-wce

https://afltables.com/afl/stats/games/2016/011820160826.html