West Coast recorded a morale-boosting win, their first since mid-2022, defeating the Giants in the first home fixture of the season. A second-quarter blitz that saw the Eagles pile on eight goals, with Jamie Cripps and Jake Waterman each kicking three, put a sizeable gap between the sides going into the main break and the home side extended their lead to 45 early in the third term before a GWS fightback closed the margin to 19 points at the close. Waterman kicked a career-high four goals while pinch-hitting as a ruckman, and Tim Kelly led all players with 32 possessions.
Summary[]
| 1/4 time | 1/2 time | 3/4 time | Final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Coast | 2.3.15 | 10.6.66 | 13.10.88 | 14.16.100 | ||||
| GWS Giants | 3.4.22 | 5.5.35 | 8.10.58 | 11.15.81 |
Goals: Waterman 4, Cripps 3, Allen, Hunt 2, Darling, Kelly, Ryan
Best: Kelly, Waterman, Jones, Cripps, Sheed, Shuey, McGovern, Ryan
Injuries: Nil
Substitutes: (WCE) Hewett for Chesser at three-quarter time; (GWS) Stone for Wehr (AC joint) in the second term
Milestones: Hewett AFL debut
Jumper: Home, blue shorts
Named sides[]
| West Coast | GWS Giants | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B: | 25.Hurn | 37.Barrass | 28.Cole | B: | 39.Idun | 15.Taylor | 13.Cumming |
| HB: | 14.Duggan | 20.McGovern | 23.Witherden | HB: | 44.Buckley | 19.Hayes | 7.Ash |
| C: | 3.Gaff | 13.Shuey | 7.Ginbey | C: | 17.Callaghan | 8.Ward | 10.Wehr |
| HF: | 18.Chesser | 27.Darling | 15.Cripps | HF: | 40.Kennedy | 27.Himmelberg | 38.Lloyd |
| F: | 1.Ryan | 12.Allen | 44.Long | F: | 4.Greene | 23.Hogan | 16.Daniels |
| R: | 32.B.Williams | 4.Sheed | 11.Kelly | R: | 30.Flynn | 12.Green | 3.Coniglio |
| I: | 2.Waterman | 5.Hunt | 10.Petrevski-Seton | I: | 26.Riccardi | 24.Rowston | 20.Peatling |
| 31.Jones | 43.Hamilton | ||||||
| E: | 8.Hewett | 24.O'Neill | 39.Clark | E: | 46.Brown | 5.Cadman | 18.Stone |
| 40.Jamieson | 25.Keefe |
In: Waterman, Petrevski-Seton
Out: O'Neill, Jamieson, Petruccelle (sub)
New: Elijah Hewett (Swan Districts)
Quarter by quarter[]
Both sides went in as named, with Elijah Hewett debuting as the sub while Conor Stone began as the Giants' sub. The match was played in fine and temperate conditions.
From the coach[]
"We’ve been working pretty hard and not getting a lot of reward. We were disappointed last week, but I suspect there’s 18 clubs who have been disappointed with a half here, a quarter there. Not many have got through with eight quarters of brilliance. I get the connection to last year and where we’re at and what we’re doing and we’re nowhere near the finished product, but I think we’re a different side. The reflection on when we have a bad game, a bad quarter, it’s easy to compare with last year and we understand it and accept it but different personnel, different side, different fitness, hopefully a different style of play. So they got rewarded with a bit of effort today and it all started around winning the ball, which I’ve been talking about a bit.
"It’s just a brutal competition. We can’t bask in the glory of the second quarter. We’ve got a lot of work to do. But they got a chance to express what we’ve been working on off the back of winning some contest and stoppages, and our good players playing well. We’ve seen a lot of those signs over summer but we haven’t really brought it together and we’re still a fair way off in a lot of areas, but it was good to get a bit of reward on the scoreboard for some of the things we’ve been working on.
"...I’m not getting carried away. We executed what we wanted to today at stages and it looked sharp and at stages it was poor. Just want to find that balance of reward the good stuff and keep working on the stuff we need to work on."[1]
From the papers[]
The West Australian[]
"Cripps began to turn the momentum when he kicked consecutive goals after the first break courtesy of clever assists by second gamer Noah Long.
The engine room took control at the clearances led by captain Luke Shuey (20 disposals and nine clearances) and Dom Sheed (26 and seven).
Waterman, brought in to back up in the ruck as well as to play as the third forward, forced Giants defender Nick Haynes to be accountable and was rewarded with some silver service and a career-high four goals.
It was the exciting brand of football the fans had pleaded for and was greeted with a standing ovation as the Eagles left the field at the main break."[2]
Reserves[]
Pre-season (25 March)
West Coast's reserves won an entertaining but bruising hitout over East Perth, opening up a handy lead before the Royals worked their way back and leveled the scores, with a late Xavier O'Neill goal proving the difference. Marquee signing Alec Waterman kicked four goals in just a half of action, but the side lost youngsters Callum Jamieson (ankle) and Jai Culley (shoulder) to injury during the match, while Luke Foley was reported for striking.
| 1/4 time | 1/2 time | 3/4 time | Final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Coast | 3.3.21 | 9.9.63 | 13.12.90 | 15.14.104 | ||||
| East Perth | 4.1.25 | 7.3.45 | 12.8.70 | 14.14.98 |
Goals: A.Waterman 4, Dewar, Nitschke, Petruccelle 2, Clark, Culley, Garlett, O'Neill, Trew
Best: Clark, Creasey, Petruccelle, H.Edwards, A.Waterman
Injuries: Jamieson (ankle), Culley (shoulder)
Reports: Foley for striking E.Regan
Named side:
| West Coast | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B: | 33.Bazzo | 42.H.Edwards | 31.Nelson | |
| HB: | 29.Foley | 56.Creasey | 19.Hough | |
| C: | 39.Clark | 28.Culley | 16.L.Edwards | |
| HF: | 7.Dewar | 22.Winder | 21.Petruccelle | |
| F: | 30.Barnett | 6.A.Waterman | 51.Eastough | |
| R: | 40.Jamieson | 36.West | 26.Trew | |
| I: | 54.Browne | 38.Collins | 18.Garlett] | |
| 53.Henderson | 65.Levien | 43.Nitschke | ||
| 24.O'Neill | 45.Watson | |||
| E: | 72.O'Sullivan | 23.Sambo |
In: Bazzo, Culley, Jamieson, Petruccelle, West, O'Neil, Creasey, A.Waterman, Garlett
Out: J.Waterman, Petrevski-Seton, Hewett (AFL), Burgiel (hamstring), J.Edwards, McCarthy, O'Sullivan, Sambo
Injury list[]
In the lead-up to the match the following players were listed as being unavailable:
| Player | Injury | Expected return | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Naitanui | Achilles | TBC | ||||
| J.Williams | Ruptured spleen | TBC | ||||
| Burgiel | Hamstring | TBC | ||||
| Rotham | Arm | 1-2 weeks | ||||
| Yeo | Calf | Test | ||||
| Culley | Calf | Test |
References[]
https://www.afl.com.au/afl/matches/4802
https://afltables.com/afl/stats/games/2023/182120230326.html
- ↑ westcoasteagles.com.au (27 March 2023), "Pressing questions: Round two": https://www.westcoasteagles.com.au/news/1293412/pressing-questions-round-two
- ↑ Mitchell Woodcock, The West Australian (27 March 2023, p.GAM4), "West Coast snap losing streak"
| 2023 season <--2022-23 offseason | Playing squad | Coaching panel | 2023-24 offseason--> |
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| AFLW | Reserves |
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Pre-season : 1 (PA) | 2 (ADL) |