West Coast looked to have coughed up a match-winning halftime lead, going goalless in the third term and falling behind the Cats by 15 points during the final quarter before piling on six straight goals to storm to their first win at Perth Stadium. Dom Sheed had 30 possessions and kicked two vital late goals, and Brad Sheppard shrugged off an early cork to repel numerous Geelong attacks.
Summary[]
| 1/4 time | 1/2 time | 3/4 time | Final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Coast | 4.6.30 | 7.9.51 | 7.11.53 | 14.11.95 | ||||
| Geelong | 2.2.14 | 2.7.19 | 8.10.58 | 11.14.80 |
Goals: LeCras, Ryan 3, Darling, Sheed 2, Gaff, Naitanui, Redden, Shuey
Best: Sheed, Gaff, Shuey, Hurn, Ryan, LeCras
Injuries: Ryan (ankle), Sheppard (corked quad)
Named sides[]
| West Coast | Geelong | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B: | 5.Sheppard | 37.Barrass | 25.Hurn | B: | 38.Henry | 8.Kolodjashnij | 44.Stewart |
| HB: | 14.Duggan | 20.McGovern | 30.Nelson | HB: | 2.Tuohy | 46.Blicavs | 24.Bews |
| C: | 7.Masten | 6.Yeo | 15.Cripps | C: | 29.C.Guthrie | 14.J.Selwood | 27.Menegola |
| HF: | 8.Redden | 45.Waterman | 1.Ryan | HF: | 28.Gregson | 17.Ratugolea | 3.Parfitt |
| F: | 2.LeCras | 27.Darling | 29.Lycett | F: | 34.Parsons | 26.Hawkins | 10.Menzel |
| R: | 9.Naitanui | 13.Shuey | 3.Gaff | R: | 1.Stanley | 35.Dangerfield | 4.Ablett |
| I: | 4.Sheed | 18.Venables | 23.Jetta | I: | 5.Cockatoo | 11.Kelly | 13.Fogarty |
| 44.Rioli | 39.Z.Guthrie | ||||||
| E: | 28.Cole | 31.Schofield | 33.Ainsworth | E: | 42.O'Connor | 16.S.Selwood | 21.Murdoch |
| 34.Hutchings | 31.Cunico |
No change.
Late changes: (WCE) Hutchings for Duggan (hamstring); (GEE) S.Selwood for Stanley
Quarter by quarter[]
Hutchings replaced Duggan, who was uavailable due to a hamstring, while the Cats went small by bringing in Scott Selwood in place of ruckman Rhys Stanley. The match was played in perfect conditions.
Club Champion votes[]
| Sheppard | 15 | Jetta | 8 | ||
| Gaff | 14 | Barrass | 6 | ||
| Sheed | 14 | Cripps | 5 | ||
| Shuey | 13 | Nelson | 4 | ||
| LeCras | 11 | Yeo | 4 | ||
| Naitanui | 11 | Lycett | 3 | ||
| Waterman | 11 | Masten | 3 | ||
| Darling | 10 | Redden | 3 | ||
| Hutchings | 9 | Rioli | 2 | ||
| Ryan | 9 | McGovern | 0 | ||
| Hurn | 8 | Venables | 0 |
From the coach[]
"I think relief comes to mind. It's a relaly good sign for our resilience as well. I thought we clearly got outplayed in that third quarter. Geelong were brave. They played with real spirit, losing three players - important players as well. But we stuck to it. We couldn't stop that momentum in the third quarter. There were a few structural things, but they probably just wanted it a bit more than us, with the contest and the work rate. We were really challenged at three-quarter time, but I thought we stood tall in the last 10 minutes. Our leaders stood up and held sway.
"...It was our ball movement [that broke down], Geelong's work rate and their work in the contest. Their good players stood up. They did a couple of things strategically that we found difficult to stop. But the ball movement was probably a product of Geelong's good intensity and work rate and closing down all of our options. When we did kick it to a contest we didn't get it done.
"We've got a young group. We're a lot younger than last year, so throwing out information left, right and centre is going to be difficult for our players to handle. We put it on our leaders to try and drive the car a little bit onfield. No doubt there was a 15-20 minute period where we could not get the game on our terms anywhere. We did a couple of things, but in the end we just had to get to three-quarter time and reset."
From the papers[]
The West Australian[]
"Geelong were lucky to be only 16 points down at quarter-time after losing the inside-50m count 24-10.
Alarm bells were ringing when they entered halftime with a 32-point deficit.
But Patrick Dangerfield and Tom Hawkins inspired a remarkable fightback in the third term to put their side in the box seat.
Lachie Fogarty missed three crucial shots on goal in the final term, with West Coast launching a remarkable fightback to secure victory."
The Age[]
"On Sunday, West Coast looked like following the Cats opponents of previous weeks to keep them in the game.
This time though, the Eagles did make the Cats pay.
In three minutes just before the main break and sparked by the Eagles new crowd favourite Liam Ryan, West Coast booted three goals in three minutes to break the game open.
They turned a 16-point quarter-time lead into a 32-point advantage."
East Perth report[]
Round 2 (7 April)
East Perth bounced back from a horror first-round loss with a comprehensive 58 point win over West Perth at Leederville Oval. Luke Partington had 33 possessions and two goals, Malcolm Karpany had an equal career-high 26 touches and draftee Jarrod Brander kicked three goals and pulled in 10 marks.
Appearing for East Perth: M.Allen, Bayok, Brander, Cole, Karpany, McInnes, Mutimer, Partington, Petruccelle, Rotham, Schofield, Watson. Reserves: England.
Injury list[]
In the leadup to the match the following players were listed as injured:
| Player | Injury | Expected return | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MacKenzie | Toe | Indefinite | ||||
| Vardy | Adductor | 4 weeks | ||||
| Ah Chee | Ankle | 3 weeks | ||||
| O.Allen | Shin | 3 weeks | ||||
| Brayshaw | Knee | 2-3 weeks | ||||
| Kennedy | Knee/ankle | 2 weeks |
Links[]
http://www.afl.com.au/match-centre/2018/3/wce-v-geel
Justin Chadwick AAP, The West Australian (8 April 2018), "One big surge is all it took as West Coast claimed a 15-point win over Geelong at Optus Stadium": https://thewest.com.au/sport/west-coast-eagles/one-big-surge-is-all-it-took-as-west-coast-claimed-a-15-point-win-over-geelong-at-optus-stadium-ng-b88799908z
Brad Elborough, The Age (8 April 2018), "West Coast power home to deny Geelong": https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/west-coast-power-home-to-deny-geelong-20180408-p4z8ga.html
| 2018 season <--2017-18 offseason | Playing squad | Coaching panel | 2018-19 offseason--> |
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JLT Series : 1 (PA) | 2 (FRE) |