West Coast made a statement to the competition with a thorough defeat of the ladder-leading Port Adelaide in an Easter Saturday clash. The Eagles burst out of the blocks and held the Power to just two goals to halftime, and while Port was able to match the home side for the second half, the damage was done. Andrew Gaff roared back into form with 36 touches at 89% efficiency and Jack Redden had 31 possessions and eight clearances, but the win was soured by a late hamstring injury to captain Luke Shuey.
Summary[]
| 1/4 time | 1/2 time | 3/4 time | Final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Coast | 5.4.34 | 10.7.67 | 13.8.86 | 16.12.108 | ||||
| Port Adelaide | 1.1.7 | 2.3.15 | 6.3.39 | 11.5.71 |
Goals: Kennedy 4, Darling 3, Cripps, Ryan 2, Allen, Brander, Kelly, Petruccelle, Sheed
Best: Shuey, Gaff, Kennedy, Naitanui, Kelly, McGovern, Redden
Injuries: Shuey (hamstring)
Medical subs: (WCE) Langdon for Shuey (hamstring) in the fourth quarter; (PA) Bergman, not used
Jumper: Home, blue shorts
Named sides[]
| West Coast | Port Adelaide | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B: | 35.Rotham | 37.Barrass | 25.Hurn | B: | 3.Burton | 17.Clurey | 5.Houston |
| HB: | 28.Cole | 20.McGovern | 5.Sheppard | HB: | 21.Aliir | 1.Jonas | 33.Byrne-Jones |
| C: | 3.Gaff | 11.Kelly | 14.Duggan | C: | 7.Duursma | 16.Wines | 15.Amon |
| HF: | 8.Redden | 27.Darling | 1.Ryan | HF: | 13.Fantasia | 38.Ladhams | 6.Motlop |
| F: | 15.Cripps | 17.Kennedy | 12.Allen | F: | 18.Butters | 22.Dixon | 9.Gray |
| R: | 9.Naitanui | 4.Sheed | 13.Shuey | R: | 29.Lycett | 28.Drew | 10.Boak |
| I: | 31.Jones | 30.Nelson | 21.Petruccelle | I: | 19.Georgiadis | 4.Marshall | 8.Hartlett |
| 10.Brander* | 20.Rozee | ||||||
| E: | 7.Langdon | 19.Vardy | 23.Witherden | E: | 36.Woodcock | 14.Bergman | 24.Farrell |
| 33.Ainsworth* | 34.Jones |
In: Shuey, Petruccelle, Brander
Out: O'Neill, Vardy, Langdon, Ah Chee (unused medical sub, hamstring)
(*Brander replaced Ah Chee in side, Ainsworth added to emergencies)
Quarter by quarter[]
Both sides went in as named. Light rain fell during the second half.
Club Champion votes[]
| Barrass | 12 | Duggan | 7 | ||
| Gaff | 12 | Kennedy | 7 | ||
| Hurn | 12 | McGovern | 7 | ||
| Naitanui | 12 | Brander | 6 | ||
| Shuey | 12 | Cole | 6 | ||
| Kelly | 9 | Nelson | 6 | ||
| Redden | 9 | Rotham | 6 | ||
| Ryan | 9 | Darling | 5 | ||
| Allen | 8 | Jones | 3 | ||
| Sheed | 8 | Petruccelle | 3 | ||
| Sheppard | 8 | Langdon | 2 | ||
| Cripps | 7 | 0 |
From the coach[]
"It started at WAFL Eagles this afternoon. We must have had 12 debutants for WAFL level. Just to see the effort they brought, they went down to Perth, but it always gives us good energy, and then the crowd tonight was fantastic. Forty-plus thousand, almost a full house for what’s allowed, and then the boys stood up. Pretty ruthless in the first half in particular. The mids were giving us a real contest and the forwards were capitalising, and our backs have been good all year. But the second half we dropped off a little bit, so there’s a little bit to work on.
"Port are a very good side. They haven’t lost too much the last 12 months. They did a number on us last year up in Queensland and they would have had a lot of belief and confidence. They’re a very good side. To do what we did, we’re pleased. It seems like there’s a bit of that going on this weekend, round three, it was a bit random with some of the results. Games were a little bit different, teams came with a different strategy, so I thought we were pretty smart with the way we worked through it – our leaders were – but next week’s a new week, we’ve got the Saints back in Melbourne.
"...It was a bit of a risk (playing Allen in the ruck). We thought Oscar, it’s not his natural position, but I thought he competed really well in the middle. He’s a competitor. He probably can’t do it all year – we’ll bang him up too much – but I thought tonight we needed him to stand up. We knew they were a pretty quick, talented side, so we went a bit smaller. Nic obviously held up his end, they looked pretty good in there. Oscar held up his end as well."[2]
From the papers[]
The West Australian[]
"Gaff shrugged off his indifferent form to start the season to get busy, creating as well as gathering as he ran himself to exhaustion with a game-high 36 disposals.
The Eagles got goals from their first three inside 50 entries to jump from the gates, and unlike in the round one game against Gold Coast, they kept the foot down.
Centre square control, assisted by some delightful tap work from Nic Naitanui, helped deliver quick ball to their array of tall forwards and it was West Coast’s impressive inside grunt, led by the likes of Shuey and Tim Kelly, that allowed the Eagles to control the outside game as well.
West Coast controlled the ground as well as the skies, with their first-half ambush underpinned by clearance (23-13), contested ball (89-67) and contested marking (13-4) domination. The Eagles finished the game with a huge 141 marks to Port Adelaide’s 86."[3]
Reserves[]
Round 1 (3 April)
West Coast kicked off their WAFL campaign with a competitive showing against Lathlain Park co-tenants Perth, ultimately going down by 13 points. Isiah Winder impressed with five goals from 18 touches and dropped midfielder Xavier O'Neill put his hand up for a quick recall with a team-high 21 disposals.
| 1/4 time | 1/2 time | 3/4 time | Final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perth | 5.2.32 | 8.8.56 | 11.10.76 | 16.12.108 | ||||
| West Coast | 7.0.42 | 7.2.44 | 12.3.75 | 15.5.95 |
Goals: Winder 5, Vardy 4, Nitschke, Waterman 2, Hansen, Hug
Best: Vardy, Ainsworth, Winder, H.Edwards
Injuries: nil
Reports: Witherden for striking C.Byrne
Named side:
| West Coast | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B: | 66.McGee | 42.H.Edwards | 38.Johnson | |
| HB: | 51.Marlin | 50.Fitzgerald | 29.Foley | |
| C: | 24.O'Neill | 45.Brayshaw | 33.Ainsworth | |
| HF: | 22.Winder | 40.Jamieson | 56.Hug | |
| F: | 61.Robilliard | 2.Waterman | 59.Nitschke | |
| R: | 58.Busher | 16.L.Edwards | 26.Trew | |
| I: | 67.Borgogno | 52.Feeney | 55.Flint | |
| 63.Hansen | ||||
| E: | 47.Cox | 65.Hobbs | 53.Humble | |
| 54.Sinclair |
Late changes: Vardy, Witherden for Borgogno, Feeney
WCE debuts: Jordan Busher (East Perth), Luke Edwards (Glenelg), Ben Fitzgerald (University), Ethan Hansen (Perth), Callum Jamieson (Claremont), Ben Johnson (West Perth), Lennon Marlin (Perth), Jalen McGee (Claremont), Cooper Nitschke (Claremont), Zane Trew (Swan Districts), Isiah Winder (Peel Thunder), Alex Witherden (Brisbane)
Injury list[]
In the leadup to the match the following players were listed as being injured or unavailable:
| Player | Injury | Expected return | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rioli | Suspension | 20 weeks | ||||
| Yeo | Groin | TBC | ||||
| Cameron | Groin | 2 weeks | ||||
| Williams | Ankle | 1 week | ||||
| Shuey | Hamstring | Test | ||||
| Waterman | Back | Test | ||||
| Allen | Shoulder | Test | ||||
| Venables* | Concussion | Indefinite | ||||
| Hutchings* | IT band | 2 weeks |
References[]
https://www.afl.com.au/matches/3001
https://afltables.com/afl/stats/games/2021/131820210403.html
- ↑ West Coast Eagles Yearbook 2021, p.28
- ↑ westcoasteagles.com.au (5 April 2021), "Round three: Pressing questions": https://www.westcoasteagles.com.au/news/898072/round-three-pressing-questions
- ↑ Braden Quartermaine, The West Australian (3 April 2021), "West Coast send brutal reminder to AFL competition after demolition of premiership fancies Port Adelaide": https://thewest.com.au/sport/afl/west-coast-send-brutal-reminder-to-afl-competition-after-demolition-of-premiership-fancies-port-adelaide-ng-b881838152z
| 2021 season <--2020-21 offseason | Playing squad | Coaching panel | 2021-22 offseason--> |
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Pre-season : 1 (FRE) | 2 (FRE) |