Round 6 2021

Geelong v West Coast
Round 6, 2021

Darling gets outmarked. Photo: aflphotos.com.au

Date

Sat, 24 April 2021 (1.45pm EST)

Venue

Kardinia Park

Attendance

n/a

Result

Lost by 97

Score

GEE 21.10.136 - 5.9.39 WCE

Brownlow

3 L.Henderson (GEE)
2 M.Duncan (GEE)
1 J.Henry (GEE)

Ladder

12th

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West Coast suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Geelong, giving up 13 straight goals in slumping to their biggest loss in a decade. Having escaped Perth shortly before a weekend-long lockdown was declared, the visitors started brightly and led at the first break but were then overrun, giving up ten unanswered goals in the next period to end the game as a contest, before the Cats turned the second half into a training drill. Andrew Gaff had a team-high 27 disposals and Oscar Allen was his side's only multiple goalscorer, while the Eagles lost stand-in skipper Jeremy McGovern to a groin injury to add injury to insult.

Summary

		1/4 time		1/2 time		3/4 time		Final
Geelong		2.3.15		12.4.64		18.7.115		21.10.136
West Coast		3.2.20		3.3.21		4.4.28		5.9.39

Goals: Allen 2, Brander, Darling, Vardy

Best: Gaff, Redden, Witherden, Darling

Injuries: McGovern (groin), Cripps (ribs)

Medical subs: (WCE) Ainsworth for McGovern (groin) in the second term; (GEE) Clark for Kolodjashnij (hamstring) in the fourth term

Jumper: Away, blue shorts

Named sides

	West Coast				Geelong
B:	28.Cole	37.Barrass	23.Witherden	B:	25.Henderson	46.Blicavs	38.Henry
HB:	5.Sheppard	20.McGovern	30.Nelson	HB:	30.Atkins	8.Kolodjashnij	44.Stewart
C:	8.Redden	4.Sheed	14.Duggan	C:	7.Smith	29.C.Guthrie	27.Menegola
HF:	24.O'Neill	27.Darling	15.Cripps	HF:	40.Dahlhaus	5.Cameron	3.Parfitt
F:	2.Waterman	12.Allen	31.Jones	F:	23.Rohan	26.Hawkins	45.Close
R:	9.Naitanui	11.Kelly	3.Gaff	R:	1.Stanley	22.Duncan	14.Selwood
I:	7.Langdon	10.Brander	19.Vardy	I:	24.Bews	32.Miers	2.Tuohy
	35.Rotham				42.O'Connor
E:	29.Foley	32.Williams	33.Ainsworth	E:	6.Clark	39.Z.Guthrie	19.Narkle
	42.H.Edwards				11.Jenkins

In: Jones (unused medical sub)

Out: Kennedy (ankle)

Quarter by quarter

Both sides went in as named.

From the coach

"We got annihilated in every aspect of the game, which was really disappointing. It was an embarrassing performance after quarter-time, and you get what you deserve in the game, really. We had a go in the first quarter, we were quite competitive around the contest, good field position, we go in a goal up I think, +9 or 10 in the contest. And then in the second quarter we just got blown away - centre bounces, contests in front of the ball, contests behind the ball, and they converted. And then we were just trying to plug holes for the rest of the day. A really disappointing performance.

"Absolutely no excuses for what we did today. You can lose over here, that happens, but you want to play a brand that you're proud of. We're not at Geelong's level at the moment, obviously a grand final side (in 2020) and had a couple of good inclusions and they were terrific today, they held up (in the) first quarter, then put the foot down and we couldn't stop it. We tried a lot of things, but if you can't your hands on the ball, you're in trouble.

"...You can question our effort, you can, which is really disappointing. I think there's stages in games, and where you get a bit of a glazed look on your face and you don't really know what to do. And that's my job, that's our coaches' job to try and realign it, reset it, and we couldn't find a way to get our guys mentally back in the game. Physically, we looked weak."

From the papers

The West Australian

"Geelong steam rolled their way through, winning the contested ball count for the (second) term by an astonishing 20, and on the rare occasions the shell-shocked Eagles went forward any semblance of cohesive method was lost.

While the debut of partnership of Tom Hawkins and Cameron was the obvious storyline, it was Rohan who first got under the Eagles’ guard as he triggered the onslaught with a couple of big marks and goals.

When defender Jack Henry ran in and used the outside of his boot to kick a banana goal late in the second stanza, the crowd were in party mode and the Eagles had flatlined.

Duncan’s barrel from outside the arc after the half-time siren was a piss-take. Of course, the ARC overturned the goal umpire’s original decision that Tom Barrass had got a finger tip on it."

The Age

"The Eagles conceded 13 goals in a row from late in the first term to early in the third term, broken by a mark and snap from Jack Darling.

They were overrun in the midfield. Tim Kelly was well held by Mark O’Connor and Dom Sheed could not do it all on his own. Nic Naitanui won taps as he usually does but didn’t have an impact around the ground, while his opposite number Rhys Stanley was able to get away to kick a first-term goal.

When Mitch Duncan is kicking torpedo goals from outside 50, and Lachie Henderson is doing the same with drop punts, it is quite easy to come to the conclusion that this was never going to be the Eagles’ day."

Reserves

West Coast's clash with Subiaco at Leederville Oval was postponed due to the city-wide pandemic lockdown.

Injury list

In the leadup to the match the following players were listed as being injured or unavailable:

Player		Injury		Expected return
Rioli		Suspension		17 weeks
Yeo		Groin		TBC (expected 9+ weeks)
Shuey		Hamstring		TBC (expected 9+ weeks)
Ryan		Shin		6-8 weeks
Hurn		Calf		1 week
Petruccelle		Hamstring		1 week
Kennedy		Ankle		Test
Cole		Head		Test
Rotham		Head		Test
Venables*		Concussion		Indefinite
Ah Chee*		Knee		Test

References

https://www.afl.com.au/matches/3061

https://afltables.com/afl/stats/games/2021/091820210424.html