West Coast – 11.17 (83)
Carlton – 15.19 (109)
The writing was on the wall for Carlton at half time in this game being down by 26 points but managed to turn this around by the final siren to win the match by 26 points. Past half time the West Coast could only manage 3 goals to Carlton’s 11. (more…)
SportsBet Odds: $1.09 vs. $9.30
3rd vs. 15th
This is a must win for both teams, but for completely contrasting reasons. Collingwood sits third on the ladder after the midpoint of the season. They are half a game behind both Geelong and St Kilda and half a game above Fremantle. The Pies will want to win this and will be hoping both Geelong and St Kilda lose, so they can jump to top spot or that one loses, so they can move to second.
West Coast on the other side of the ladder in fifteenth position will want to win badly, so they will not be in contention for the wooden spoon. If the Pies defeat them and Richmond defeats Sydney it’s the bottom of the ladder for the Eagles. (more…)
SportsBet Odds: $1.20 vs. $4.60
6th vs. 14th
Last week both these teams learnt exactly what was required to be a top 4 team and a genuine premiership threat. The Blues got a taste of exactly what Hawthorn is capable of and the Eagles learnt that you can never let a side like St Kilda off the hook.
Both teams will be looking to bounce back this week and will believe they are a realistic chance of winning this clash. (more…)
Brisbane 16.18. (114)
West Coast 12.10. (82)
Brisbane has notched up its first win of the season with a 32 point victory over the West Coast. The Lions trailed going into the last term but were able to run out the game better and kick 7 goals to 2 which set up the win. New recruit Brendan Fevola had an up and down night kicking 3 goals but also 7 behinds. (more…)
Adelaide – 18.14 (122)
West Coast – 7.6 (48)
Adelaide put their hand up for a home final by beating a poor West Coast outfit by 74 points.
It was like a training session at times as Adelaide moved the ball and found space easily from the second half.
Big moment
There were a heap of highlights for Adelaide, but the favourite for me was when Chris Knights kicked deep into space to a contest between Jason Porplyzia and Darren Glass in which Porplyzia pushed Darren Glass out of the way to snap easily.
Key players for Adelaide
Jason Porplyzia – Back to his best with a 6 goal haul. Great to watch when he is on form.
Simon Goodwin – Was excellent with his excellent use of the ball as shown by his 97% disposal efficiency from his 37 possessions.
Bernie Vince – Continued his excellent form with 34 possessions and 8 clearances.
Key players for West Coast
Adam Selwood – The best player for the Eagles with 29 possessions whilst throwing himself into the packs as usual.
Andrew Embley – Was one player that always tried to take the game on. Only had 17 possessions (8 others had more), but they were more damaging than most players.
Musings from the match
• Boy did I have high hopes for the Eagles in this game given their excellent record against the Crows winning 8 out of their last 10 against them.
• Michael Doughty and Andy Otten were excellent as well for the Crows.
• Adelaide finished with a staggering 493 possessions for the game.
• Kurt Tippett only kicked 1 goal but he still had a n impact in the forward line with 3 assists for the game.
• West Coast’s foot-skills were terrible, with a 13% difference in disposal efficiency.
• Adelaide’s 83% efficiency would have to be the highest of the year for any team.
• Adelaide were excellent in their switching sides of the ground to create space.
• West Coast had a tiny total of 32 inside-50s compared to the Adelaide’s 57.
SuperCoach news
Thanks to the high disposal count and the high efficiency rating, the Crows scored big with an average of 90pt’s per player.
The big scorers were Doughty(140pt’s), Goodwin (139pt’s), Vince(122pt’s), Porplyzia (116pt’s), Thompson (114pt’s) and Edwards (101pt’s)
No one from the Eagles cracked the 100pt barrier with the average score per player amounting to a poor 59pt’s per player.
Shannon Hurn was the highest scorer for the Eagles with 96pt’s
Western Bulldogs – 13.19 (97)
West Coast Eagles – 16.6. (102)
The Bulldogs are on the slide after losing to one of the poorer teams in the competition at Etihad Stadium. West Coast caused one of the upsets of the year and but allowed the Bulldogs to come back from 47 points behind. The lead changed four times in the final term in what was a very tough contest in the end by the Eagles edged out the Western Bulldogs by just five points. The Doggies early poor kicking, they kicked 11 successive behinds, was the main reason they were defeated though. The Bulldogs don’t look like top four contenders any more, even though they are still in the top four on the ladder. The Dogs have only beaten Essendon and Fremantle in their last five games. West Coast were not heavily backed at $10.35 and were definitely the unlikely winners.
Big Moment
Mark LeCras marked and goaled to win the Coasters the match.
Key Players for Western Bulldogs
Brad Johnson – 26 touches, 7 marks, 5 tackles and one goal is a good effort by the big man.
Adam Cooney – 30 possessions, 5 marks and a goal for the Brownlow medalist
Key Players for West Coast
Andrew Embley – Magnificent game, clearly best on ground, 32 disposals, 9 marks and 4 tackles.
Shannon Hurn – Did the job on Mitch Hahn and had 31 touches and 10 grabs.
Musings from the Match
SuperCoach
Andrew Embley is clearly the standout with 150 SuperCoach points. Shannon Hurn, Mark LeCras, Josh J. Kennedy and Matt Rosa all scored over 100 in SuperCoach and that was a big part of why they were able to win. Callum Wilson didn’t have the best second game with 43 SuperCoach points but who knows what could happen with him next year. Nick Naitanui had too many handballs to be useful for SuperCoach. Easton Wood did alright as a late replacement for Liam Picken with 55 SuperCoach points.
West Coast –16.11 (107)
Hawthorn –13.9 (87)
The Eagles scored an unlikely upset against an indifferent Hawthorn who tried but were (as unbelievable as it sounds) just not good enough.
It is a game that will most likely remembered as the arrival of Nic Naitanui and the end of the Hawks 2009 premiership aspirations.
Big moment
Mid-way in the 4th quarter, the ball was in the West Coast goal-square with Hawthorn in possession, albeit pressured. Lewis tried to kick it out of the congestion for Nic Naitanui to smother, gather, sell the dummy and kick the goal.
It was all West Coast from then onwards.
Key Players for the West Coast
• Mark LeCras – The Eagles best forward once again. His hands in these conditions were a highlight.
• Andrew Embley –Typical hard-running from the veteran who played the conditions very well with 29 possessions.
• Shannon Hurn – In horrid conditions his kicking was exceptional. Had the ball 26 times and everyone was straight to his teammates.
• Nic Naitanui – Pretty darn good for a 2nd gamer. The first 3 quarters had flashes of brilliance with prolonged periods of nothing. He then kicked 3 crucial 4th quarter goals to essentially win the game for the Eagles.
Key Players for Hawthorn
• Sam Mitchell – The captain tried everything to drag his team over the line. Everything. He had 40 possessions and 13 clearances.
• Brad Sewell – A fine performance from Sewell as usual. finished with 32 possessions with 13 of them being contested.
• Luke Hodge – 30 possessions in the backline with Stengline “tagging him”. Used it very well as you would expect from him.
• Jarryd Roughead – Kicked 5 goals in a losing side. Can’t complain with that.
Musings from the match
• The wind was unbelievable in the game with the rain later on adding to the games shocking skills.
• The 71% disposal efficiency shows as much.
• The Hawks lost Mark Williams early in the 3rd with an unknown knee-injury.
• Xavier Ellis and Brent Guerra were basically forced to play injured to add to the Hawks woes.
• The Hawks main issue was in maintaining the momentum; they kicked 5 goals in the 3rd quarter yet let Kerr kick one late towards the end to reduce the margin to 3 points at the end of the quarter.
• Lance Flanklin kicked 4 goals and did pretty well to make contests, but he’s added weight clearly lessens his agility which is why he was so good last year.
• Chris Masten had one of his best games of the year with his hard running on full display. His ball usage was as good as if seen from him as well. Surprising given the conditions.
• Daniel Kerr had little impact in the game bar that goal in the 3rd, with Whitecross and Bateman having successful stints on him. He then was moved on to Mitchell in the 4th and did a pretty good job.
• Quinten Lynch shouldered the load of the Ruck with Naitanui having runs in their as well.
• So that’ll be the Hawks year done? With the Bulldogs, Collingwood and Geelong in the next 4 weeks, it could go either way, especially considering that they play well against the Pies and Geelong traditionally. What do you think?
• That’s not how you tank West Coast?!?!?!
SuperCoach news
• Sam Mitchell’s excellent game was backed up by and excellent points haul of 160pt’s.
• I guess handballing isn’t too bad for SuperCoach with Matt Priddis scoring 141pt’s with 29 handballs and 6 kicks.
• Luke Hodge had his best game in a while with 111pt’s scored tonight. He’ll go up to $443 000 so get on.
SuperCoach scores and game stats from the SuperFooty match site
