Australian Football

Match Report

Footy pundits are revising their summations of and forecasts for West Coast after the Eagles registered a stirring, upset away win against the highly-fancied Port Adelaide on Sunday evening. The Eagles have been hard hit by injury this season, with key defenders Eric Mackenzie and Mitch Brown out for the season with knee injuries. They were not widely tipped to feature in September but, after the win against Port, find themselves second on the ladder with a 4-2 record.

The Eagles started the game off well against the Power, with an early goal to Elliot Yeo, but Port hit back with a brace of goals to Robbie Gray to take a four-point lead at the 11-minute mark. Eagle Josh Hill restored the lead for the Eagles three minutes later and Matt Priddis extended the margin to seven with his first at the 24-minute mark. Chad Wingard saw out the quarter with a goal just before the siren and at the first break the teams were locked together at 3.4 apiece.

Jamie Cripps gave West Coast a good start to the second quarter with a goal inside two minutes but from there Port Adelaide, as had been widely expected, began to exert its authority over the match. The Power scored the four remaining goals of the term, one each to Travis Boak, Matt White, Gray and Jay Schulz, and took a comfortable 17-point lead into the long break.

Port was expected to carry that momentum into the second half bit it was the Eagles who came out firing early in the third quarter. Josh Kennedy and Dom Sheed kicked majors for the Eagles at the five and nine-minute marks but goals continued to come at a premium for the remainder of the term. Matthew Lobbe kicked his first at the 11-minute mark, to restore a nine-point lead for the Power, but Mark LeCras responded almost immediately. Another three behinds brought West Coast to within two points before a goal from Hill gave the Eagles a five-point lead at the last change. 

As the last quarter got underway, the prevailing wisdom was that the home side would wear the Eagles down and eke out a win but West Coast would not lie down. Luke Shuey put the away side 12 points clear at the six-minute mark but a goal to Wingard saw Port cut the margin back to a goal a few minutes later. Hamish Hartlett and Schulz added behinds to make the difference just four points as the Power continued to attack and the Eagles continued to defend grimly. Cripps kicked his second to put West Coast 10 points ahead but Angus Monfries answered to cut the margin to below a goal and set up a grandstand finish. The ball moved up and down the ground, neither side being able to score until finally, with a minute remaining, Shuey broke free to run in and kick his second to give the Eagles a memorable win.

Best for the victors included LeCras (28 disposals, six tackles), Priddis (31 touches and eight tackles) and Shuey (23 possessions, six tackles, two last-quarter goals), while Port's best numbered Gray (25 disposals, three goals), Harlett (10 tackles, 25 possessions) and Hartlett (10 tackles, 25 touches).

The Eagles will try and cement their place in the top two with a win over Gold Coast at Subiaco next Saturday night, while Port Adelaide (10th on the ladder with a 3-3 record) will look to return to the winners list with a win over bottom team Brisbane at the Gabba on Sunday.

GOALS
Port Adelaide: Gray 3; Wingard 2; Boak, White, Schulz, Lobbe, Monfries
West Coast: Hill, Cripps, Shuey 2; Yeo, Priddis, Kennedy, Sheed, LeCras

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Port Adelaide: Gray, Wingard, Carlile, Boak, Hombsch, Hartlett
West Coast: LeCras, Shuey, Yeo, Priddis, McGovern, Sheed

BEST - WATODAY.COM.AU
Port Adelaide: Gray, Hartlett, Wingard, Homsch, Boak, Ryder
West Coast: Priddis, Mastern, LeCras, Shuey, Wellingham, Sheppard

INJURIES
Port Adelaide: Nil
West Coast: Nil

SUBSTITUTES
Port Adelaide: Brendon Ah Chee replaced Aaron Young in the third quarter
West Coast: Jackson Nelson replaced Fraser McInnes in the final quarter

UMPIRES: Deboy, Kamolins, McInerney

TELEVISION BROADCAST: Fox Footy

COMMENTATORS: Anthony Hudson, Gerard Healy, Mark Ricciuto, Cameron Mooney