Australian Football

Match Report

The first of two Saturday afternoon games takes us to the Maughan Thiem Kia Oval in Woodville for the west city derby between the Eagles and the Bloods. This was the first of the return bout games for Season 2019, a chance for the Eagles to exact revenge for one of their most humiliating losses for this year. The Bloods' only win to date came at the expense of the Eagles by 37 points back in Round 4 at Richmond. That form hasn't been repeated by the Bloods again, although a one-goal loss to Adelaide last week suggested they may have turned a corner. The Eagles were forced to work against the Bulldogs at Elizabeth, eventually outrunning them in the final term. 

Signs of struggle were there in the opening term for the Eagles, but the Bloods' wayward shooting allowed them to be within two points at quarter-time instead of two goals wide with the quarter-time board reading 1.3 to 1.1. Soon enough though the Eagles hit their stride, booting 6.2 to the Bloods' horrid four behinds to be up by 32 points at the long break. It was pretty much the Eagles' show from here, although the accuracy was a bit off in the third term. A further 4.6 to the visitors' 2.3 stretch the gap out to 47 points going into the final change. The Eagles would run out 10 goal winners, finishing off with a 5.2 to 3.1 last quarter. 

Jordan Foote continues to impress, taking best afield honours for the Eagles while the Bloods voted in Kaine Stevens as their standout.