Australian Football

Match Report

Western Derbies are nearly always fiery, high quality encounters. This particular match was surprisingly low-key. A dominant second half from West Coast maintained their position at the top of the ladder, while the Dockers slumped to their second straight loss. Just one goal was kicked in the first quarter, as the Dockers took a three-point lead into the break and scores were tied at 20-all at half-time. Fremantle recorded their lowest score ever against West Coast, kicking just two goals after half time. Dockers coach Ross Lyon’s highly defensive game plan again came under intense criticism after the loss, which he dismissed. Eagles midfielder Matt Rosa (43 possessions, one goal) was outstanding , playing the best game of his career to take out the Ross Glendinning Medal for best on ground. West Coast coach John Worsfold welcomed the tag of premiership favourite for his side, saying “If that accolade comes on us, we would like it to still be there in 15 or so weeks time.”

GOALS

West Coast: Hill 3, Darling 2, Priddis, Naitanui, Schofield, Lynch, Rosa, Shuey

Fremantle: Ballantyne, Clarke, Mayne, de Boer, Dawson 
 


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West Coast: Rosa, Glass, Shuey, Gaff, Waters, Hurn, Hill

Fremantle: Johnson, Broughton, Pavlich, McPharlin, Barlow

BEST - WATODAY.COM.AU
West Coast: Rosa, Gaff, Glass, Priddis, Shuey, Hill
Fremantle: Pavlich, McPharlin, Broughton, Crowley, Barlow

COACHES COMMENTS
John Worsfold (WC): If that accolade comes on us, we would like it to still be there in 15 or so weeks time. It changes, it moves, and we've already seen this year that the title of the premiership fancies has shifted three or four times in nine weeks or so. There's every chance it will shift again but if we do our job well enough, then people will keep talking about us in that light. That's all it boils down to.

Ross Lyon (Fre): From here we'll push forward and try to expose our youth. Those players that want to be a part of the solution and work really hard we'll support, and try and filter out those that don't want to work to the standard that we need. As a coaching group we clearly need to improve as well … I take responsibility for the method with the coaching panel.

Umpires: Farmer, Margetts, Dalgleish