Australian Football

Match Report

The last match of the weekend brings us to Unleash Solar Oval in Woodville where the Eagles faced the Bloods. The Eagles have won seven of the last 11 games, but the last match belonged to the Bloods when the Eagles came to Richmond in Round 10. Before that match, the Eagles took three victories on the trot in Season 2011 on their way to the premiership. This time around, the Bloods had an assured finals spot while the Eagles were fighting to keep their slim finals hopes and premiership defence alive. This one was going to be a low scoring affair much like their encounter in early-2011 where the collective goals tally was 15 from 34 scores.

The Eagles got the better of the Bloods early on, keeping the Bloods to just one behind whilst kicking three goals without a miss to lead by 17 points at quarter-time. The roles would be reversed in the second quarter though, Westies kicking 3.2 for themselves and keeping the Eagles to just a single point to go into the half-time break with a two-point lead. The arm-wrestling match continued when play resumed, in the third quarter both sides could only manage just one goal each with behinds making the difference in the deficit. The Eagles' two behinds to West's one would see the visitors slender lead cut to a point at three quarter-time. If everyone thought North's win against Centrals was an upset, think of what the Westies fans were thinking as the Eagles finished the game off with a 3.7 to 1.2 final quarter as the home side took a 16-point win and snatched the coveted fifth spot from the Tigers. Justin Cicolella's season isn't finished yet!

The Eagles named Ben Grieger as their best on ground, while West named Shane Birss as their standout. This result sees the Tigers finish their season in sixth.