Australian Football

Match Report

Now its onto match number four and its over to the Maughan Thiem Kia Oval in Woodville for the SANFL's war of the western suburbs as the Eagles faced the Bloods. One of the very few itches that the Bloods were able to scratch last year, the Eagles ended up being one of them. After being dealt a near 10-goal loss at Richmond in Round 7, the Bloods managed to pull off a rare away win at Oval Avenue later in the season. That six-point triumph in Round 18 was only their third victory against the Eagles in 17 outings, the other two coming in early 2019 and the drought-breaking premiership victory in 2015. Both sides would finish well outside finals contention, the Eagles finishing in eighth position while it was same-old same-old for the poor Bloods with yet another wooden spoon. The Eagles began on the right note, keeping the Bloods to a lowly 1.2 whilst scoring 5.4 for themselves to take a 26-point lead into the quarter-time huddle. The Eagles built upon the deficit over the bulk of the second quarter and could have been much further in front if not for more missed opportunities. By 18 minutes they were up to as much as six straight kicks up. At this time, the Bloods found some goal-kicking form, booting five goals in succession to slash it back to just one kick. The Eagles did put it back to two by the half-time break, all scores counted it was the Bloods with 7.1 to 4.4 with the gap down to 11 points. A hell of a burst from the red & black, but as has been the case many times over, the bubble was to be burst quickly. To be fair though, the Bloods were playing several debutants. Westies stayed within three kicks of the Eagles for much of the third quarter, but it would be four by term's end, a late pair of cruical chances for the away side going begging with the Eagles scoring 4.3 to 2.4 to lead by 22 points at the final change. The Bloods engine room sputtered to a stop in the final term, managing just two behinds as the home side flew away to a 64-point victory after bagging 7.2 to finish off. Riley Knight was at his absolute best for the Eagles, notching up 26 disposals, 12 tackles and 11 clearances. For the Bloods, it was Kobe Ryan with 20 disposals, 10 tackles and seven clearances.