West Coast Fan TV

'WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!'

West Coast has already had its second-best season of the past half-decade... and it's only May.

And it's all about the kids, who are sparking the early stages of a "Brisbane-like" rebuild.

Including the gun who should be the Rising Star favourite - and the "little gem" nobody wanted... not even the Eagles.

ANALYSIS >> bit.ly/4u2wPNF

THE AUTOPSY…
Round 12.
WEST COAST VS BOMBERS
@- Optus in a cyclone!

Pre game thoughts:
Essendon have had a change in coach, most people say that it’s a instant win however the stats say differently, only 40% of the time a coach change happens does a team win the following game!
So I’m not worried about that!

The change does however bring unpredictability to a team. Players play different positions and different roles, teams change lines and styles of play and players play with more freedom rather than following specific plans so working a game plan on what Essendon have done previously is pointless. What we need to do is come out firing, kick the first few goals and really suck any hope out of them!
They literally have nothing to play for except pride and so if we can put the idea of another thumping in their minds early then the pride and effort will evaporate rather quickly!

With the wild weather we are having and the heavy winds and rain expected at Optus around game time this will certainly be a contested ball type game, we need to soccer, knock forward and kick long as often as possible!
If we over use the handball in poor weather we will open the door for a rebound score!
Keep the ball close to the boundary and use our contested stoppage dominance (as stated by AFL we are Number 1) to move the ball into a scoring position as often as possible!
Old school wet weather footy some would say!
That’s how we win.. We bully them around the contest!
Keys to the game:
Bailey Williams: His mobility in and around stoppage will be paramount to winning!
Game plan: If we try to be too cute we will give Essendon enough chances to steal a win! Wet weather footy for the win!
Key Forwards: Marks inside 50 will be gold today and the closer to goal you can get it the higher the chance of wind effecting the trajectory, 2 talls deep near the goal and 4 medium and Smalls working up the ground!

Prediction: WCE by 32.

Final score
WCE: 85
Ess: 55

Previous Team changes:
Outs:
Ins:
No Change!

1st qtr:
Started with a great level of pressure.
We managed 12 inside 50s before Essendon got 1.
The wind is playing havoc on the long shots at goal, should maybe look at setting a “no shots from outside 40” rule for rest of qtr.
Our transition going to the fat side and moving it forward is fantastic, a couple hiccups like Baker forgetting to handball and running straight into Merrett but it’s clear what they are trying to do!
The other thing we are doing well is protecting the Corridor, out number 4 to 2 and our talls protecting the long kick down the line.
At the end of the qtr ESS get a behind but this is the only time they actually looked like scoring!
We had 15 inside 50s to 8.
Created 26 turnovers and had 49% of the qtr with clear time in possession compared to 37% and 14% in dispute.
WCE with a 16 point lead.

2nd Qtr:
Bit of a slug fest to start the qtr.
2 very simple defensive errors allow Essendon’s first goal!
We are over using the ball in our defensive 50! This is a recipe for disaster!
Bombers are dominating us in clearances this qtr!
Bombers have lifted and trying to out muscle us.. But we’ve lifted and are now matching them!
We need to start using short 20 metre kicks to kill their momentum!
Harvey Johnstone kicks a goal after some fantastic work from Jake waterman, glad he didn’t just blaze away, he lowered his eyes.
Can’t say the say for Ryan Maric who had 3 out in the goal square and chose to snap!
Jobe with a strong Mark and goal gives us some breathing space and takes the wind out of the sails of Essendon.
Jake Waterman with a couple shots after we gained ascendancy but only minor scores or not making distance.
Then Steps up HARRRRRLEEY!
Fend off, fend off, broken tackle and goal!
A massive Qtr for Essendon, they dominated the clearances 13 to 4, however lost the inside 50s 14 to 12, lost the Contested, Uncontested, Marks and Marks inside 50.
That lead to us winning the Qtr by 4 points.
WCE lead by 20 at half time!

3rd Qtr:
A Soft free to Milan to give him a 2nd goal before the bounce even happened! But hey we will take it as we are normally on the other side of those frees!
Another WCE goal to Bailey Williams and Essendon are losing the plot.
Duursma with a floating mung that carries for another.
The pressure isn’t as high as it has been however we are way cleaner and that’s creating so many holes in Essendon’s defence!
I say every week “Accuracy Kills!” And so far in the 3rd qtr we have kicked 5.1 to zero.. and gotten the lead out to 51 points halfway through the qtr!
Essendon kick 2 late goals but that qtr destroyed any hope of a fight back!
WCE go 41 points up into the last!
The worrying thing for me is that last 5 minutes was very flamboyant, guys going for Mark and goal of the year rather than doing team things!
The games not over and we need to play a consistent 4 Qtrs.
When we are a top 4 team we can be flamboyant, not when we are beating the wooden spooner!
Let’s hope we put in a hard last Qtr and get some percentage back on the blow out losses we’ve had!

4th Qtr:
We start the qtr doing flashy hand balls.. it took McCarthy to kick outside the contest before we got it moving forward!
You can feel that the oxygen has come out of the game and both teams are just going through the motions, as a Coach you don’t mind it as all you are hoping for is no injuries once you get out to a big enough lead, however as a Fan I wanna see us put the foot on their throats! Crush them! Destroy them and send a message to all the other clubs, We aren’t easy beats anymore!
We lost the last qtr.
but
WCE win by 30

The Good:
Ginbey, Harley, Bailey, Jake, Youngy, Milan, TK, Duursma, Hough, Bo Allan and Bazzo.

The team work in the 1st half.
The way we stood up and pushed back when the bombers tried to man handle us.
The way the mids pushed back to help the defence!
How the defence stood up when it counted.

The Bad:
Tom Cole: Up til half way through the 3rd Qtr he had 2 disposals at 50% DE.. and 81% TOG. Not good enough especially when only 5 players had spent more time on the ground at that time!

How we took our foot off the pedal in the last qtr, I personally hate it when you go away from what has been working, lower the pressure, stop chasing as hard and the reason is because thats ironically when players get Injuried!

The BOG and Why:
Reuben Ginbey: When the game was on he was a rock in defence!
94% DE, 17 touches, 11 interceptions, 4 Tackles and 307 meters gained.
Honourable mentions:
- Harley Reid: 24 touches, 11 contested, 9 Score involvements and 4 clearances. 1 Goal
- Milan Murdoch: 19 touches, 10 contested, 8 Score involvements, 4 interceptions, 4 Tackles and 3 goals.
- Bo Allan: 20 Touches, 6 inside 50s, 3 Score involvements and 543 meters gained.
- Tim Kelly: 28 touches, 8 contested, 5 inside 50s, 6 score involvements and 554 meters gained.

I could name another 10 players!

The Captains Game:
- [ ] Liam Duggan: 20 touches, 5 inside 50s, 5 rebound 50, 8 marks, 4 interceptions and 505 meters gained is great, the bad is the 5 turnovers, 0 pressure acts and 0 tackles.. (C+)
- [ ] Liam Baker: 25 touches, 12 contested, 5 x i50, 340 meters gained and 92% disposal efficiency and 9 Interceptions, however 0 tackles and 19 of the 25 were handballs! (C+)

Team Looking Forward:

What I would do:
OUTS: Maric, Cole
INS: Starcevich, Herbert.

REASON:
Starcevich: is a multi level player, can play defence and midfield and is our big recruit so after 2 wafl games time to get him into the team!
Marcus Herbert: Watched his WAFL debut and he is a class above, Had the most disposals of any Eagle, was super clean with his ball use and showed ultimate composure both in defence and when he went into the middle!
He needs to play, a great mid season recruit and I think he will be another Murdoch and fit straight into the team.

What will probably happen:

Outs: nil
Ins: nil

Final word:
It’s always hard to make changes to a winning team and it’s not often that we have seen no changes so that is a bonus.
The fact that we had 18 AFL listed players in the B-Eagles team and CDT held out as the Emg means a lot are pushing for selection and that puts pressure on the top team to perform, That is really a wonderful place to finally be!
I’m sure most people can see the structures the club is going with and it all revolves around pressure at the contest, that is now transferring to the B-eagles team and that means we can literally have like for like switch outs if we get a injury.
Harley looks to have finally worked out how to use his aggression correctly, Milan gives us that mongrel, Bailey is coming along nicely and the young guys are starting to really impact the games.
Allan, Johnston, Lindsay, Duursma and Shanahan all know their roles and it’s definitely on the up for us!
One for the AFL writers, I read a report today that Jagga Smith should be the favourite for the Rising Star.. Are you kidding me!
If you had to choose between Jagga or Willum to play in ANY team every man and his dog would take duursma over smith!
Thats all you gotta know when deciding who is the Rising Star winner later in the year!

Overall feeling:
Extremely Happy!
We are seeing growth in the squad, Development in the players and a no give up attitude.
Thats what takes great teams to become premiers!
Not every great team can win premierships if they don’t have the great base to build from!

Onto next week and Port.
I think we will switch off the power and get another win!

Coach Ant!

37,623.

Cold weather.
Late game.
Not playing finals.
A team still rebuilding.

And yet 37,623 people turned up.

That’s why you never count out Eagles supporters.

While some sit at home talking s**t, thousands showed up, backed the boys, and got behind the club.

Imagine what this place is going to look like when we’re winning consistently and we are up and about again.

To everyone who braved the weather and made the effort today you’re the heartbeat of this football club.

Don’t comment s**t if you didn’t come to the game.

🖕🏿

💙💛🦅

From 1 win last year… to 4 wins and counting this year.

That’s called progress.

The easy thing is to criticise. The harder thing is to give credit where it’s due.

The boys are playing with more belief, more effort, and more fight.

We’re sitting on four wins now. Two more and we’re doubling last year’s total.

Finals might still be a way off, but you can smell the improvement.

Proud of the way this group is growing.

Go Eagles. 💙💛🦅

Splat thanks for the four points Essendon!
Let’s go West Coast Fan TV!💙💛

That goal 🤯🤯🫶🏽