Mid Year Report: West Coast (from afl.com.au)

[happy_eagle]

TAKEN FROM: http://afl.com.au/Season2007/News/NewsArticle/tabid/208/Default.aspx?newsId=45094

[Please ALWAYS link back to sources when you are posting material from other sites! - Mr E.]


Win-loss: 8-3 (WWWWWWLWLWL)


http://afl.com.au/Portals/0/images/AFL/AFL%20K-O/AAMidseasonreports_a.jpg
The run home
Round 12 - St Kilda (Subiaco)
Round 13 - Adelaide (AAMI Stadium)
Round 14 – Brisbane Lions (Subiaco)
Round 15 – Port Adelaide (AAMI Stadium)
Round 16 - Sydney (Subiaco)
Round 17 – Western Bulldogs (Telstra Dome)
Round 18 - Fremantle (Subiaco)
Round 19 - Kangaroos (Telstra Dome)
Round 20 - Richmond (Subiaco)
Round 21 - St Kida (Telstra Dome)
Round 22 - Essendon (Subiaco)
Ladder position: Second


Leading possession winner: Chris Judd - 303


Leading goalkicker: Quinten Lynch – 21


Season so far
The Eagles have been very good, although a worry has emerged about their ability to win on the road.
Losses to Geelong, Hawthorn and Essendon in the last three away games before the break have created some doubts and they’ve been dethroned from the top of the ladder by the Cats.
They dismissed a problem not being able to put sides away with crushing wins over Melbourne and the red-hot Kangaroos at Subiaco.
The Roos arrived with a six-match winning streak in tow and the tag as the hottest team in the competition, but West Coast did pretty much everything right and won by 11 goals, kicking eight unanswered majors in the last quarter.


Best win
Some would say the aforementioned destruction of the Roos, but the round-one win over Grand Final rivals Sydney by (the now customary) point probably just pips it.
West Coast was without seven premiership players, including both the competition's best ruckman/midfielder and the Norm Smith Medallist, and were playing at a Telstra Stadium where many of their list had never ventured.
Daniel Kerr's desperate chase and tackle in the dying seconds is destined to be an iconic moment from the 2007 season.


Best goal so far
David Wirrpanda's goal against Collingwood in round two from the right forward pocket at the city end of Subiaco Oval.
Running into the pocket, his miraculous snap unbelievably bounced through the big sticks.


Best and fairest leaders
It's not hard to believe that Brownlow front-runner Chris Judd could be leading the club champion voting at this stage, but there are several others who'd be up there with him.
All-Australian full-back Darren Glass is having another terrific year; Daniel Kerr, Matt Priddis and Michael Braun are ripping up the midfield, while Adam Selwood and Shannon Hurn have been terrific across half-back.


Surprise packet
Matt Priddis has been stellar.
He’s second for the year in possessions behind superstar skipper Judd, and collected 99 possessions in the three matches leading into the break, averaging 24 for the year.
Clubs passed over him in several drafts because of pace concerns, and he only played two games last year while a rookie.
This season he has shown an invaluable football brain and an outstanding ability to get the ball.
He keeps his feet on the ground – after gathering 70 possessions in rounds nine and 10 and being asked ‘what's next’, he replied with a laugh: “Kerry's (Daniel Kerr) back, I'll be on the bench.”


Coaches’ award (one-percenter player)
Brett Jones and Shannon Hurn have provided rock-solid defence and also plenty of run from the back.
Both have played every game this year after not totalling a full season between them last year.
Hurn has even slipped forward to kick six booming goals and was the round-11 nominee for the NAB AFL Rising Star award.


Second-half story lines
Will West Coast's goal-kicking improve? Only three times this year have they kicked more goals than behinds (for two wins and a loss). International kicking coach Dave Aldred visited for a couple of weeks – will that help?
Norm Smith Medallist Andrew Embley, centre-half forward Ash Hansen, defender Mark Nicoski, Sam Butler and Jaymie Graham should all return at some stage after the break.
The big question on everyone's lips - can they go back-to-back? Form says yes, especially if they get two home finals at Subiaco.

[Patrick Bullet]

Nice review!

Three away losses are a bummer, but when you note that they were against the three other teams in the top four, it doesn't seem unreasonable. (I realise this argument is a bit circular - those three teams are in the top four partly because they beat us)

Looking at the ladder now, though, we have a pretty tough away draw from here on in, playing only one of the bottom four teams (StK), and two of the remaining top eight, and our 'bogey' away team (Port).

[wozzie]

Good report: Should get a job as a journo, better balanced than most of the rubbish we read lately.

[Lion El'Johnson]

Tis was an article on AFL site guys. I generally agree with it.

[UpForGrabs]

Tis was an article on AFL site guys. I generally agree with it.

No mention of Cousins... Think the AFL are sick of his name??

[Beau_Waters for PM]

The run home
Round 12 - St Kilda (Subiaco)
Round 13 - Adelaide (AAMI Stadium)
Round 14 – Brisbane Lions (Subiaco)
Round 15 – Port Adelaide (AAMI Stadium)
Round 16 - Sydney (Subiaco)
Round 17 – Western Bulldogs (Telstra Dome)
Round 18 - Fremantle (Subiaco)
Round 19 - Kangaroos (Telstra Dome)
Round 20 - Richmond (Subiaco)
Round 21 - St Kida (Telstra Dome)
Round 22 - Essendon (Subiaco)


Of those games, most would probably pencil in wins for the bolded ones. So that's 5 wins.
Adelaide @ AAMI will be tough, but if we can just remind them of what happened in the Prelim final last year, we should have the psychological advantage.
Port @ AAMI - as has already been said, Port are a bogey team for us. It sure would be an important win if we get up - will boost our confidence ahead of the Grand Final rematch.
Sydney @ home. Will be a tough game no doubt, and depending on whether the Swannies can string some wins together, it would seem as though we've got the upper hand. However, if we play poorly against Port I fear we may drop our bundle. Looking for something special, otherwise could spark a 3-game losing streak.
Bulldogs @ the Dome. Tough running match - and the Dogs don't mind playing against us. But I think we will be on top of our game by then, if not, then I'll be worried.
Dockers @ Subi. Never a gimme, but it is our home game - so we'll have less of those annoying Freo supporters to fight with. If the Dockers arent in form by that game, we will trample them for sure. If they manage to find some form in the next few weeks, it will shape up to be a good battle.
Kangaroos @ the Dome. If the Kangas continue their tradition of end-of season fadeouts, then this one will be in the bag.
Rds 20,21 should put us in some form ahead of the finals, which will be good. Essendon @ subi may be a close one, but I don't think we could lose to them at home.

I don't think its unreasonable to say that we could well win our last 11 games. However, it is also quite possible that if we lose to Port or Sydney, we risk falling into a form slump and may end up losing 4 in a row.
My prediction:
Finish top of the ladder (that's right - ahead of Geelong) with 18 wins, 4 losses.
i only think we'll dop one game from now till the end of the season, most difficult games will be against Port, Sydney, and the Dogs.

[Juddy88]

Of those games, most would probably pencil in wins for the bolded ones. So that's 5 wins.
Adelaide @ AAMI will be tough, but if we can just remind them of what happened in the Prelim final last year, we should have the psychological advantage.
Port @ AAMI - as has already been said, Port are a bogey team for us. It sure would be an important win if we get up - will boost our confidence ahead of the Grand Final rematch.
Sydney @ home. Will be a tough game no doubt, and depending on whether the Swannies can string some wins together, it would seem as though we've got the upper hand. However, if we play poorly against Port I fear we may drop our bundle. Looking for something special, otherwise could spark a 3-game losing streak.
Bulldogs @ the Dome. Tough running match - and the Dogs don't mind playing against us. But I think we will be on top of our game by then, if not, then I'll be worried.
Dockers @ Subi. Never a gimme, but it is our home game - so we'll have less of those annoying Freo supporters to fight with. If the Dockers arent in form by that game, we will trample them for sure. If they manage to find some form in the next few weeks, it will shape up to be a good battle.
Kangaroos @ the Dome. If the Kangas continue their tradition of end-of season fadeouts, then this one will be in the bag.
Rds 20,21 should put us in some form ahead of the finals, which will be good. Essendon @ subi may be a close one, but I don't think we could lose to them at home.

I don't think its unreasonable to say that we could well win our last 11 games. However, it is also quite possible that if we lose to Port or Sydney, we risk falling into a form slump and may end up losing 4 in a row.
My prediction:
Finish top of the ladder (that's right - ahead of Geelong) with 18 wins, 4 losses.
i only think we'll dop one game from now till the end of the season, most difficult games will be against Port, Sydney, and the Dogs.

It's going to be hard to get top spot
I think it's more likely we'll be 15-5 but we are a good chance of 18-4 if we play better footy away.
Geelong have to have a huge turnaround to loose top spot especially with their percentage.
I Don't think it matters if we get second or first tho.

[Beau_Waters for PM]

It's going to be hard to get top spot
I think it's more likely we'll be 15-5 but we are a good chance of 18-4 if we play better footy away.
Geelong have to have a huge turnaround to loose top spot especially with their percentage.
I Don't think it matters if we get second or first tho.

Geelong have some tough games ahead just as we do.
They play Sydney next round, and the Dockers @ subi in Rd 17.
Both are definitely lose-able.

[happy_eagle]

im just glad this wasn't done using outcomes based education

wouldn't be able to understand it

eagles working at a 7M

[Mighty Eagles]

Good review mate, Well done

[BigVig]

Do you realise this was posted on afl.com.au a week ago?

And Hawthorn got A+

This is not an original reveiw

[Mr Eagle]

Article linked back to afl.com.au.

[Ambrose Burnside]

I'd have given us a B, maybe a B+. Mainly because our third quarters have been hopeless - even when we win - and our goal kicking accuracy has been deplorable.

Plus I miss the awesome come-from-behind nailbiters of last year.

[jorel6669]

This stretch will tell us a lot about how we will go come finals. All bar the Brisbane game are far from lock-ins. Given we should beat Brisbane, we can do no worse than 2-3 in the other 5 games. 3-2 would be a good result, leaving us with 4 games at season's end to try and win to go 17-5 for the year. 4-1 would be an amazing effort. 5-0 would probably see everyone saying we're unstoppable. But 1-4 would hurt us pretty bad, meaning we'd need to win the last 4 to just be 16-6. Any other slip ups and all of a sudden top 2 slips a bit from grasp.

Round 13 - Adelaide (AAMI Stadium)
Round 14 – Brisbane Lions (Subiaco)
Round 15 – Port Adelaide (AAMI Stadium)
Round 16 - Sydney (Subiaco)
Round 17 – Western Bulldogs (Telstra Dome)
Round 18 - Fremantle (Subiaco)

[Juddy88]

I'd have given us a B, maybe a B+. Mainly because our third quarters have been hopeless - even when we win - and our goal kicking accuracy has been deplorable.

Plus I miss the awesome come-from-behind nailbiters of last year.

It doesn't really matter about that ATM mate. A bit harsh.
We are second on the ladder with only 3 losses.
Easily should be an A.

[Ambrose Burnside]

It doesn't really matter about that ATM mate. A bit harsh.
We are second on the ladder with only 3 losses.
Easily should be an A.

I can accept the losses to Geelong and Hawthorn, I think they're the only teams thus far that deserve an A/A+, but we should not have lost to Essendon considering the lead we had.

I still think at this stage of the year we're a B/B+ team. The important thing though is that we're a A+++++ team by the end of Spetember :p

[Cuzz09]

I can accept the losses to Geelong and Hawthorn, I think they're the only teams thus far that deserve an A/A+, but we should not have lost to Essendon considering the lead we had.

I still think at this stage of the year we're a B/B+ team. The important thing though is that we're a A+++++ team by the end of Spetember :p

Mate, Im still fuming bout that game!! :p

Now I know how Geelong supporters felt last year - Not as big of a comeback but hurt just as much coz it was the scum!!