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Liked Titus O'Reily's review of our game.

West Coast vs Essendon (OS) Seven & Fox 8:10pm All Times AEST

The Eagles loss to Hawthorn was the equivalent of getting hammered the night before exams, it just makes everything that bit harder.

The Hawthorn game certainly raised a lot of questions about West Coast. It’s not that they lost, it was how they lost. Like me being forced to watch The Bachelor, it was hard for them to hide their disinterest.

Still, the Eagles still are a team used to finals and loaded with talent, so it’s hardly beyond them and luckily the Grand Final isn’t held in the one spot every year giving an unfair advantage to teams that use it as a home ground.

I’ve been to a West Coast home final and it’s terrifying. It’s incredibly loud and you’re in dangerous proximity to an alarming number of Eagles fans.

My team went over there for a final and have never been seen since.

The Bombers haven’t won a final in 5479 days. It was all the way back on 4 September 2004.

Mark Latham was opposition leader when Essendon last won a final. Since then, both have mined the depths of new lows, the only difference is the Bombers show signs of coming out of it.

Essendon have already shown signs they’re on the right path, with Anthony ‘The only Essendon player I’ve ever liked’ McDonald-Tipungwuti re-signing recently.

A win here and it would be worth avoiding Bombers fans for all of next week.

Not that I’m too worried, I think the Eagles will win here.
 

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Titus O'Reilly's review of our game.

West Coast (116) v Essendon (61)

The reviews are in and the first week of the AFL Finals were a flop. Good footy was harder to find than meaning in a Zack Snyder film.

Still I watched them all because it’s footy and even bad footy is better than the rest of life.

The only thing interesting in this game was when Zach Merrett pulled Nic Naitanui’s hair, only for Naitanui to throw him into the advertising boards like a child toss a toy across the room.

It’s a reminder to never pull someone’s hair who is twice the size of you, at least not without consent.

Both players received fines, Naitanui for threatening the safety of an advertising board, something the AFL cares about.

There also appeared to be a moment in the ensuing scuffle where an Eagles fan appeared to throw beer at some Essendon players. Now that is concerning.

Wasting beer is not something to be taken lightly, no matter how tempting Essendon players are as targets. Beer is a precious gift and should be treated as such.

Although it was probably mid-strength, so throwing that away in disgust is a fairly normal reaction.

As for the game, the Eagles are just a lot better than Essendon. You can over analyse it all you want but it’s that simple. They have better players and they play well under pressure.

The loss keeps the dream of Essendon making 6000 days without a finals win, well and truly alive.

It means the calls for Worsfold to go will only increase, but really, I think he’s done well with a list that not only had injuries but is massively overrated. That’s not to say it’s a terrible list but it’s not any better than where it finished.

But we’ve all learnt that arguing facts with a Bombers supporter gets you nowhere.
 
I thought Tony Armstrong on 'Colour of Your Jumper' was dead on. Basically compared the 'victim-blaming' of Nic Nat getting his hair pulled (that he shouldn't have long hair) with the way no one questioned Bontempelli's hair length when Toby Greene was pulling his.

At the time it struck me as ******* ridiculous. Oh the big bad Fijian Nic Nat with the long dreadlocks, obviously it's his fault for having long hair and not Merrett's for acting like a ******* child.

And just in general it's quite a good show. Good-natured and not a lot of the dick-swinging present in basically every other football panel show.
 

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equiv_clearly said:
I thought Tony Armstrong on 'Colour of Your Jumper' was dead on. Basically compared the 'victim-blaming' of Nic Nat getting his hair pulled (that he shouldn't have long hair) with the way no one questioned Bontempelli's hair length when Toby Greene was pulling his.

At the time it struck me as ******* ridiculous. Oh the big bad Fijian Nic Nat with the long dreadlocks, obviously it's his fault for having long hair and not Merrett's for acting like a ******* child.

And just in general it's quite a good show. Good-natured and not a lot of the dick-swinging present in basically every other football panel show.
Click to expand...

Yes, I like the show - tis a breath of fresh air in the football landscape.
 
oak79 said:
I went for the Melb mark because I figured more people would.

The problem is Ryan will split his votes between the 2 marks.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that is my worry too. They should limit it to one nomination per player. I think Howe was pretty stiff to miss out on one.
 
swingdog said:
The latest Real Footy podcast has some great stuff from Scott Burns about Naitanui’s tap work. Just got to get past the weekly Caro orgasm over Richmond:

www.theage.com.au

'Should I tap it to three o'clock?': Why Nic Nat is on another level

Scott Burns – assistant coach at Hawthorn and a former assistant at West Coast – gives a special insight into just how good the Eagles star is.
www.theage.com.au www.theage.com.au


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app
Click to expand...

I'm confused.

According to this podcast, the only game that was played last week was Geelong/Collingwood?
 
Matera92 said:
I'm confused.

According to this podcast, the only game that was played last week was Geelong/Collingwood?
Click to expand...

I always like the Age subscription ad at the beginning from Chloe Saltau, talking about how they know "what's happening at your club" and I think "no, you don't" as the next hour is a Victorian big club fest.
 
As much as it pains me, hard to argue with Robbo in this weeks Tackle.

DISLIKES
1. The bookends

Josh Kennedy had flash point games for West Coast this season, but from Round 15, he kicked 0, 0, 2, 7, 1, 1, 1, 2 and 2 goals. On Friday night he managed just the one. A regular double-digit disposal winner, the 32-year-old was either injured for most of the season or is now facing his football mortality. He won more than 12 disposals once this year, he did that six times in 14 matches last season. He averaged his fewest disposals and goals since 2012. Up the other end Jeremy McGovern had one his worst games of the season — and one of his worst three-game blocks. He averaged just 5.7 intercept possessions, 1.3 intercept marks and 3.7 spoils in his last three matches. During the season he averaged 8.6 intercept possessions, 3.3 intercept marks and 5.7 spoils. A dropped mark early which led to a Tom Atkins goal and a fumble which allowed Kelly to goal — both in the first quarter — were uncustomary.

2. Willie Rioli

He’s a second-year player with fun personality and is well liked by his teammates. But that means nothing in the scheme of things. Why he doctored his urine test is yet to be established. He now knows it was best for him to get caught with whatever was in his body than try to cheat the testing system. It was suggested on South Australia’s 5AA radio on Friday that Rioli, who was tyring lose weight, had taken a diuretic, as Shane Warne said he did, from his mother.
 
Tugga27 said:
As much as it pains me, hard to argue with Robbo in this weeks Tackle.

DISLIKES
1. The bookends

Josh Kennedy had flash point games for West Coast this season, but from Round 15, he kicked 0, 0, 2, 7, 1, 1, 1, 2 and 2 goals. On Friday night he managed just the one. A regular double-digit disposal winner, the 32-year-old was either injured for most of the season or is now facing his football mortality. He won more than 12 disposals once this year, he did that six times in 14 matches last season. He averaged his fewest disposals and goals since 2012. Up the other end Jeremy McGovern had one his worst games of the season — and one of his worst three-game blocks. He averaged just 5.7 intercept possessions, 1.3 intercept marks and 3.7 spoils in his last three matches. During the season he averaged 8.6 intercept possessions, 3.3 intercept marks and 5.7 spoils. A dropped mark early which led to a Tom Atkins goal and a fumble which allowed Kelly to goal — both in the first quarter — were uncustomary.

2. Willie Rioli

He’s a second-year player with fun personality and is well liked by his teammates. But that means nothing in the scheme of things. Why he doctored his urine test is yet to be established. He now knows it was best for him to get caught with whatever was in his body than try to cheat the testing system. It was suggested on South Australia’s 5AA radio on Friday that Rioli, who was tyring lose weight, had taken a diuretic, as Shane Warne said he did, from his mother.
Click to expand...

What Robbo conveniently overlooks is the 4 goals he kicked in the Elimination Final, and he still managed 49 goals for the year. Sure, he's facing his mortality to an extent, but if you said that you'd get 22 games and 49 goals out of a 32yo key forward, you'd take it. Ultimately, the benchmark should be 100 goals from Darling and Kennedy, which they achieved again for the sixth time in seven seasons.
 
Some parts of the media are rightfully asking questions about why Shane Wakelin was on the panel that rubbed out Green just days before the preliminary final against Collingwood. This after he was caught on TV in the Collingwood rooms celebrating just two weeks ago.
 
Not sure If I'd class JK as an A grader anymore.
I reckon Shuey and Yeo are though.

Bit harsh on Redden and Jetta being C graders I would've thought.

Eagles building a dynasty.

Gary Buckenara analyses West Coast’s list after 2019 season

West Coast’s list is in a really powerful position and this club is on the verge of creating a dynasty.
The 2019 season will be viewed by those at the club as a wasted one given the Eagles were widely regarded as a team that should have played off in the Grand Final. I’m sure the club will review what went wrong in the final few rounds and whether they just took their eyes off the ball slightly, which ultimately cost them a top-four finish.
I take my hat off to West Coast’s recruiting and list management staff because they have one of the most balanced lists in the competition with a very nice spread of talent across all lines. They have four genuine A-graders and have just added another – Tim Kelly – during the trade period, 10 B-graders and five players aged 21 or under who I believe have the talent to develop into A or B-graders in the near future.
What the Eagles have done so well is plan for the future while being a regular finalist (last missed the finals in 2014), winning and contending for premierships. Some clubs can fall into the trap of ignoring the draft while they see themselves in the flag window but the Eagles are the complete opposite. They’ve managed to bring in good players via trades, including Lewis Jetta, Elliot Yeo and Jack Redden, but kept early picks in drafts for the types of players they need to fill positional needs in the future.

For example, in 2017 the Eagles drafted key-position players Jarrod Brander (pick 13) and Oscar Allen in 2017 (pick 21) and draft slider Josh Rotham (pick 37 in 2016) with an eye to developing them for 3-4 years before the likes of Josh Kennedy (32) and Will Schofield retire. They’ve drafted them early enough to rotate them through the senior team and give them a taste of football at senior level while Kennedy and Schofield are still playing, so they know what’s required to become good AFL players rather than drafting them to fill immediate needs. That’s not what the draft is for — the draft is to look 2-4 years down the track, and the Eagles have done it beautifully.
They did the same thing with Tom Barrass, who is now entering his prime (he’ll turn 24 in December), who was drafted back in 2013 and developed in the WAFL while the likes of Darren Glass, Eric Mackenzie and even Mitch Brown held down key defensive positions.

The midfield is dynamic with Luke Shuey, Andrew Gaff and Elliot Yeo the stars and now you add in another A-grader in Tim Kelly and it rivals Richmond’s (given they are the premiership midfield) as the best midfield in the competition. It’s got serious depth of talent with Nic Naitanui the ruckman and Jack Redden, Dom Sheed, Lewis Jetta, Mark Hutchings and Jack Pretruccelle all able to roll through there.
Willie Rioli’s provisional drug suspension is a massive blow but the great news is, and it comes back to that smart recruiting once again, that they’ve got Jarrod Cameron waiting in the wings to come in and fill that role next year. He showed fantastic signs as an exciting small forward this year, booting 11 goals in seven games, including two bags of four.
The Eagles paid a high price in the trade to get Kelly in the end but for a club in the premiership window, what he adds now is just too valuable to pass up. The club has also invested in the draft in recent years, so it can afford to trade out early picks in this draft as they have been big players at the draft table in the last 2-3 years.

LIST NEEDS
Nic Naitanui will be 30 in May next year and while he still has a few more years left, the Eagles need to start planning for life after him by drafting a young ruckman who can learn and develop under Nic Nat before hopefully taking over in 3-4 years. Tom Hickey (28) and Nathan Vardy (28), who has had his own injury problems, are good back-ups but will also be nearing the end of their careers when Naitanui eventually retires.
After the Kelly trade the Eagles have only picks 52 an 64 in the draft.

LIST BREAKDOWN
A: Andrew Gaff, Josh Kennedy, Jeremy McGovern, Shannon Hurn, Tim Kelly
B+: Elliot Yeo, Luke Shuey, Jack Darling, Tom Barrass
B: Liam Ryan
B-: Dom Sheed, Brad Sheppard, Nic Naitanui, Jamie Cripps, Willie Rioli
C+: Jack Redden, Liam Duggan, Lewis Jetta, Mark Hutchings, Tom Hickey
C: Nathan Vardy, Francis Watson, Jackson Nelson, Will Schofield, Kurt Mutimer, Brendon Ah Chee, Josh Smith
C-: Keegan Brooksby
Developing*: Oscar Allen, Jack Petruccelle, Tom Cole, Luke Foley, Jarrod Cameron
Developing: Jarrod Brander, Daniel Venables, Hamish Brayshaw, Brayden Ainsworth, Josh Rotham, Matthew Allen, Jake Waterman, Xavier O’Neill, Bailey Williams, Harry Edwards

DRAFT STRATEGY
The Eagles won’t be big players in this year’s draft given most of their early selections have gone to Geelong in the Kelly deal. Later picks are used to target positional needs, so should look at drafting a young ruckman or two to develop under Naitanui, Hickey and Vardy.

CRYSTAL BALL
West Coast will be one of the teams to beat in 2020. The addition of Kelly means this club is so well set up for a tilt at the premiership over the next 2-3 years at a minimum that I can see them creating a dynasty. The list has stars across all lines and has depth too, so even if they have some bad luck with injuries I’m confident the Eagles will be able to cover them. The Eagles are going to be very hard to beat for the foreseeable future.
 
Tugga27 said:
Not sure If I'd class JK as an A grader anymore.
I reckon Shuey and Yeo are though.

Bit harsh on Redden and Jetta being C graders I would've thought.

Eagles building a dynasty.

Gary Buckenara analyses West Coast’s list after 2019 season

West Coast’s list is in a really powerful position and this club is on the verge of creating a dynasty.
The 2019 season will be viewed by those at the club as a wasted one given the Eagles were widely regarded as a team that should have played off in the Grand Final. I’m sure the club will review what went wrong in the final few rounds and whether they just took their eyes off the ball slightly, which ultimately cost them a top-four finish.
I take my hat off to West Coast’s recruiting and list management staff because they have one of the most balanced lists in the competition with a very nice spread of talent across all lines. They have four genuine A-graders and have just added another – Tim Kelly – during the trade period, 10 B-graders and five players aged 21 or under who I believe have the talent to develop into A or B-graders in the near future.
What the Eagles have done so well is plan for the future while being a regular finalist (last missed the finals in 2014), winning and contending for premierships. Some clubs can fall into the trap of ignoring the draft while they see themselves in the flag window but the Eagles are the complete opposite. They’ve managed to bring in good players via trades, including Lewis Jetta, Elliot Yeo and Jack Redden, but kept early picks in drafts for the types of players they need to fill positional needs in the future.

For example, in 2017 the Eagles drafted key-position players Jarrod Brander (pick 13) and Oscar Allen in 2017 (pick 21) and draft slider Josh Rotham (pick 37 in 2016) with an eye to developing them for 3-4 years before the likes of Josh Kennedy (32) and Will Schofield retire. They’ve drafted them early enough to rotate them through the senior team and give them a taste of football at senior level while Kennedy and Schofield are still playing, so they know what’s required to become good AFL players rather than drafting them to fill immediate needs. That’s not what the draft is for — the draft is to look 2-4 years down the track, and the Eagles have done it beautifully.
They did the same thing with Tom Barrass, who is now entering his prime (he’ll turn 24 in December), who was drafted back in 2013 and developed in the WAFL while the likes of Darren Glass, Eric Mackenzie and even Mitch Brown held down key defensive positions.

The midfield is dynamic with Luke Shuey, Andrew Gaff and Elliot Yeo the stars and now you add in another A-grader in Tim Kelly and it rivals Richmond’s (given they are the premiership midfield) as the best midfield in the competition. It’s got serious depth of talent with Nic Naitanui the ruckman and Jack Redden, Dom Sheed, Lewis Jetta, Mark Hutchings and Jack Pretruccelle all able to roll through there.
Willie Rioli’s provisional drug suspension is a massive blow but the great news is, and it comes back to that smart recruiting once again, that they’ve got Jarrod Cameron waiting in the wings to come in and fill that role next year. He showed fantastic signs as an exciting small forward this year, booting 11 goals in seven games, including two bags of four.
The Eagles paid a high price in the trade to get Kelly in the end but for a club in the premiership window, what he adds now is just too valuable to pass up. The club has also invested in the draft in recent years, so it can afford to trade out early picks in this draft as they have been big players at the draft table in the last 2-3 years.

LIST NEEDS
Nic Naitanui will be 30 in May next year and while he still has a few more years left, the Eagles need to start planning for life after him by drafting a young ruckman who can learn and develop under Nic Nat before hopefully taking over in 3-4 years. Tom Hickey (28) and Nathan Vardy (28), who has had his own injury problems, are good back-ups but will also be nearing the end of their careers when Naitanui eventually retires.
After the Kelly trade the Eagles have only picks 52 an 64 in the draft.

LIST BREAKDOWN
A: Andrew Gaff, Josh Kennedy, Jeremy McGovern, Shannon Hurn, Tim Kelly
B+: Elliot Yeo, Luke Shuey, Jack Darling, Tom Barrass
B: Liam Ryan
B-: Dom Sheed, Brad Sheppard, Nic Naitanui, Jamie Cripps, Willie Rioli
C+: Jack Redden, Liam Duggan, Lewis Jetta, Mark Hutchings, Tom Hickey
C: Nathan Vardy, Francis Watson, Jackson Nelson, Will Schofield, Kurt Mutimer, Brendon Ah Chee, Josh Smith
C-: Keegan Brooksby
Developing*: Oscar Allen, Jack Petruccelle, Tom Cole, Luke Foley, Jarrod Cameron
Developing: Jarrod Brander, Daniel Venables, Hamish Brayshaw, Brayden Ainsworth, Josh Rotham, Matthew Allen, Jake Waterman, Xavier O’Neill, Bailey Williams, Harry Edwards

DRAFT STRATEGY
The Eagles won’t be big players in this year’s draft given most of their early selections have gone to Geelong in the Kelly deal. Later picks are used to target positional needs, so should look at drafting a young ruckman or two to develop under Naitanui, Hickey and Vardy.

CRYSTAL BALL
West Coast will be one of the teams to beat in 2020. The addition of Kelly means this club is so well set up for a tilt at the premiership over the next 2-3 years at a minimum that I can see them creating a dynasty. The list has stars across all lines and has depth too, so even if they have some bad luck with injuries I’m confident the Eagles will be able to cover them. The Eagles are going to be very hard to beat for the foreseeable future.
Click to expand...
Swap Kennedy and Darling for sure. Not quite able to think of what JD needs to do to get some deserved recognition in the media.

On SM-G973F using BigFooty.com mobile app
 
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