txbyhull
Younger than MySpace
Round 4: West Coast Eagles vs Sydney Swans
credit goes to Microsoft Paint for this masterpiece of a banner
Handful of rounds down, multiple handfuls left to come, and I simply must say... this looks good on us
credit goes to Microsoft Paint for this masterpiece of a banner
Handful of rounds down, multiple handfuls left to come, and I simply must say... this looks good on us
Tell me ladies, gentleman, and mysterious creatures of the night: Who would have thought that all it would take to completely turn around the media sentiment around our club was to batter North pillar to post (for 3 quarters), and fight hard (for 3 quarters) to beat Port on their home turf?
We have turned from plodders, cellar dwellers, spoon favourites, wAfL PlAyeRs...
into tactical geniuses, a list built for modern footy by modern footy...
into a DESTINATION club, with players willing to jump ship to become an Eagle...
into THE team putting the comp on notice, the box office rebuild with all the ferrari's...
BUT
So with that being said, let's get into the nitty gritty of what we have been doing really well this season so far!
THE GOOD:
The Contest: Across the first 3 games of the season compared to 2025 we have dragged, not through luck, our:
- contested possession differential from -18 to +5.3
- hard ball gets from -4.5 to +0.7
- clearances from -10.7 to even (smashing Port Adelaide 42-27)
An unsung hero of the season so far who will see a likely increased role this weekend, Jack Graham has continued his good form as a defensive stalwart in the middle of the ground and forward of centre. He will have big shoes to fill, alongside fellow slab-head Harold Schoenberg, which will be addressed later.
This Swans outfit has found themselves getting eaten up in the guts this year, -14.3 in CP, -8 in HBG, and -6.3 in C. With Isaac Heeney set to return we can't trust these numbers, and given our outs it will be tough, but could this be a chink in their very talented armour?
THE
The Kids: We know it, the media knows it, the club knows it, your mum knows it, your kids know it.
We have put together a group of truly elite young talents, who have all separately been able to impact since day 1 and now that it is all being put together we are seeing some serious fruits of our labor.
- Harley "Prince of Perth" Reid
- Willem "Worm" Duursma
- Cooper "Seedy" Duff-Tytler
- Jobe "Leo Barry" Shanahan
- Reuben "The Boy" Ginbey
- Hamish "Hammer" Davis
- Archer "Tasmania" Reid
- Bo "Pick 3" Allan
- Josh "Linners" Lindsay
- Jamie "Crippa" Cripps
2 rising star nominations in the opening month, a game saving pack mark to rival 2005, dominant defensive displays, gut running, line breaking, kiss stealing, wheeling dealing. They've been able to change the dynamic of the side alongside some new recruits in Dev, Murdock, etc. and it has shown in every facet of our game.
It has been a LONG time since we have seen Eagles players look like they're ready to fight and die to get one up on the opposition.
THE
The day has come sooner than we would've liked... the dreaded Elliot Yeo injury report appearance.
After having what I would consider to be a relatively clean injury run over the pre-season and opening weekend of footy, we had a return to form when SSP signing and new-found star Milan Murdock was sidelined until at least Gather Round with a hamstring injury. Going into the Port match up we thought "you know what he's great and brings the pressure but the rest of the fellas can lift", and they did! We had 5 players with more than 15 pressure acts (shout out Fridge with 34), and only 4 players that did not record a tackle.
That was until the start of the third quarter, when Elliot Yeo appeared saddled comfortably to the bench and we were told he would take no further part in the game. It did not deter the boys, as we saw, but it will be a big miss in the middle for us over the next fortnight, especially going up against 2 premier midfields of the competition.
2025 MSD live-wire Jacob Newton was also reported to have fractured his foot during the game, I can't say I have any clue when or how this occurred, but it will certainly be another painful out in a position that we are already short-handed in. But who will replace him?
THE
We feature 3 changes from the weekend against Port Adelaide, all forced, with Deven Robertson suspended after (rightly) demolishing Zachary in a great tackle.
M**t O***s returns to the side, which tells me that we will get much more exposure to Harry Schoenberg as a midfielder against the Swannies. He'll, with reckless abandon, use his enormous head to help Jack Graham bridge the gap in contested ball winning and clearance production left by Dev and Yeo. Owies, as we know, struggled last season. Must I say more? Yes? Fine. If you know how he was used at Carlton, he was much more of a leading small, which I don't really think we have space for given our land of the giants strategy, but hopefully Mini has brainwashed him into being willing to apply pressure and crumb for our forwards, a privilege I am sure is the envy of much of the league's dynamite small forwards right now.
Mally gets to put some runs on the board, having put up multiple 3 goal hauls in the illusive WAFL practice matches. Hopefully we let him use his speed and dynamism to cause headaches for what I would say is a weaker-defensively small backman line up for Sydney.
The Sandman makes his return to AFL footy as we all hypothesised, having overcome an ankle and the passing of his late father to start the season. We know what he can do with his speed and kick peeling off his man and rebounding, but I get the feeling he, alongside Reubs and Youngy, will have their hands oh-so-full against a talented Sydney group.
THE OPPOSITION, POINTS OF DIFFERENCE, PREDICTIONS:
I got so incredibly sick of the striking-through joke
With only 1 change, the return of Isaac Heeney with Caiden Cleary making way, the Swans line up fresh off the bye having lost to the Hawks in a tough fought match up in which it was their connection inside 50 cost them; 58 inside 50's for just 13.4. If we can put in even half the defensive performance of the Hawks, and lift in the middle when need be this game should stay competitive.
Key Match Ups:
Charlie Curnow vs Reuben Ginbey
In my humble opinion the club would be pretty silly not to sit Reubs on Charlie all night and say stick to him like a glove. Ginbey across the opening 3 weeks has rated as the 18th best KPD in the competition according to Player Rating, leading the league for spoils, and ranking number 3 in the competition for Defensive Loss % (8.3%, behind only Ben Miller and Jacob Weitering) among players to have played all available games and competed in at least 3 Defensive 1 on 1's per game. Using his borderline-teleportation levels of closing speed, we will be wanting to see The Boy offset those monstrously long arms of Charlie and prevent him kicking another bag against us.
Brodie Grundy vs Matt Flynn
I would hazard a guess that Flynny is probably packing himself at the thought of playing against Brodie Grundy again. Last time out against a ruck tandem of Flynny and Baz, Grundy found 7 score involvements and amassed a total of 50 Hit Outs, 16 to Advantage. Safe to say, no matter how well we pressure the ball, it is a very tough ask of our mids to compete when this is the context in which they compete in.
Harley Reid vs Whoever Wants A Piece
With 18 touches, 7 tackles and his first goal in his fourth game in AFL Footy, the Swans have only been exposed to the new Prince of Perth once. As we have all seen to start the season, Harley's form has been integral to our early success off the back of a great pre-season and the new energy of our young group. In such form (25 touches, 5 clearances, 7 score involvements) we all expect that he will cop either a hard tag or at least a strong run-with role from someone like Rowbottom. It is time to see if this new and improved HR9 can stay collected and responsible, both with and without ball in hand, when faced with great adversity and being unable to rely on Yeo.
Predictions:
Can I just say Eagles by 50 and be done with it? No?
It is safe to say I am terrified of this first quarter. They're a dominant team when they're on, especially in the H/A season, and with Heeney returning and Grundy in the ruck I can't help but feel like Isaac might put up 30 and 5 in a half. However, we have shown time and time again throughout the opening month of the season so far that we are down but never out. As I said at the beginning of the piece, I feel this is going to be the biggest test to start the season; whether or not we can keep up the positive performances in the face of adversity, buoyed by a home crowd energized for the first time in years.
Will the result mimic 2005? Or 2006?
Thankyou all, I have never written a match preview before so please let me know what you thought! Go Eagles and happy viewing
edit: I'd also like to apologise that there's no funny GIFs, it was not working for some reason
