Game Day Rd 5 West Coast Eagles V Sydney Swans Friday the 15th of April 5:40PM

[BeornJ]

At the end of 2021 Simmo and the Executive realised drastic change was needed. We had a great list, a plethora of stars, but for the first time in years, we missed the finals.

Unlike many other teams, we recognised this as simply unacceptable, and went about making the changes needed.

We delisted or retired many players (some under sad circumstances... Shep and Venners ), we brought in highly regarded assistant coaches Knight and Schofield, nabbed Petreveski-Seton, and and all pre-season we heard of the more attacking style of play we will be showing off.

Bring on 2022!!

Then half of our squad got injured..

But not to worry, that meant we got a chance to play the kids and see how deep our squad went...

Then COVID hit the team...


Sigh....

That brings us to the first three matches of the season.


Last matches:

After two honourable loses to Gold Coast and North Melbourne, round three brought our first truly poor effort versus the Dockers. Yes we were missing Shuey, Kelly, Duggan, B. Williams and Rioli from the previous week, but with no top up players needed to fill out the squad, the drop off in effort was sad to see.

Unfortunately, the cavalry may have been coming, but not for the midfield... Round four vs Collingwood was going to be brutal.... No one expected a win. Simmo had to actually insist to reporters that the intention of the team was to win

(AFL.com "West Coast may have named its youngest-ever midfield but is still playing to win, says Adam Simpson")

The rd 4 Win versus Collingwood was one of the finest non-finals win in Eagles history. The squad played with guts, they moved the ball through the guts, defence nullified everything that came its way...

The kids in the middle found a way to break even against the much more experienced and established Collingwood midfield, and crucially stepped up in the last quarter to win clearances.

Expected Squad:

FB Hurn Barrass Foley
HB Duggan McGovern Witherden
C Naish Shuey Redden
HF Jones Darling Waterman
FF Ryan Kennedy Rioli
R Williams Yeo Kelly
INT Dixon O'Neill Hough Langdon


The opposition:

From Sydney, red and white.... uhh.... Swans....Hickey won't be playing, neither will Franklin... uhh... there's a player called Warner... and uh.... we really need to watch for when they kick the ball....because.... they'll want to mark it. We don't want them to mark it.

Prediction:

Eagles by 30 Points.

 

[BeornJ]

Reserved because that's what you do when you post a preview thread, can't remember why...

EDIT: For teams of course!

 

[Spooky17]

Thanks for the preview!

I think we’ve got a good chance for a win here.. especially with Hickster and Franklin out.

Naish to pick up 30 touches and Willie to kick 5.

 

[KERRPOW]

Reserved for unwarranted melts

 

[Truckosaurus]

I'm going, don't think I've ever seen us beat Sydney. Just hoping we're better than the last time we played on Good Friday.

 

[BeornJ]

Reserved for warranted melts

 

[woosha24]

Reserved for melts from Wish.

 

[Ishmael_]

Very excited, it's my first game attended in over 3 years and back in Aus after nearly as long.

And let me just say, it looks like the curse has been lifted. I flew out during the Richmond game late 2019 which crueled our chances, and started our decline and flew back a couple of weeks ago during the Derby from hell.

I land in Perth and low and behold, we have a stirring victory against the Pies.

So just wanted to say sorry and that normal service will resume from here. Load up your multis, your top 5s, your hottest Brad Scott memes from the early 10s. Load it all because it's only flags and studly big bodied mids from here on out.

Eagles by 27+ decursed party pies.

 

[ep2018]

No Buddy, no Hickey, Optus game, Sydney's form... we really should be winning this game. Not sure why Sydney are favourites tbh.

 

[FKASC]

Reversed

 

[BeornJ]

Draw four

 

[RUNVS]

No Buddy, no Hickey, Optus game, Sydney's form... we really should be winning this game. Not sure why Sydney are favourites tbh.

2 years ago that sentence would have felt insane, that you are putting Buddy and Hickey in the same sentence in terms of importance but you are very much right. Hickey is a bloody good player these days.

 

[Spoon_Man]

It's ok, Sydney beat us early in 2018 and then we went on a 10-game tear...



until they beat us again



But you campaigners all know what happened next

 

[ziad]

I get a phone call from NZ to tell me Gov is out with COVID - why is BF so slow?

 

[Truckosaurus]

I get a phone call from NZ to tell me Gov is out with COVID - why is BF so slow?

There was much alcohol to be drunk first.

 

[Get_The_Gaff]

McGovern was apparently at this covid hot spot

 

[Biggie]

Danger Game

WCE by 76

 

[Eastcoasteagle]

How the hell did Exon get dropped after last week, absolute disgrace. Drop Nelson...
We need to grow his development rather than credits in the bank.

Was also hoping Hough held his spot.

 

[Truckosaurus]

McGovern was apparently at this covid hot spot View attachment 1372835

Can't blame him then, those are good pies.

 

[InTheWings]

Hey guys,

My brother scored Captains Club tickets for tomorrow’s game.

Do you know if there are any privileges associated with the tickets?


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[southcoast]

Milestone game alert…….

Cripps number 200 - we go well in milestone games, don’t we?

 

[Dylan82]

The selected team is structurally better than any we have seen in a long time.

Query lies in the conditioning of the senior players who are returning and the ability of H.Edwards to cover for McGovern, who has arguably been the best player in the competition over the opening rounds.


For the first time we get to see the combination of Rioli, Ryan, Cripps and Jones together in a match.

 

[bUCKET__]

The selected team is structurally better than any we have seen in a long time.

Query lies in the conditioning of the senior players who are returning and the ability of H.Edwards to cover for McGovern, who has arguably been the best player in the competition over the opening rounds.


For the first time we get to see the combination of Rioli, Ryan, Cripps and Jones together in a match.

View attachment 1373032

And Langdon, who is clearly the leg day Constructicon

 

[THE A5]

How the hell did Exon get dropped after last week, absolute disgrace. Drop Nelson...
We need to grow his development rather than credits in the bank.

Was also hoping Hough held his spot.

I get the vibe that Xon isn't the most coachable kids out there or isn't made to play roles. Feel Branders was the same and simmo isn't keen on these types.

 

[Fatty rules]

Very excited, it's my first game attended in over 3 years and back in Aus after nearly as long.

And let me just say, it looks like the curse has been lifted. I flew out during the Richmond game late 2019 which crueled our chances, and started our decline and flew back a couple of weeks ago during the Derby from hell.

I land in Perth and low and behold, we have a stirring victory against the Pies.

So just wanted to say sorry and that normal service will resume from here. Load up your multis, your top 5s, your hottest Brad Scott memes from the early 10s. Load it all because it's only flags and studly big bodied mids from here on out.

Eagles by 27+ decursed party pies.

I flew out for that game too. Watched it slip away after a good start. Dusty got off the leash after Hutch did a quad or something. Then it rained.
Also bought some really good party pies on that trip home, in Katanning. Went back for more. Proper party pies basically don't exist outside Oz, sadly.