We win

[daddy_4_eyes]

We're the eagles, West Coast Eagles......

I just logged onto the net, and at the 10min mark of the final quarter we are winning 19.6 120 to 13.9 87.

Fletcher and Cousins controlling the midfield, Wilson and Fido scoring at will, and Embley finally showing what he's worth with 3 goals and 18-odd touches.

I'm so happy, words cannot describe it. We're actually going to be in the top 8 for a week at least

 

[Geonet]

West Coast 21 11 137
G: Wilson 6, Phil Matera 4, Embley 3, Wirrpunda 2, Chambers 2, Peter Matera, Cousins, Jones, Tuckey

Fremantle 18 10 118
G: McManus 3, Medhurst 3, Croad 3, Carr 2, Cunningham 2, Kickett, Cook, Walker, Pavlich, Bell

Good win but I have to say that Fremantle wasn't disgraced in anyway. I think both teams will improve a lot this year.

 

[Scal]

Good win guys (and gals)...well deserved.

I don't think we were disgraced either, but certainly beaten by the better team on the day.

See you in round 16...

 

[Belgarion]

I enjoyed the win, but must say that the Eagles weren't as superior to the dockers as Ben Allan would make you believe in his commentary for foxtel. I thought the were a bit better and kicked better than them. You can look at the number of scoring shots and they weren't that far behind.

The important thing is that both teams kept going all the time, and nobody dropped his bundle as it happened so often last year.

I went to the Essendon-Geelong match on Saturday night and I must say we're still a long way to go to match it up with them. However, we're heading in the right direction.

I would have liked to have seen Judd play however. I don't know who could have been left out, but I believe he should be getting game time.

Belgarion

 

[brampta]

Great win. I'm happy - sounds like we played with a bit of spirit and it has been one of the highest scoring matches of the round by the sounds of it, so Freo did well to fight it out, so credit to them also.

 

[prized bitch]

Wilson's game was encouraging to say the least and Fletcher certainly deserved the medal for best on ground!

Great start, lets hope we can build on our season from here.

 

[FreoDocker]

Ahh well at least it was fairly close in the end.
As Dissapointed as I am I don't think we were discrased, but beaten by the better team on the day. But in terms of the game, this Derby was alot more free flowing and cleaner than last years game... there was actually some great passages of play.

Key Points in the game were
- The ability of the eagles to get the ball out of their defence from the kickins very easily.

- Wilson on Jones, it was clear after wilsons first kick this was never going to work and losing Polak early with a shoulder injury robbed the dockers of some flexability.

That being said it was an impressive game from the weagles.
I donno about making the 8 but the eagles and the dockers should be pushing to make it if today was any indication.

 

[Au_Blue#24]

well said you freo guys ! but to the low life losers on dockerland, suffer in ya jocks. You losers pump your own tyres up so much and as usual have nothin to back your pathetic claims up with.

All that crap about how ya gonna flog us .. blah blah blah, heard it all before.

To the other freo supporter, good on yas for being good sports. Freo have definately improved, but not as much as we have.

Woosha is not to be reckoned with... and neither are the mighty eagles

over and out

 

[mentalgrind]

I was quite happy with the win today and good on Freo for not giving up.

Embly showed signs that he is going to be everything that we hoped he would.

Fantastic takleing and defensive pressure was applied all day, it was quite rare to see a Freo player break an Eagle tackle.

We looked great in our old jumpers as the memmories came flooding back.

All in all I thought there were great signs for both teams.

 

[noodle]

top work out there today guys and top work chad fletcher.
i hope that we will see a big year out of him.

 

[Frodo]

Well, I'm goingv to disagree. IMO Freo were a rabble apart from Cook, Carr and Medhurst. Only luck and a few fortuitous decisions combined with Woosha skilfully using the accelerator and brake stopped a rout. The Eagles skill levels were amazingly higher than Freo, a point Connelly made in his interview. When a blow out looked likeley Woosha made changes. Tuckey into the Ruck, Fido on the ball etc, there was never any danger. Thrash them and it gives them motivation for next time and anyhow Woosha sees improvement for Freo as improvement for WA football ( and true enough, we don't want to have tio keep bailing out their losses).
I believe Freo will win anothor priority draft pick based on this performance and the skills available to them.

For West Coast.......enjoyable game but we can't make much out of playing such a rabble. Let's see how we go against the serious teams.

Fletcher was brilliant and Chambers /Embley have cemented their places. Braun continues to improve and Banners is getting there. BB looked brilliabt but which FF is not going to give Jones a bath?

Was there an Eagles player who had a poor game? I didn't see one. And no injuries either

Last comment. There was a medal to be given after the game. Fletch won it. The Freo fans were in the main gone and their team didn't have the decency to stay on the pitch for the presentation. Freo and their supporters showed they were lowlifes in doing that.

 

[Voice of Reason]

Very happy with the win today.

Plus signs:

Wilson - too big, too strong, too fast. Three toos = Six Goals.
Midfield - hard at it, accountable, numbers at the ball.
Fletcher - 37 possessions, terrific effort.
Veterans - Jakovich, Matera and McIntosh stood up when it counted.
No Cousins, No Eagles - No doubt not his best game, but we still won.
Multiple goalkickers - Matera, Merenda, Embley and others - need to keep it up of course.
Talls - Gardiner, Cox and Tuckey gives us something too.
Embley - damaging half forward flank, hard to match up on.
Collica - last quarter was outstanding as he lifted to cover Medhurst.
Woosha - no panics.
Injuries - about time we had a decent run.

Minuses to work on:

Not putting Freo away - we seemed to take the foot off the pedal about the 20 minute mark of every quarter.
Kick Outs - need to get that sorted. If it's Taylor, the talls must come up the ground further to make a target.
Conceded a lot of goals - will improve.
Fitness - I felt we struggled to run out the game today (and that Freo were fitter) but it'll come.
Chambers - his skills go under pressure.
Glass - needed the run.

Well played to Freo too - ran the game out well and always looked threatening.

Overall - proud to be an Eagle. It's a beautiful day!

 

[FreoDocker]

Originally posted by Frodo


Last comment. There was a medal to be given after the game. Fletch won it. The Freo fans were in the main gone and their team didn't have the decency to stay on the pitch for the presentation. Freo and their supporters showed they were lowlifes in doing that.

Blow it out your arse Frodo
Your comments before that were fair enough, it's your opinion, but with such a grouse generalisation about all Dockers supporters is pretty unfair.
There is such a thing as a gracious winner, which I think most eagle’s supporters here are, but I don't think you fit into that category.

 

[kuepper]

Firstly congrats guys, best team on the day - both sides showed a bit, and a good game compared to the games last year quality wise anyway.

Alot of goals kicked, and for the outs for freo (no excuses here, just stating the facts) we will only get better, leaked some soft goals, but the cohesion will come ... lets wait 22 rounds and see what happanes, i walked away proud of the effort today - both sides looked much improved.

And Frodo, thank you for reminding me, not that any of us could forget, what a lowlife sniper you are - not a gracious or classy bone in your body ... unlike the rest, you sir are utter trash.

Have a great holiday tomorrow all.

 

[Khat]

truely a great game. i have to say one of the most enjoyable i have ever seen. Both teams did well and improvement was evident on both sides. i was especially impressed with the hard playing and the way the dockers didnt give up even when they lost. Woosha seemed so proud of the team and i give him full credit both for giving our club back it's pride and passion. Our team is almost unrecognisable from the team that did so badly over the past 2 years, and how did good our jumpers look?
it's a good day to be an eagles fan (forgive my syntax, i'm all choked up).

and good onya both to the Dockers and to their saner supporters, you have little to be ashamed of

 

[noodle]

Last comment. There was a medal to be given after the game. Fletch won it. The Freo fans were in the main gone and their team didn't have the decency to stay on the pitch for the presentation. Freo and their supporters showed they were lowlifes in doing that.

yup. i agree with you on that one. i'm not sure how many medals have been presented in the past but it's the first time i can remember the other team walking off.

maybe chris wanted to give his team a spray.

 

[PHOENIX]

I enjoyed that.

Firstly well done to the Dockers, as much as I hate them I think they played with spirit and made us earn every kick.

Well done to Worsfold, who had us playing harder at the ball, but more sensibly so than in the past few years. I think his coaching is the reason we got out of the game with no injuries. Last year this game would have cost us 4 or 5 good players methinks

Wilson looked amazing. More complete than he was last year with his kicking, and he looks even bigger and stronger if that is even possible.

The Matera's were wonderful. Embley just fantastic. The old firm in the back, McIntosh and Jakovich served us well.

The Dockers looked good until the last quarter when their patented clangers started cropping up again. They need to be careful, cause if they lose confidence in the next few games they'll have big trouble.

Its a crying shame we can't have our old jumpers permanently back until next year, but I'm counting the days already.

 

[nearlyblonde]

What a great game, from both sides, football as it should be played IMO, tough yet fair.

How about the Eagle`s tackling. I reckon it`s improved 100%.

Who`s a happy camper then?

 

[daddy_4_eyes]

It sounded like a great game, regardless of which team you support. I just wish they televised it here in melbourne, unfortunately they didn't televise it nor even broadcast it on radio. So all I could do is check the score updates on AFL.com.au every 10 mins or so.

I hope the old jumpers make a comeback (whether they are the light blue, or navy blues, it doesn't really matter to me as long as the current away ones go).

Bad luck to freo. As much as I hate you guys i hope you improve so that we don't have to support you financially (yeah i know, that was a selfish reason as to why i want you to be successful. But since i'm victorian, i don't give a rats ass about freo, hehe, )

On the matter of the players leaving the ground early, i think it was disgraceful. You all say Frodo isn't gracious in victory, what about being gracious in defeat? Hmmm freo players? Ahh well, i'm sure they had their reasons (for all we know it might have been to start their warmdown ASAP to avoid injuries??).

 

[iceman]

Overall a really good game, i had the misfortune of going to the second derby last season and even though the eagles won it, it was a game to forget

both teams have improved, in regards to the eagles i saw them applying a lot more pressure than they used to, on the negative side i think we turned the ball over too many times

anyway, great game and its good to see freo supporters on this board being gracious in defeat

 

[Balip]

Congrats to the eagles they were the better side on the day. It was a great game today (far better than the crap that was dished up in the last western derby)

Just a few observations on the game.

- our skill level was dissapointing at times. THe numbre of times we tried to handpass instead of kicking or just held on to the ball to long was worrying.

- The eagles ability to rebound the ball and kick a quick goal after one of our messups was odvious on many times during the game.

- Our ability to keep coming back in each quarter was a good sign for us but a little concerning for the eagles as they didn't have the ability to bury us when they probably out too have.

If the eagles can perform like that most weeks and injuries dont get to you you should be in for a reasonable season and when freo get our good players in and our skill level improves things are looking up for us as well.

 

[jod23]

Well what a great win. An important one too, whether it be the Dockers, Adelaide or Hawthorn...who cares, the first game of the year is always important and its great to have a win to kick the season off.

Embly was fantastic and if he presents himself like that across half forward more often this season we could even keep Gardy in the ruck. Cox does a fine job and is a good player but Gardy is our number 1 ruckmen.

Fletch was great all day and is playing even better than last year when he finished top 3 in our B&F. He deserved the Glendinning Medal and joins great company in Jako and Banners.

Jako, Milli and Matera were very good all day and goes to show all those doubters that Jako is not done, neither is Matera. Do agree though that this year could be Milli's last but he isnt playing like it.

Taylor was great in the first half, got quieter as the game went on but in the first half he was very good in defence, Collica too worked his way into the game and should be back to his best for next weeks clash with Collingwood.

Fido i thought could have been rested and played in teh WAFL just to get match fitness but boy was i wrong. Kicked 4 in a dominant display. Hope he continues like that all year. Wilson kicked straight too!! I dont doubt his speed, his physical presense, his marking ability or any of that....its just his kicking. Today he kicked straight which could make or break us on many occasions this season.

Cousins was quiet but worked his way into the game and by the end had 29 possesions and was certainly in our best 3 or 4 players. Also kicked a pretty good goal which we would like to see him do more often this season.

One thing i must mention before i move on is that Peter Bell had 39 disposals!! But went completely unnoticed. I completely agree that he gets 90% of his possesions in the back half and rarely if ever hurts sides. You know about it when Bucks, Cuz, McLeod, Voss etc get 39 possesions but i didnt even think Bell got that many till i saw the stat sheet. If i was Connelly i would play Bell across half forward to teach him to play up forward!

 

[jod23]

Oh and wheres Sabre.....funny that he hasnt shown his face

 

[Goldenblue]

This was a great win for the club. Embley is showing why the WC persisited with him, but I hope he does not drop his bundle. The forward line looks great with Wilson, Matera and Merenda. Fletcher and Cuz were classy in the midfield along with Kerr and Wirra. Collica held his ground along with Jackovich who proved he still has a couple of years still in his body.

So much for those who quoted we had no goalkickers, no class players and that Jackovich and Milli were no longer a threat to our backline. I hope we proved the pundits wrong today.....

 

[GoEagles]

I agree with Frodo

I was suprised that the Dockers left the field before the presentation of the Ross Glendinning medal also. It's a little disrespectful actually, considering Glendinning was such a high profile in WA footy, with his time spent with East Perth, first captain of the Eagles and chairman of selectors with the Dockers.

I've only missed 2 derby's out of the 15 played and this is the first time I've ever seen the losing team walk off before the presentation. This is not a snipe at Fremantle, but I sure as hell would be disappointed if our boys walked off before the announcement was made.