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by Matt Quinn |
4th June 2006 |
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 Let's do a bit of a West Coast history review before we talk about this game. Go back to round one of 1987, when a fledgeling Perth team lines up for its first official VFL match. They're up against one of the big traditional Melbourne sides in Richmond, and find themselves down by 33 points at three quarter time. By the end of the match, they've won the game by 14 - a record recovery from a third quarter deficit that will stand for nearly 20 years.
Forward to round 10, 1998. The Western Bulldogs come to Perth to play at the WACA. By quarter time, West Coast trailed by 48 points and it looked all over. By half time, the 48 points were erased as the Eagles went on to win, setting a new club record for the biggest deficit recovered. A record that stands for eight years.
Forward further to round 10, 2006. This weekend in fact. The Eagles, sitting on top of the ladder travel over to play Geelong at Kardinia Park. The Cats, pre-season favourites have slumped to twelfth, and have their backs against the wall (alright, so the fairy story doesn't quite work). The Eagles come out looking totally disinterested, while Geelong streak away with the game. By quarter time, the margin's 31 points. By the half time break, its 39. Half way through the third term, the deficit's stretched to a massive 54 points. Geelong are winning all over the ground and West Coast can't get a look in. Then suddenly it changes. The Eagles start winning the ball, and Geelong slow right down, and somehow the Eagles get it back to 36 at the final change.
 Requiring a club record to win the game, the Eagles played irresistable football, kicking six of the first seven goals to take the lead, and then, when Geelong nicked it back with a late goal, grabbing the lead back with a timely goal to Adam Hunter.
Oh, and to the rest of the competition - done *without* Chris Judd.
So the Eagles broke a couple of long term club records to win this game. Plus setting a new record for the biggest comeback from a third quarter deficit. Damn what a game.
Pre game
There's a single change to the West Coast lineup for this game, with Mark Seaby making way for Matt Priddis who makes his West Coast debut in this game. Priddis is a 21 year old midfielder from Subiaco, who was selected by the Eagles in last year's rookie draft and elevated to the main list pre-season to replace Brad Smith.
The coin is tossed and Geelong win and elect to kick with the breeze. The breeze is a significant breeze, and the predicted conditions aren't great, with showers likely during the game and the temperature a cool 14 degrees
First Quarter
West Coast win the first center clearance, but its cut off fairly much immediately by the Geelong defence in what starts a few minutes of end to end where neither forward line can get a shot off. The opening score of the match comes when Quinten Lynch gathers a ball off a pack, but his kick, wheeling around goes wide of the mark for a behind. Geelong match this when a Cameron Mooney slides away to the right from forty.
 There's a nasty moment when Adam Hunter was thrown in to the dugout by Mooney; had he been a meter to the right, he'd have gone close to hitting a large bit of concrete with his head. You'd have thought it was David Wirrpunda's head that his something when he puts a clearance from a second Geelong behind out on the full. The Cats have the early lead, but with an insignificant 2-1 scoreline.
Again the Eagles cough the ball up on the wing when an Adam Selwood handball from a pack is too fierce for his teammate. The Cats storm forward with the resulting possession, where it comes to Mooney who gets it over to Gary Ablett. Gablett dodges the Eagles defence and kicks the opening goal of the game.
Gablett follows that up by taking Wirrpunda out with a huge hip and shoulder. Wirra gets the free kick, and the Eagles in turn run the ball quickly through the center of the ground to where Cousins grabs it and runs in to an open goal for the West Coast opening goal.
The answering goal comes almost immediately when Geelong win the ball out of the center of the ground. Mooney's involved again when he traps it and puts it across the face to where Chapman's waiting down and grabs the ball, snaps and kicks a good goal. Their third is mere seconds later, Geelong once again getting the center clearance, kicking it forward to a pack, where Steve Johnson wins the ball off the back of the pack and kicks it straight at goal; Geelong have started way more brightly.
It gets worse for West Coast only a minute later, when Mooney marks at 50, sells Hunter the dummy, and runs toward goal, launching a long and true kick on goal. Geelong have an early 19 point lead, and its not looking good for the Eagles.
Cousins has been copping a number of hard bumps in the middle of the ground, and Priddis comes on. His first action is to lay a good tackle, and the Eagles win the loose ball forward to where Jaymie Graham is taken high in a tackle. Graham gets up and kicks truly from long range for goal. Its probably a lucky free, but the kick is excellent.
Again though the Cats answer, and again its Mooney. Geelong pump the ball to their attacking goalsquare where Mooney gathers it and drops it on to his boot from no distance out for a quick goal. Ashley Hansen has a chance to get one back, but his long kick doesn't quite make the distance, marked by the Geelong defence who again run it forward to where the Cats get a mark just thirty out to James Kelly when everyone else misjudges the ball. Kelly slots the resulting kick, and its now a 25 point margin... Not good at all.
Rowan Jones cops one of the worst decisions in the game when he gathers the ball in the defensive arc and is immediately claimed by Chapman. Despite the prior opportunity aspect normally required in a holding the ball decision, he's pinged. Chapman gets the free and goals to put the Cats 31 points up. It appears that the rout is on early. The free kick on Jones would set an interesting precedent - any time you're tackled with the ball you'd be pinged - but notably the exact same situation isn't paid the other way on the next center bounce... Even more unfairly, Cameron Ling is caught the same way with the ball by Jones at the other end, but its bounced.
Quarter Time: Geelong 7.1 (44) lead West Coast 2.1 (13) by 31 points. A terrible opening term for the visiting side. Cousins and Daniel Kerr tried hard, and Mark Nicoski, Wirrpanda and Hansen looked reasonable in their respective parts of the ground, but other than those, few Eagles looked remotely interested in the game. The biggest danger though was Mooney who had a hand in everything up forward for the Cats.
Second Quarter
The second term starts with Matt Priddis taking down a Geelong player in the center from the bounce, and shortly after he's taken high. The Eagles pump it forward but it doesn't get to anyone, and we see the ball sent back to the Geelong attacking end. Gablett gets the first chance when he pumps it long, but his kick is offline, but when Beau Waters turns the ball over after receiving the kick in, Jame Bartel has a shot on goal. He kicks truly and the margin's out to 38 points. Its not the start to the term that the Eagles wanted at all. In fact, the margin's looking downright scary early.
With the breeze favouring the Eagles, Geelong are flooding back. West Coast are unlucky not to get a free kick when Corey throws the ball blatantly when not even in a pack, but Geelong can't clear the ball, and eventually Ling is caught blatantly with the ball by Jones (applying the aforementioned precedent he was pinged three times over). Jones has a tough shot from the pocket, but the Lego Man is up to the task, going back and goaling for the Eagles third.
Ling gets busted again when he's tackled with the ball in defence by Matt Rosa and just puts the ball on the ground. Rosa gets awarded the easiest of kicks from ten meters out, and duly goals. The margin's back to 26 points, and the Eagles have been putting in much more effort in the early stages of this term.
The Eagles get let off a couple of times when a long bomb from Mooney comes to the Cats goalsquare where Nicoski goes into the back of Johnson, who passes it over to Shannon Byrnes, but his kick goes wide of the mark. However the clearance comes straight back in, and when the Eagles don't have anyone to go up at a boundary throw in, an errant attempt from Tyson Stenglein ends up in Johnson's hands and he runs in for an easy goal. Margin back to 33 points.
It looks bad for the Eagles when Adam Selwood goes down with what appears to be an ankle on the wing; simultanously a very short pass by Gablett finds Mackie loose inside fifty, and the Cat marks and goals, the lead extends to 39 points. At the resulting bounce, Cousins is crunched yet again; its been a lot of solid hits he's suffered in this game. There's a couple of minutes of play to go, but neither team can make an impact on the scoreboard in the remaining time.
Half time: Geelong lead West Coast by 39 points. There's almost nothing positive to make from the first half of the game. Matt Priddis has been very good in his debut, picking up 10 touches in the second term, although his disposal could have bee better, while Kerr, Nicoski and the beaten up Cousins have been putting in really solid efforts. Wirrpanda was good mopping up across half back, but the Eagles just didn't seem like the boys had come to play.
The key to the game so far is the clearance count. Normally the Eagles dominate the clearances, but in this game Geelong have absolutely dominated around the packs; if the Cats keep this up, there's no doubt the Eagles will struggle to get back in to the game.
Third Quarter
So Geelong have a solid lead going in to the term, and are kicking with the wind... looks like a long way back for the Eagles. Bartel has a chance to make it worse when he has a long shot on goal, but it goes left, and Chapman has a tougher chance from the pocket but his snap is way too narrow. The margin's now over 40 though, and when Mooney gathers a pass deep in the Geelong forward line, he finds Gablett running by who puts it straight through the middle. Forty-seven points the difference, and most people think the rout is really on. Its been 17 scoring shots to a mere five, and the Cats have dominated the game.
Worse becomes ... even worse again ... when Geelong's next forward foray gets into the hands of Corey Enright, who snaps around his body and it goes straight through the middle to make the margin 53, which becomes 54 when Chapman hits the post in a quick run forward from the center bounce. Steve Quartermain maked the "No Judd, no West Coast" call, but to be fair withdraws it (and in the context of what's about to happen, all West Coast fans can feel nice and smug about how stupid it seems in retrospect).
The Eagles get a couple of rare chances to score when Quinten Lynch marks, but his kick doesn't make it and Ottens marks. Ottens stuffs the kick and Brent Staker marks, but his kick again doesn't make the distance and goes over for a boundary throw in. Fortunately for the Eagles though, at the contest Ottens takes Cox high, and the Big man happily accepts the free kick and goals for the Eagles. Its still a massive 46 points the difference.
Hunter's horror day gets worse when he gives away fifty to Mooney in what seems to my single eye a bit harsh decision when he hangs on after Mooney marks. Mooney's brought well inside fifty and slots the resulting kick, and the margin's back to 54 again as the clock clicks past the half way mark of the term.
So we come to a turning point. Remember if you will, there's 8.28 remaining on the clock for the term, so we're approaching time on in the third term, with a fifty-four point margin. Here comes the other part of the game....
A big bomb from Kerr comes in to the forward fifty, and when no one marks it, Scarlett drags Lynch to the ground. The Big Unit is rewarded with a free kick, and scrapes it through for a goal, his first for the day. Margin's back to 48 points, and when the Lego Man is dragged away from a marking contest and taken high for good measure, he gets a free kick and goals. Two in a row, and Jones's second. Forty-two points.
Notably, the Eagles are suddenly winning the clearances around the ground, and the complexion of the game is changing. Its still a pretty bloody big margin though, 42 points is a lot to overhaul in the period of time left. The Eagles though are on a roll; Lynch gathers brilliantly in the pocket and feeds it out to Braun, who passes to Stenglein who's only twenty meters out. Stenglein kicks truly and its a third goal in a row to the team in blue and gold, and the margin's back to just six goals. Very much an improvement on the situation five minutes earlier.
Geelong are trying to slow things down now, but its a long time to try to try to not make mistakes. Matt Priddis gets the ball in the center of the ground when Geelong stuff up a possession, and under extreme pressure gets it across to Lynch, who in turn finds Embley running by. There's an empty goalsquare beckoning Embley, and he bombs it long from 55 out and it bounces through for a goal. There's a glimmer of hope for the Eagles as the margin's come back to thirty very quickly.
Rowan Jones has a shot on goal, but his long kick goes wide of the target for a behind. Down the other end for a change, Kerr is pinged for running over the mark, but he's yelling that the other umpire had called touched. Fortunately Corey puts the kick straight into the post from just fifteen meters out. Still the Eagles can't clear the defensive fifty, and in what seems a huge blow, Chapman marks low down inside the fifty and passes off to Bartel just ten meters out. Bartel converts and its an even six goal margin at the final change.
Three Quarter Time: Geelong 14.8 (92) lead West Coast 9.2 (56) by 36 points. You can't be unhappy with the Eagles endeavour in this quarter though, with Kerr and Nicoski leading the way in a fight back. Geelong looked like they decided to shut up shop early - perhaps tiring with the effort expended earlier in the game, and it gave West Coast the initiative. With a change in the clearances from the packs in favour of the Eagles, and dramatic improvements in the efforts of Fletcher and Braun, and continuing hard work from the battered Cousins, the Eagles looked much improved. The four goals in a row makes you think there's just a hint of a chance.
Of course, the Eagles have only overhauled a five goal or more deficit once in the club's history, the game I mentioned earlier back in 1987...
Final Quarter
Can it be done? History says no, 36 points is way too much. Since the Eagles entered the competition in 1987, this feat or larger has only been done six times in all the hundreds of games played. Its a huge deficit to overcome, but Geelong this year have been abysmal in the final term. Right now, most Eagles fans are just hoping we can bring the margin back to a respectable final score...
It takes less than a minute of play for the Eagles to grab back that late third term goal, when Hunter wins the ball in a pack at center half forward, turns and snaps long where it goes straight through. Five goals the difference, but again, you're still thinking it would take just a single Geelong goal to finish it off.
A strange red mist seems to come over the camera, as the Eagles pump the ball forward. Cousins' long kick looks like its marked by Staker at fifty, but the umpire doesn't pay it. Staker wins the ball anyway, and gets it across to the long-kicking Nicoski running past who puts it on his boot for a great long goal. Just four goals now... whooooo... it getting damn exciting now - with the Eagles dominant, much more that it normally would be with a four goal margin.
Gablett looks like he's close to a juggled mark in the Cat's forward fifty, but its not paid, and big Lynchy puts his body on the line going in to stop a Geelong player running on to the ball. Its even courageous for someone as big as Lynch. Geelong have a couple of chances to ice the game but can't manage to get a shot off, which is costly.
The Eagles eventually clear it when Cousins lays a brilliant tackle on Johnson. He gets it to Kerr who kicks long to where Stenglein takes a very strong mark inside the fifty meter arc. He goes back and kicks it long and straight over the umpire's head, and the margin's now only three goals. The tension's building now, as the faint scent of a hugely improbably victory seems to be strengthening on the wind. That scent becomes a veritable smell when West Coast win the ball from the resulting bounce, and get it forward to acting captain Andrew Embley outside the fifty. Embley dodges around and booms a massive kick from 55 out for a huge goal. Now only twelve points. This is downright exciting now.
Steve Johnson has a brain explosion when he tries to pass when he should shoot on goal, and the Eagles clear a dangerous attacking thrust. Geelong are making every mistake in the book now, with passes going astray, and the Eagles are applying massive pressure at every contest.
Geelong get very lucky when Scarlett is caught blatantly with the ball, but a ball up is called, but they immediately turn it over when Blake takes Stenglein high; Stinger goes back and goals, and its now just a six point margin.. Its been a massive term, and the Eagles are just putting everything on the line now. Fletcher does brilliantly to mark in front of a charging Mooney. He gets it across to Rosa then Kerr, who lines up and boots it long, to Hunter who can't mark, but it falls over for a behind, and the margin's just five points.
Jones has a chance to put West Coast in front when Enright turns it over just forty out, but his kick slides across the face and its now four points. Cousins has a wild stab, but puts it out on the full. Still Geelong are making mistakes continually, and the Eagles have bucketloads of the ball. When Staker marks outside fifty, he sees Kerr, who's run the length of the ground to get up forward. Kerr recieves the ball and lines up the big sticks and goals - Eagles in front! That's ten of the last eleven goals.
Geelong though aren't out of it - its only two points the margin, and when Gablett finds his brother Nathan, Nablett puts it through to restore the Geelong lead they held for the majority of the game. Four points the Geelong lead with less than five minutes to go. Have the Eagles got anything left to steal back the lead again?
 We're into the last few minutes now, and while Geelong have the ball, the Eagles are manning up, and Braun takes a good mark to get West Coast back possession. Its pumped in to a pack where it comes out the side where HuntAAAA gathers and dumps it on the boot where he goals! The Eagles back in front, and for all of Mooney's heroics, Hunter's the West Coast hero of the minute.
There's almost no time left now, and the Eagles push it forward again to where Daniel Chick has a chance to seal the match for the Eagles, but he puts it wide to make the margin three points. The Cats push the ball fast down the ground, but the Eagles bottle it up in the center of the ground. There can't be much left to go, and YES! the siren goes and the Eagles win!!! The boys have pulled off the greatest comeback in the history of the club, back from 54 points down heading in to time on in the third term.
Final Score: West Coast 16.5 (101) defeat Geelong 15.8 (98) by three points. What an amazing comeback. One of the most exciting finishes to an Eagles game in history, and perhaps the greatest ever home and away match in the club's 20 year history. Certainly this is a victory that will go down in the legends of the club as one of the best ever.
How do you summarise a game like that? If you work it out, please tell me, I need to know...
Guess I have to split the game into two bits. We'll look at the first two and a half terms. In the euphoria of such a win, its hard to remember just how bad the earlier parts of the game were. "Train wreck" would be a common term used to describe such events. Early on, only Ben Cousins, Matt Priddis, David Wirrpanda and to a lesser extent Daniel Kerr and early on Ashley Hansen put up any fight. No Eagle could be said to be dominant in their position on the ground, and no Eagle was effective in getting the ball. With Geelong winning the clearances, the Eagles were smashed.
Worse for the Eagles was the non-appearance early of acting captain Andrew Embley and Michael Braun, while Dean Cox was kept quiet by Ottens.
 Basically, it was just not pretty football, as the Cats steamrolled the Eagles into submission, and anyway, I'm sure you're all anxious to read about the other half of the game. The bit where West Coast did the smashing, and the Cats were crushed.
The real spark in the comeback was the stunning efforts of Daniel Kerr, who played some absolutely outstanding football in the last term, with 14 possessions as the Eagles streamed back. Ben Cousins and Mark Nicoski continued their good form from the early part of the game to be leaders in the attack on the ball, while Rowan Jones was excellent and Chad Fletcher showed glimpses of his best form in the latter section of the game. Others to do very well in the comeback were Quinten Lynch, who's goal set it off, Stenglein and Embley who popped up with valuable cameos, and Braun and Priddis who did really well. Oh, and Hunter got the last laugh over Mooney when he kicked a couple of goals, including the winner.
A couple of players really struggled through the entire game, with Daniel Chick not able to get into the game, Jaymie Graham fairly quiet all day, Ashley Hansen not having an impact after a bright start and Beau Waters looking fairly out of sorts.
Whatever though, there's one simple way to summarise that game - bloody brilliant.
So totally inexplicably the Eagles come home with four more premiership points, to face a struggling Carlton outfit next week.
 3. Daniel Kerr
3. Mark Nicoski
3. Ben Cousins
2. Matthew Priddis
1. Rowan Jones
1. Quinten Lynch
1. David Wirrpanda
1. Chad Fletcher
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MattV
2006-06-06 12:44:45
BLOODY BRILLIANT! nice article, i cant get enough. i want to read more and more on the game, hahaha i swear it was about 5 mins after the game and i was still shaking; partly because the stupid channel does not count down the clock like normal human beings... i was punching the floor...waiting for that damned siren before geelong could do anything else.
BRILLIANCE thats all i can say, what a team of legends, and without Judd too i may add, i hope this truly sh*ited on the commentators comments 'no judd, no eagles" i was furious, nevertheless they got what they deserved.. i hope viewers noticed how 'happy' the commentators were on the eagles win, they were speechless - i think more shocked and angry because geelong is quite dear to the average vicotrians heart. This was better proved when Nablett lined up for goal and the commentators were truly excited, saying that he should take his time and make sure he slots it in.
i think the saddest thing though would have to be for the geelong supporters, i felt really sorry for them, such a good team - bu they are playing horridly; footy means so much for the peoples of geelong.. especially when you live so far away from the capital city, in a town with nothing to do.
nevertheless we won, hooray! i hope we thrash the hell out of carlton.
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