EaglesFlyingHigh • News • Hoodoo broken as Eagles upset the Bulldogs again

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27 Aug 10	Kardinia Park
Round 22
West Coast	Geelong
10.8 (68)	16.16 (112)
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Player	Injury	Weeks
Brown	Groin	seas
A. Selwood	AC Joint	seas
Kerr	Hamstring	seas
Nicoski	Shoulder	seas
Dalziell	Finger Tendon	seas
B.Jones	Fractured Cheekbone	seas
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AFL Ladder

Team	%	Pts
1. Collingwood	144.5	70
2. Geelong	147.2	64
3. St Kilda	124.4	62
4. Western Bulldogs	124.8	52
5. Sydney	106.5	48
6. Fremantle	103.8	48
7. Hawthorn	111.1	46
8. Carlton	108.8	44
9. Kangaroos	86.3	40
10. Port Adelaide	80.9	36
11. Melbourne	94.7	34
12. Adelaide	92.6	32
13. Brisbane Lions	83.2	28
14. Essenscum	80.7	28
15. Richmond	72.0	24
16. West Coast	77.9	16

Hoodoo broken as Eagles upset the Bulldogs again

	by Russell Sneddon	8th August 2009
	Seriously….how good was that? The Eagles interstate hoodoo has gone the way of tank rumours and been put to bed following a stirring five point win over the finals bound Western Bulldogs. No late changes greeted the horde of Eagles fans that made the trip East and they were rewarded with a good start from their team. The match started with a baffling free kick paid against Nic Naitanui who was pinged for jumping over an opponent. Tim Houlihan erased the free though with a nice running goal to cap off a nice transfer of play. The Eagles backline was under the pump from several Bulldogs forays forward and only some horrendous kicking at goal saved them from a large deficit. David Wirrpanda, Darren Glass and Shannon Hurn led the troops superbly and the team was soon rewarded when Ben McKinley was left alone in the goal square to kick his first. When Josh Kennedy marked and converted his first goal, the Eagles were out to a 14 point lead and were looking the goods. Was an upset on the cards? Some more bad kicking from both teams marred the rest of the quarter, but despite this, the visitors managed to maintain a 12 point lead after one quarter. West Coast led 3.2 (20) to 0.8 (8). The second quarter saw the tempo increase significantly and it was the Eagles leading the way. Andrew Embley snapped a beauty out of a pack, Quinten Lynch goaled after a terrible mis-kick from Adam Cooney, before Embley nailed another after a brilliant pass from Brad Ebert. Wirrpanda bobbed up to sneak a goal in the square, Ebert kicked one of his own following a 50m penalty and when Josh Kennedy kicked his second after a mark, the Eagles were out to a staggering 47 point lead. A bad error in judgement from Beau Wilkes saw the Bulldogs finally kick their first goal through Callan Ward and this was swiftly followed by Josh Hill kicking their second. Thankfully, Kennedy goaled again after a nice mark and the margin was back to being comfortable. Unfortunately, in the space of just a few minutes, the Bulldogs roared back into the match and undid a lot of the fantastic work performed by the Eagles. Brad Johnson marked and goaled, Ryan Griffen snapped one out of a pack and then Brian Lake ran forward to kick a major after the siren. The momentum was well and truly with the Bulldogs as the teams went into the rooms. West Coast led 10.3 (63) to 5.11 (41). The third period started with a nice mark and goal from Mark Le Cras however this was very quickly answered by Josh Hill from the resulting clearance. Le Cras then kicked his second and the team appeared to be taking all the Bulldogs could throw at them. The backline remained steady and the midfield was winning plenty of the ball. As they are so capable of doing, the Bulldogs suddenly exploded to the make the match interesting. Daniel Cross took an easy mark and converted, Jason Akermanis goaled from 50m and Lindsay Gilbee took advantage of a dodgy free to nail a long goal. Josh Kennedy briefly stemmed the tide with a goal from a free before Callan Ward kicked his second under very little pressure from the visiting team. They were piling on the goals and the Eagles were under siege. Thankfully the siren went soon after and the scoreboard showed a 13.3 (81) to 10.16 (76) lead to the Eagles. The final quarter was full of drama and started with a long Gilbee goal that saw the Bulldogs hit the front. Would the young Eagles hold on under immense pressure? They were giving it their all and desperately trying to recapture the momentum of the game. When Adam Cooney bounced through a long goal, the Dogs were out to an eight point lead and things were not looking good for the Eagles. Enter Andrew Embley. The veteran nailed a beauty on the run to reduce the margin before converting a near impossible kick from the boundary to put his team back in front. Pure class and great leadership. The resulting clearance saw Akermanis storm from the centre and kick a long running goal. The Dogs were back in front. The Eagles managed to hold onto possession and set up a final thrust forward. The ball was kicked long and Mark Le Cras took the critical mark. He went back, converted and the Eagles were in front again. The next few minutes were remarkably nerve wracking as the Eagles did everything possible to soak up the clock. Thankfully, they managed to bottle up the ball a few times and the siren sounded to complete what was a fantastic win. Final score – West Coast 16.6 (102) def W.Bulldogs 13.19 (97) Best on the day for the Eagles were Andrew Embley, Mark Le Cras, Josh Kennedy and Shannon Hurn. Amazing what a bit of confidence can do for a team and the future is really looking good. Bring on the Kangas!

	Comments
	Blossom 2009-08-08 19:11:23 I was there and it was soooo sweet. Great to see this very young and talented side get a win. Eagles supporters appreciation was shown as the team walked off the ground. Andrew Embley was back to his best.

	Nick 2009-08-09 06:24:41 Great win by the eagles,ill have so much fun rubbing it in to all those bogans in footscray and werribee,im an east coast eagle!

	EAGLESNIPER 2009-08-09 17:06:10 Fantastic stuff, unfortunately didn't get to put any hard earned on more than generous odds for a win to us ($9) out to $10. Let's see if we can do a "three-peat" and continue on from here. Important to keep the nucleus of the young side together and not make too many changes this week (A. Selwood may be the only out, due to injury).....

	DALBY 2009-08-11 10:27:09 Should have put a hundred on the men, damn it maybe next time. The back line stood up well.

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