Eagles earn their stripes at the 'G'
West Coast continued their march towards a likely finals berth with a gritty 20-point win over Richmond at the MCG tonight.
The Eagles led for most of the match but were forced to survive a string of serious challenges to claim arguably their biggest scalp of the season.
The 13.12 (90) to 10.10 (70) win was the Eagles’ first at the MCG under second-year coach Adam Simpson and put a halt to Richmond’s four-game winning streak.
It saw West Coast improve to an impressive 9-3 record that looked almost impossible when injuries to key players dented their finals chances early in the year.
They will go into next week’s bye confident of reaching the finals for the first time since in three years and will also be contemplating their top-four chances, having held that position for the past six weeks.
But they will be sweating on Will Schofield’s fitness after he hobbled off with a leg injury in the dying stages against the Tigers.
Matt Priddis tackles Richmond's Dustin Martin. Pic: Getty Images
With Eric Mackenzie and Mitch Brown both ruled out for the season with knee injuries, the Eagles could ill-afford to lose another big defender.
In West Coast’s only home-and-away trip to the MCG this season, the contest with Richmond always shaped as a battle to see which side was the real deal as they jostled for spots in the top eight.
Both had their moments as momentum changed hands on several occasions during the first half.
West Coast big man Nic Naitanui dominated the ruck contest with Ivan Maric and was dangerous on the ground, with his aerial work often giving the Eagles’ midfield first use of the ball.
Naitanui also pushed forward to kick two goals in the first quarter.
For Richmond, it was Dustin Martin providing the spark in trademark fashion.
Martin kicked three first-half goals, including an audacious kick on the outside of his right boot from 50m, to get the ‘Tiger Army’ roaring.
But the third quarter belonged to West Coast as they temporarily broke open what had been a tight contest.
Prior to last night, the Eagles had lost the contested ball battle three times and lost each of those matches.
The lost contested possession 130-120, but it mattered little as they used the ball better than their wayward opponents.
Elliot Yeo is congratulated for a goal. Pic: Getty Images
Andrew Gaff (31 possessions), Matt Priddis (27), Chris Masten (25), Dom Sheed and Luke Shuey (22) were all prominent in the middle.
The win came despite the Eagles being on the wrong end of a 25-13 free kick count.
Richmond’s three tall forwards posed a big threat to the Eagles’ undersized defence and had their chances, but couldn’t be the difference like they were last time out against Fremantle.
Ty Vickery (two goals), Jack Riewoldt (one) and Ben Griffiths (one) finished with four goals between them.
West Coast defender Brad Sheppard gave away 10kg and 9cm to the bigger and stronger Riewoldt, but stepped up to keep the Tigers’ spearhead relatively quiet.
Riewoldt played up the ground with Griffiths and Vickery close to goal, but was played tight by the determined Sheppard.
In-form defender Jeremy McGovern overcame a severely corked thigh to take his place in the West Coast side and lined up as named at full-back opposed to Griffiths.
He also spent a brief period marking Vickery as the Eagles looked to find the right balance.
Vickery was well held by Schofield for most of the night.
At the other end, West Coast’s potent forward line did its job.
Key forward Josh Kennedy added another three goals to his growing tally and remains the clear leader in the race for the Coleman Medal, while Mark LeCras, Jack Darling and Jamie Cripps added two each.
Darling had 11 possessions and four marks in his second game back from injury and could have had an even bigger impact, but finished with 2.3.
Will Schofield is helped off the ground late on. Pic: Getty Images
