Cometti: Eagles in a quandary, Dockers off the pace
A bleak weekend for the two WA teams in the AFL.
There was certainly no quick fix for slumping Fremantle on Friday night, when against a depleted North Melbourne they were anything but quick!
Small forwards Ballantyne and Walters were sorely missed on so many levels. For their goals, their speed and the pressure that missing speed invariably puts on opposing defenders.
Fair to say, for all its talent the Dockers midfield, with the exception of Stephen Hill, is not blisteringly quick.
On Friday night they were caught out by unruffled defenders having time to pinpoint their kicks.
At the final siren there was little good news.
There is no vaccine for a lack of pace.
On Saturday, on the road, West Coast lost a game that seemed won against Carlton.
The Blues' skills and confidence were all but dragging on the floor midway through the final quarter yet somehow they managed to get off the hook.
Okay, they didn't do it entirely on their own, a few dubious umpiring decisions (and one particular non-decision) plus a couple of posters didn't help either.
But that the Eagles continue to roll the dice with Nic Naitinui is of their own making.
He was no help when Saturday's game needed winning.
The Eagles seem happy to fuel speculation about a lucrative new contract for Nic when perhaps they should be equally frank about his injury and decline this season and last.
Naitinui is a delightful young man. In so many ways he's already the face of the franchise, but it's his fitness then his form, not his face and finances that the Eagles need to to work on.
