Carlton stars Jarrad Waite and Marc Murphy made successful returns from injury but they couldn’t stop West Coast powering to a 39-point AFL win at Leederville Oval in Perth on Saturday.

The Eagles, minus the likes of Daniel Kerr, Matt Priddis, Mark LeCras, Dean Cox and Josh Kennedy, set up the 16.9 (105) to 9.12 (66) win with a seven-goals-to-two opening half.

Adam Selwood, Patrick McGinnity, Beau Waters, Mitch Brown (three goals), Shannon Hurn, Nic Naitanui and Tom Swift performed important roles for the home side.

Chris Judd battled valiantly for the visitors but had few allies as West Coast’s midfield took control to starve Carlton’s forward line.

Murphy, who underwent hip surgery in January, played just over half the game and kicked a nice goal in the second quarter when he evaded two opponents from a congested situation.

Waite, playing his first match since suffering a serious knee injury in round nine last year, entered the fray in the second half but had his hands full trying to contain the likes of Quinten Lynch (two goals) and Brown in defence.

“I was just speaking to Waitey before and you don’t realise how far off (in terms of fitness) you are when you miss training and games,” Murphy said.

“It’s just good we both got through and got a few touches.

“We’re both on course to play round one.
“I’ll play about three quarters next week and then work hard in that week off and come back for round one and play the whole game.

“The first half I was struggling a bit just trying to keep up with those repeated efforts but 10 minutes after half-time I was starting to feel good.”

Carlton coach Brett Ratten said he was pleased with Waite’s output.

“I thought our counter-attack from behind the ball was limited today and we thought he could give us a bit of run or allow him to run at the game with his knee, and give him a bit of confidence,” Ratten said.

“It’s just pleasing to see him win a couple of one on ones and win the footy, get it into his hands.”
Carlton’s ruck pairing of Robert Warnock and Shaun Hampson worked well to nullify Naitanui in the first half but the Eagles big man exploded in the third term, kicking two goals to lift West Coast to a match-winning 44-point lead.

Ratten rated Warnock’s performance as just “ok” but said the former Docker was still on track to lead the ruck this season, with Matthew Kreuzer pencilled in to play a forward role following the departure of Brendan Fevola.

Eddie Betts created plenty of spark when given the chance and finished with two goals for the Blues, who were missing Bryce Gibbs, Kreuzer, Brock McLean and Bret Thornton.

The Eagles finished the match with 11 different goalkickers.

West Coast coach John Worsfold confirmed defender Darren Glass would be given a rest next week while Naitanui, Lynch, Adam Selwood and Chris Masten were others in line for a week off.

© AAP 2012

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