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What to make of the West Coast Eagles?

18th May, 2015
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Expert
18th May, 2015
89
2220 Reads

After few experts gave them any airtime earlier in the season, the West Coast Eagles now find themselves at the pointy end of the ladder.

Rarely can a side have been sitting second on the ladder so anonymously after seven rounds. Hands up if you knew they also have the highest percentage in the comp?

Fremantle have been drawing all of the plaudits headed west their way, with precious little left over for their cross-town rivals.

Much has been made of the injury curse that has struck down several of the Eagles key position players – Mitch Brown and Eric Mackenzie out for the season with ACL injuries, Jack Darling with foot problems, and even first-year prospect Tom Lamb with knee issues.

Josh Kennedy’s elbow injury continues to be managed. Jeremy McGovern had to sit out on the weekend with a corked calf.

In fact, the side that took down Gold Coast by 92 points on Saturday night was missing at least half a dozen players from the best 22, all of which can lay claims to being in the starting 18.

It’s been a grand effort given that injury list so far, no doubt, but is there a suspicion that West Coast have been catching opposition sides at just the right time?

The Round 1 defeat at the hands of the Western Bulldogs became a lot more respectable in retrospect that it appeared at the time, so fair play to that.

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Round 2 was at home to Carlton, which is currently enduring a season-long nadir of uncompetitiveness. Josh Kennedy and co. were kicking goals for fun in the second half.

In Round 3 they were blown out of the water in what has become the patented Fremantle style, but were allowed to put some respectability back on the scoreboard late.

Since then, we’ve seen four wins on the trot.

Round four saw a trip up to the Gabba right in the middle of Brisbane’s worst patch of the season. It was a month of football where they lost four matches by a combined 278 points. None of the other three sides that beat them in this stretch are currently in the eight, which gives an indication of the level the Lions were playing at.

GWS flew over to Perth in Round 5, for their yearly drubbing. The Giants results before, and certainly since, tell us of a playing group that was either due a mental let down, or immaturely got ahead of themselves and thought their form was just going to continue.

Round 6 brought a stirring come-from-behind victory over Port at the fearsome Adelaide Oval. As is now clear, the Power are not travelling like the side most thought they were going to be. Still, victories in South Australia are not to be sneezed at.

The just concluded Round 7 again saw West Coast catch an uncompetitive team at just the right time, the Suns down on form and confidence, and missing a host of their very best players.

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None of this is to unduly denigrate the Eagles, and their fans will no doubt howl derisively (or more likely boo) at some parochial Victorian talking them down.

We’ve all heard the saying that you can only beat what’s put in front of you, and West Coast have indeed done that most of the time, also handing out some thumpings in the process.

But it is also right to acknowledge that the vagaries of the draw mean that some teams get the best of it, while others get the worst.

Gold Coast are going to be a much tougher proposition for other sides when Gary Ablett, David Swallow, Nick Malceski, Jack Martin, Steven May, Rory Thompson, Adam Saad and Tom Lynch are back.

Carlton will likely get competitive at some point during the year and spring a surprise or two, and Brisbane have already turned that corner. Port will get their mojo back at some point, and we’ve seen what GWS can do when they’re not having a downer.

The future is bright at West Coast, with the likes of under 23’s Andrew Gaff, Dom Sheed and Elliot Yeo leading the way. There’s another host of players that aren’t much older, and it has all combined for some exciting football.

But if Eagles fans are wondering why their side isn’t getting much media love at the moment, it might be because they’ve been blessed with a fortuitous run, and still have to prove themselves against the best sides playing well.

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West Coast might be very, very good. They might be middle of the road. They might not even make the eight. I’m happy to reserve my judgement for the moment.

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