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The West Coast Eagles have added a major scalp to their premiership credentials, defeating the Sydney Swans by 52 points at home.
>>MATCH REPORT: Eagles hammer Swans in top four clash
>>VIDEO: Jetta performs war dance in Swans’ loss
The Eagles kicked the first seven goals of the game unanswered, while the Swans managed only a single major in the first half, coming through Adam Goodes.
The Eagles maintained their dominance in the second half although the Swans had a few good patches, ulimately running out 52-point winners.
West Coast Eagles 15.13.103 def. Sydney Swans 7.9.51
The premiership credentials of the West Coast Eagles and Sydney Swans are on the line when they clash in the match of the round at Domain Stadium. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 4:40pm (AEST).
As much as critics don’t want to believe it, the West Coast Eagles are genuine threat in 2015. They’re second on the ladder at 12-3, have an enormous percentage of 156.5% and have not tasted defeat since the first weekend of June.
Now they come up against one of their ancient rivals in the Sydney Swans in the first meaningful clash between the two clubs for a lengthy period of time.
As ferocious and as even as their rivalry was a decade ago, the Eagles have struggled badly against the Swans since. West Coast’s last triumph over Sydney was way back in 2007, and their past four losses to the Swans have all been at home.
With a potentially new rivalry starting between these clubs, the Eagles will be hell bent on ending that dominant streak.
A week is a very long time in footy, and you can be sure the Swans can’t wait to get back on the park and quell the hysteria that’s plagued them after last week’s dismal display.
The entire back six are too old, the midfielders can’t win a game like they used to, they have no genuine ruckmen, Lance Franklin and Kurt Tippett aren’t worth the money.
It’s all been said over the last few days, but the Swans have been no strangers to adversity in the past – so John Longmire will be expecting nothing less than a fiery, backs-to-the-wall effort.
Despite walking away with the four points, West Coast’s win last week came at a cost with Jeremy McGovern set to miss weeks with a hamstring injury. With Eric MacKenzie and Mitch Brown both out for the year already, losing another key defender is something the Eagles could ill afford.
Fraser McInnes would be a likely inclusion to assist the now number one Will Schofield, although the Eagles have put Mark LeCras behind the ball on occasion this season and with Josh Kennedy and Jack Darling firing, may just pop a key forward down back.
Sydney on the other hand copped both literal and metaphorical bruisings from the Hawks last week, with Ted Richards (suspension), Craig Bird (calf) and Kurt Tippett (wrist/hand) all ruled out.
Isaac Heeney is banging down the door with more strong form in the NEAFL, but the Swans will have to make a decision on whether to risk bringing Mike Pyke and/or Ben McGlynn back from injury.
Prediction
Both of these sides have a lot to prove to the footy world. West Coast have been playing great footy all year, but still find themselves excluded from premiership conversations. This is a huge opportunity for them to grab a megaphone and scream their credentials to the critics.
Sydney on the other hand have endured a barrage of criticism after last week’s horror loss, with the Lance Franklin and Kurt Tippett deals branded catastrophic failures and their premiership window all of a sudden sealed shut.
With both teams missing key defenders, we should be in for a high-scoring thriller, and with the passionate home crowd behind them look for the Eagles to take the chocolates.
Eagles by 14 points.