West Coast take a pair of key position All Australians into tomorrow night’s knockout final against the Western Bulldogs.
Late-blooming defender Jeremy McGovern arguably poses as big a threat to the Bulldogs as Coleman medallist Josh Kennedy.
The visitors will have a hell of a time trying to shut down the Eagles’ powerful forward line, led by Kennedy, which flourishes on their long home ground.
West Coast have averaged a whopping 112 points a game at home this season. If the Bulldogs are to cause a boil-over they’re likely going to have to kick at least 15 goals.(Click to Tweet)
While the Eagles midfield can be exposed by hard-running opponents, translating this onto the scoreboard is no easy task due to the presence down back of McGovern and fellow intercept mark gun Tom Barrass.
That rangy pair were phenomenal as the Eagles upset Adelaide in Round 23.
Time and again they read the play and the flight of the ball better than others to drift across and intercept an Adelaide forward entry. Between them, McGovern and Barrass hauled in 16 grabs that night. As the game wore on you could see Adelaide players doing their best to avoid their marking areas when they sent the ball inside 50m.
The Bulldogs will have no choice but to do the same. Whereas Adelaide have two commanding power forwards in Taylor Walker and Josh Jenkins, the Bulldogs don’t have a single dominant aerial presence.
Their top three goalkickers for the season Jake Stringer, Tory Dickson and Marcus Bontempelli are more dangerous once the ball hits the turf. On a ground as long as Subiaco, penetrative kicking is highly effective when moving the ball forward of centre.
The Eagles regularly will look for Kennedy and Jack Darling as long options. The Bulldogs won’t have this luxury. The lack of any marking forwards, combined with the lurking menace of McGovern and Barrass, means they’ll need to look for the short option more often than perhaps they would like.
West Coast love to counter attack via intercept marks. Their game is built around this, particularly at home. If McGovern and Barrass are given frequent opportunities to drift across and clunk high entries into their defensive zone then the Eagles will run amok.
In a matter of seconds the ball will be rebounded down the ground to Kennedy, who has made a habit of mauling the Bulldogs. The game’s premier full forward has kicked 36 goals from his past eight games against them.
Granted, his quietest game for the season came against the Bulldogs in Round 11 when he registered just one goal from five possessions. But the previous time Kennedy played them, in Round 21 last season, he booted seven goals.
The Eagles spearhead enters this final in prime touch, having slotted 39 goals in his past ten matches. He is coming off consecutive five goals hauls against premiership contenders Hawthorn and Adelaide, giving All-Australian defender Daniel Talia his only touch up for the season.
The key to limiting Kennedy’s influence may well be shutting down McGovern at the other end.
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