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The chances of making the finals are running out for the West Coast Eagles as they cross the nullabor to face a Western Bulldogs line-up ready to knock them out for good. Live scores and commentary kicks off from 3.20pm AEST.
West Coast need to have a close to flawless finish to the season if they are to make the finals, but haven’t been able to put together a full four quarter performance against top opposition in the last two rounds.
While the Western Bulldogs hopes for the finals dwindled weeks ago, they have shown some glimpses of promise throughout the season.
Last week showed that they can take it up to some of the top teams as well with a credible performance against the Hawks in Launceston.
Ryan Griffen and Adam Cooney showed their class last week with 70 possessions between them, while they were ably helped out by and ever improving Tom Liberatore and Bob Murphy in defence.
The forward structure probably still gives Dogs fans nightmares as it doesn’t usually gel too often.
Jarrad Grant had 5 chances on goal, yet only capitalised on one, while Liam Jones converted just one of his three.
But if Will Minson can pick off the Dean Cox in the ruck contests, the Dogs could give a fair old yelp today.
West Coast’s task to take the four points away from Melbourne has been made all the more difficult with a star-studded line up of outs for this week.
Cop an eyeful of these names: Darren Glass, Adam Selwood, Nic Naitanui, Mark LeCras and Luke Shuey.
That’s added to Daniel Kerr, Mark Nicoski, Beau Waters and Shannon Hurn.
You could easily make a case for eight of those nine for being in their best 22, so the Eagles today looks more like a reserves side than a side that were tipped for the title this season.
The last two weeks have been the litmus test for the Eagles, and while they did lose both games, there were spells in both games that suggested they’ve been close.
But close isn’t good enough, especially when a top eight spot is on the line.
Jack Darling’s performance in the Western Derby two weeks ago was a standout with 5 goals and 6 marks, while he carved it up in the last match against the Dogs in Round 6 with a similar effort.
He could be the key for the Eagles today, while his partner in crime Josh Kennedy will be looking to put some space between himself and Jarryd Roughead atop the Coleman Medal standings.
But for mine, it’s the quality of players on the sideline that make this such a danger game for the West Coast Eagles.
This is a prime candidate for ‘upset of the round’ if the Bulldogs get up, but for some reason, I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest.
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