Wake up! West Coast are real contenders

Yes, the West Coast Eagles have beaten Sydney without Buddy and Kurt Tippett. Yes they have beaten Richmond and Collingwood in Melbourne, Port in Adelaide, Adelaide here etc etc. But the Dockers towelled them up last time around, albeit about Round 5, and they have yet to meet the mighty Hawthorn…so don’t for a minute think that Adam Simpson is counting any more than 1 chicken at a time. The most encouraging part for Simpson was that the Eagles brushed aside the physical assault on their numbers after a couple of first quarter bone-jarring tackles by Sydney, who frankly didn’t like the beating they subsequently got on the score board. Goodes and Jedder played out their idea of theatre , but it was plain to see that the Swans had lost their cool not because of any racial insensitivities by the crowd or the Eagles players, but because the combined weight of free kicks against the Eagles, many totally unfair, and the missed free kicks by umpires FOR the Eagles, had stimulated the crowd to near riot. One rarely sees an Eagles crowd that angry! Eagles fans in the main couldn’t care less about the colour of a player’s skin. They have always had Aboriginal and other indigenous young men in their ranks. But they hate Victorian umpiring with a passion, and they don’t like being roughed up physically. So when umpires fail the game, and Sydney players bung on a turn, then the combined weight of Eagles fans will be bought to bare. So don’t come to Domain Stadium and bung on a turn is the message, whether you’re an umpire or a visiting player or coach. Play it straight, hard and fair….and that goes for you umpiring crews too. We’re watching every move you make. Go there and play hard and expect to get a tough, but extraordinarily fair hearing from a very fair Eagles crowd! The Eagles supporters knew when the Dockers applied the blowtorch back in R5 that they were being skinned alive. And they had to cop it. That they fought back from 70 points down that day and got to within 4 goals was an indication of what has come since. But please Sydney…no histrionics. You were towelled up. Now the Dockers and the Hawks will put the Eagles season in real perspective….back to back. But no matter what happens in those games, the Eagles without 3-4 of their very best young athletes , have made all Australia sit up and take notice. ARTHUR PAGONIS MANAGING DIRECTOR AUSTRALIA GLOBAL TRADING PTY LTD 10 HERTZ WAY, MORLEY, W.A. 6062 AUSTRALIA PH. 61.8.9377 3833, FAX 61.8.93773877, MOBILE 61. 409918874 SKYPE: apagonis2 WEB: www.ausglobaltrading.com

Hey jax, I really admire your passion and determination on these threads, but mate, tighten it up a bit please. You may have some really important things to say, but it may be sliding off the runway. One point you just made................the Vic biased commentary................it's been a laugh for >25 years............especially when Ch10 had the TV rights.............so much tripe disguised as footy commentary.

That's nonsense. The physical act of leaving home and travelling a small distance is substantially different to travelling a large one. Hawthorn travel to the West Coast one time this season. That's right, just once! The Eagles travel to the East Coast and SA 10 times this season. That's a massive advantage for Hawthorn. There is this thing called jet lag: "Jet lag, medically referred to as desynchronosis and rarely as circadian dysrhythmia, is a physiological condition which results from alterations to the body's circadian rhythms resulting from rapid long-distance transmeridian (east–west or west–east) travel on high-speed aircraft. Travelling west causes fewer problems than travelling east, and it is usually sufficient to seek exposure to light during the day and avoid it at night. The condition of jet lag may last several days until one is fully adjusted to the new time zone, and a recovery rate of one day per time zone crossed is a suggested guideline."

Hawks travel 9 times this year. The Eagles travel 10. While the km's are substantially different, the physical act of leaving your home town is practically the same Lets not think they are the Pies or Richmond all of a sudden. They do travel a fair bit.

So how do you explain Hawthorn's losses to Essendon, Port Adelaide and GWS, all of which the Eagles defeated by 50, 10 & 87 points? Even in the close one they had 22% more scoring shots. Lets not forget that Hawthorn barely travel out of Victoria or Tasmania. I wonder how they would go if they had to travel to Perth 10 times a year??

I hate to break it to you but Basil is a Richmond supporter.

He doesn't call many WC games and I'd much prefer a good special comments guy. I have lived in other states and the coverage on FTA is terrible when your team is from another state.

I don't like people using the term literally...oh wait am I in the right thread?

I don't think their draw will that much harder next year. The Eagles draw is unbalanced but its not as soft as people think They play Sydney once, Hawks once Freo twice. With every club playing 12 teams once and 5 teams twice, the number of games West Coast have against the big 3 is proportionately about right. The other four clubs Eagles pays twice are Adelaide, St Kilda, Bulldogs and the Suns. Of the 5 clubs West Coast play twice 3 are currently in the top 8 and two are not.

Jax, the name is a shortening of the West Coast Eagles to the 'Weagles' i don't think its derogatory and i don't think slane meant it like that.

You forgot about Basil " I actively barrack for the Eagles while commentating" Zempilas. Eagles fan complain about the Melbourne media largely ignoring the Eagles, well try living in WA and supporting a Melbourne based team.

Bang on. My first post on this thread said pretty much the same thing. Then I got myself tangled up by replying to other comments and my original gets lost in it all. WC still have a lot to prove and I have also have questions over them.

Don - I posted my predictions to you on another thread yesterday but as usual you ignored them. On your incorrect predictions: Hawthorn just towel led up 2 of the top four look likely to finish top 2 so Incorrect Sydney will finish top 4 which isn't a slide - incorrect North to rise - 6th isn't higher than they finished last year so incorrect and you had them most likely to finish top 4 just 3 weeks ago so Incorect a second time Go,d Coast top 4 incorrect so don't try to rewrite history Melbourne top 8 chances incorrect Top 2 - the season hasn't finished yet so not correct yet. Port to miss the 8 correct. Meanwhile I had the top 4 as Port, Hawthorn, Sydney and Freo - looking like 3 from 4 but we'll wait and see. Essendon and Brisbane to struggle with due to no goal kickers, correct, North to struggle with injuries and a tougher draw, correct, you to be wrong about most things, correct.

I know they do it and that you're not the only one. I will let them know at some stage as well. I use alternative names now and again but generally have a good reason for doing so. These names shouldn't become part of the everyday vernacular IMHO.

I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about and I'm not sure you know what "disrespectful, derogatory, unnecessary and childish" mean. After you've explained how you could possibly consider the shortening of West Coast Eagles into Weagles as "derogatory" maybe you could write to The Age and Fox Sport to let them know too? http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/whats-gone-wrong-with-the-weagles-20130620-2okoa.html http://m.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-premiership/weagles-web-fox-footys-gerard-healy-breaks-down-west-coasts-defensive-tactics/story-e6frf3e3-1227421618499

Shhhh . . . Don't tell the world how good the boys are going. Better that they don't attract much attention and just keep winning games. After all, it isn't the hype that matters, only the performance

I find it disrespectful, derogatory, unnecessary and childish to use such terms. I agree and two of us makes a 'we'. It's just not necessary slane.

I agree with you Frank. Ling and King both tipped the Pies to beat WC and they were both calling the game. It was both funny and frustrating at the same time listening to both of them try to talk up Collingwoods chances of winning as late as the start of the last quarter. They went very quiet after WC kicked some quick goals in succession and put the game out of the Pies reach. King and Ling still can't bring themselves to give much credit to WC and my respect for them has diminished significantly after their behaviour and analysis of them this year. They possibly think that they will look foolish backtracking when in fact all they are doing is making themselves look more foolish with each passing week. They were incredibly biased as were some of the umpiring decisions. I rarely complain about the umpiring but some of their decisions looked intentional to me, For the record, the Pies didn't a kick a single goal after Gov was subbed out of the game in the 3rd quarter. We are pushing it I know but I think WC will hold up pretty well without Gov in the majority of their upcoming games. Someone is going to try a different tactic soon I am sure of it.

I loved this article - especially this line: "Even after 12 wins – including the scalps of the Power in Adelaide, Richmond at the MCG and Collingwood at Etihad Stadium – the Eagles remain somewhat hype-free." That's the incredible thing about West Coast - they seem to do so well because nobody expects them to do well. I remember in Round 10 Cameron Ling said that if West Coast beat North Melbourne, they "might" (just "might") make the eight at the end of the year. They had a record of 7-2 when Ling made those comments. And to rub it in, West Coast lost to North Melbourne and they still look like they can finish top four. For them to win the Grand Final, I really think they need top 2 and the home ground advantage. But who's to say they couldn't do it? Sydney are generally a great side and I expect them to rebound this weekend, but if West Coast win, they'll make the top four definitely. The matches against Sydney and Hawthorn will be the final testers for how good they really are.

All I was saying that is winning it would be hard to see. I absolutely agree WCE could even make the GF.