[VIDEO] Gold Coast Suns vs West Coast Eagles highlights: AFL scores, blog

MATCH RESULT

Gold Coast 12.11 (83) dr. with West Coast 11.17 (83)

The Gold Coast Suns have put together one of their best performances of the season, matching the all-conquering West Coast Eagles all-game to eke out a thrilling 83-83 draw – the first draw in Gold Coast club history.

Hot favourites coming into the match, the Eagles played with swagger early on, although that swagger turned to arrogance in front of the goals as West Coast kicked five straight behinds early on.

>>MATCH REPORT: Suns, Eagles fight out draw

The two sides went goal for goal in the quarter, with West Coast taking the narrow four-point lead into the first break.

The sides traded goals again in the second quarter, and although the Eagles had their opponents on the back foot for much of the term – more inaccuracy in front of the sticks saw the visitors ahead by just six points at the main break.

Many thought the floodgates would finally open up for the Eagles in the third quarter, but it was the Suns who took the initiative instead. The home side kicked three goals to two in the premiership quarter, taking a shock three-point lead into the final break.

The fourth quarter started with a bang, with Elliot Yeo looping a high snap through the goals to put the Eagles back in front by three points. Jack Darling threatened to put West Coast further ahead after picking off Kade Kolodjashnij’s kick, but he missed to the far side.

It was a deja vu at the other end of the field, with Will Schofield sending and inch perfect pass to his opponent Charlie Dixon. But while Dixon was able to convert the gift into a goal, Darling made amends for his earlier miss with an easy goal to put West Coast back up by four points.

The match threatened to fly off the planet soon after, with quick goals to Brandon Matera and Aaron Hall giving the Suns an incredulous ten points lead.

But with the prospect of an ungodly upset looming, West Coast hit back through Callum Sinclair and Shannon Hurn to re-take the lead. The Eagles went on a roll from that point, keeping the Suns hemmed in down back – but they only put up four behinds to make their lead a precarious six points.

Tom Lynch took a superb pack mark with 40 seconds left, but took his sweet time with the kick, dobbing the goal with one second left on the clock. The siren sounded as soon as the ball was bounced, bringing to a close one of the most exciting games of the season.

The Suns were headed well up forward by acting skipper Tom Lynch (four goals), got good efforts in the midfield from Harley Bennell (28 disposals, seven tackles, one goal) and Aaron Hall (24 disposals, seven tackles, one goal), while Steven May did a great job holding Josh Kennedy to just six possessions and two goals.

For the Eagles it was Matt Priddis (34 disposals, seven tackles), Luke Shuey (33 disposals) and Andrew Gaff leading the way (28 disposals). But wayward kicking plagued the Eagles, with Jack Darling (2.3), Mark LeCras (1.2), Nic Naitanui (0.2) and Priddis (0.2) all failing to put the Suns to bed.

Gold Coast Suns – 2.2 | 5.5 | 8.9 | 12.11 (83)
West Coast Eagles – 2.6 | 5.11 | 7.12 | 11.17 (83)

GOALS
Suns: Lynch 4, Russell, Hall, Boston, Martin, Kolodjashnij, Dixon, Matera, Bennell
Eagles: Sheed 2, Kennedy 2, Darling 2, Sinclair, LeCras, Hurn, Yeo, Ellis

Attendance: 9,341

MATCH PREVIEW

The Gold Coast Suns need everything to go their way if they’re to pull off one of football’s biggest ever upsets against the West Coast Eagles. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 7:20pm (AEST).

Rodney Eade drew an incredulous response after Round 1’s loss to Melbourne when he declared Gold Coast were one or two seasons away from playing finals.

Injuries have played a massive part in fulfilling that prophecy, but in any case ‘Rocket’ has gone from looking a madman to a soothsayer.

The Suns have tasted victory just twice in a nightmarish campaign for the young club. But fans looking for some late-season respite may want to shut their eyes as the white-hot West Coast Eagles come rolling into town in what shapes as one of 2015’s biggest mismatches.

Gold Coast’s biggest losing margin of the season – 92 points – came against the Eagles back in Round 7. The form the Eagles are in however could see that record broken.

West Coast are enjoying on of the best seasons in club history. They’re second on the ladder, riding a six-game winning streak, and are all but assured of a top-four finish.

With Hawthorn getting better by the week, the Eagles know the pressure will be on if they want to finish inside the top two. Games like these are not only a must win but, not that they’ll admit it, an important chance to boost their percentage too.

The Eagles have their six encounters with the Suns thus far, winning all by an average of 51 points. They’ll be looking to better that by some way as they march towards September.

Gold Coast’s black injury cloud claimed its biggest scalp last week, with skipper Gary Ablett done for the year after straining a medial knee ligament.

Rising star favourite Adam Saad and fellow young gun Tom Nicholls are no certainties to return to the line-up as they continue to battle quad injuries, although Jarrod Harbrow will slot right back into the side after missing last week to witness the birth of his child.

As happy as West Coast were with last week’s thumping win over Sydney, it wasn’t all smiles as Will Schofield succumbed to calf injury late and is only an outside chance to play this week.

With Eric MacKenzie, Mitch Brown and Jeremy McGovern already on the sidelines, West Coast would be left with no key defenders should Schofield fail to get up.

Gold Coast’s tall forward group ripped the Crows defence to shreds last week, so the Eagles may be forced to throw a key forward down back just to compete in the air.

Prediction
This season West Coast are playing stunningly well and Gold Coast are performing below even the most conservative estimations.

With the Gary Ablett mini-renaissance over, this could be a very torturous evening for the Suns.

Eagles by 71 points.