Confessions of a West Coast Eagles fan in denial

The long subtitle of this column is ‘How I learnt to stop doubting and get swept off my feet by the West Coast Eagles’. The short version is ‘Mea culpa’.

I am a fan of West Coast, and have been since as long as I can remember. My family have been all in on the Eagles since their inception in the late 1980s, and given I came into existence at the same time, well, I associate quite strongly with the west’s inaugural team.

The 2005 grand final, and the broader rivalry with the Sydney Swans that stretched over the years surrounding it, was what got me into football in the weird way that I am.

I’ve been there for the rise, the fall, the really big fall, the re-rise a couple of years back, and the latest fall of 2013.

West Coast’s 2014 season, the first under new coach Adam Simpson, was mediocre at best. The Eagles finished ninth on the table, and I was convinced this side was about to enter a mini re-build under their new tsar. If John Worsfold couldn’t get the best out of this group, perhaps a new group was required. When that didn’t happen in the offseason, I was pretty down on West Coast’s prospects. And not just on this website.

“Is there a risk West Coast slip into the bottom six?” I tweeted to the Fox Footy Roundtable season previews in March. I don’t know why I did that, because for one, who tweets at a TV show?

Once Eric MacKenzie went down in the preseason, I thought they were toast. Mitch Brown a full back? Please. Then he went down. And the Eagles were left with a guy some in the West call ‘Doughnuts’ McGovern to man the key defensive post. They were stuffed. I had screen caps to prove it.

Once Josh Kennedy destroyed his elbow, I said they should consider writing off this season, build some more depth through the middle of the ground in the draft, and have another crack next year. Hawthorn and Fremantle would be another year older, and, well, maybe Coach Simpson could eek out some incremental improvement from an average list.

Sharrod Wellingham is overrated.

Will Schofield is underrated as a stopper, but just don’t give him the ball, please?

Nic Naitanui played one good year.

Josh Kennedy is going to be double teamed all year.

Jeremy McGovern might turn into a good utility player, but he needs time.

Luke Shuey and Andrew Gaff are seagulls.

Josh Hill and Jamie Cripps are nice players, and so is Mark Hutchings.

Shannon Hurn hasn’t looked the same since he took over as captain.

Jack Darling is hurt.

Matt Priddis couldn’t possibly back up from a shockingly-underrated-until-it-wasn’t 2014 season.

Scott Selwood is a glorified tagger.

What is Brad Shepphard?

Xavier Ellis is the worst trade in our club’s history. Jamie Bennell is taking up cap space.

Chris Masten is a washed-up pick three.

Matt Rosa and Sam Butler have been great servants, but maybe it’s time to move on.

Dom Sheed is a bust.

Eliot Yeo looks interesting, but where does he fit?

Patrick McGinnity? You’re kidding right?

Mark LeCras will probably win the John Worsfold Medal as a midfielder.

Callum Sinclair and Scott Lycett are solid, B-grade ruckmen. Our mids are used to having Dean Cox.

Our drafting has been good, but you don’t want to Watts up your whole list…

I love Simmo’s game plan, but gee the talent level isn’t there to make it work.

They were pulverised by Fremantle in Round 3, and I threw in the towel. They’re toast, won’t finish in the eight, and the team at Subiaco should start testing the market for players like Gaff and Shuey. A contending team would love them, and be happy to trade away a couple of high draft picks. I mean our players are alright, but aren’t going to get us anywhere anytime soon.

And then it started. West Coast won, and won well. I built an irrational fear that what I was seeing unfold before me – and yes, I’ve watched every Eagles game this season – was the product of good fortune, a weak schedule, and streaky performance after streaky performance. The Eagles, my Eagles, aren’t that good.

Sports fans, I was wrong. West Coast are good. Very, very good.

Maybe it was my desire to seem impartial, in what is my first go as a (semi) professional sportswriter.

Maybe I’m a typical West Coast Eagles fan, not happy with anything less than a premiership every season.

Maybe I got a little too caught up in Fremantle’s 9-0 start, and subsequent good-enough-to-win-most-weeks-against-most-teams, and that I stood out like a shag on a rock with my call on them in 2015, and am thus far being proven correct.

Maybe they’re not actually this good.

Wait. Maybe they’re not actually this good?

I picked Fremantle in the derby, and not just because of the outs for West Coast. I picked Fremantle because they are a better, more seasoned and proven football team. I still think it will be a Fremantle/Hawthorn grand final, although the weekend’s result threw a bit of a spanner in the works of that one.

See, if Fremantle had knocked off the Eagles, the Hawks would have been mighty difficult to dislodge from that second spot. The Hawks have the Power, Lions and Blues to round out the home-and-away season. West Coast have the Dogs, Crows and Saints. Its still very possible that the Hawks overcome the Eagles and book in a home final, but Sunday’s result was the equivalent a few sand bags against a rising tide.

It made the first quarter of the game really important. The pre-game on Fox centred on the return of Fremantle’s ‘blast’ in recent weeks, a reference to the Dockers’ tendency to overwhelm opponents in the opening 20 minutes throughout the first nine rounds.

But rather than getting blasted, the Eagles did the blasting. The first goal came in 30 seconds, with six possessions to nothing. Before the Dockers touched the ball, the Eagles were up by six. It didn’t take long for it to be 36, and the game was all but over.

The second quarter was a nil-all draw, which meant it was advantage West Coast heading into the second half.

At first, I thought it was some kind of Ross Lyon Jedi Mind Trick. In the west, all of the talk had been it was in Fremantle’s best interest to ‘allow’ or ‘facilitate’ a West Coast victory. It centred on the idea that Fremantle should do everything within their power to avoid having to play Hawthorn in Melbourne. The best way for that to happen was for Hawthorn to finish third – the chances of which were enhanced should West Coast win this game.

It’s a garbage argument, but after observing the two teams in that first, the thought crossed my mind. Nat Fyfe was playing forward. Michael Barlow was, inexplicably, playing on the half back flank. Danyle Pearce wasn’t getting the ball. Alex Silvagni was playing. Aaron Sandilands was mincing the two young West Coast rucks, but it wasn’t translating to quick forward-50 entries. And, well, we aren’t that good.

Then, the second half happened.

Lyon had pulled the pin on his substitute at half time, dragging Barlow and injecting Hayden Crozier, who is thought of as an emerging small forward. He went for all-out attack, and it felt like it was working. The new-old Fremantle was back, and it was a question of when, not if, the game would level out.

Fremantle launched into West Coast, obliterating them around the clinches, stopping their run on the outside, and winning general play. Nat Fyfe played like early-season Nat Fyfe, bobbing up at what felt like every contest and eviscerating those around him. It looked like there was no stopping him. 14 of his 26 possessions came in that third quarter, and he threatened to win the game by himself.

The whole side lifted. The ball was camped on Fremantle’s half forward line. No matter how hard the Eagles tried, the ball kept coming back. It was the Dockers’ game to lose.

Except it wasn’t like that at all. West Coast won the quarter, resisting the attacking thrusts of their opponent time after time after time. The quarter ended with the score line 3.4.22 to 3.5.23. The Eagles had resisted an all-out assault, and came out with a larger lead. They won the damn quarter.

It manifested itself in a remarkable statistic, albeit one that I only have for the full game. The Eagles only touched the ball 77 times in their own half of the ground, but scored 104 points; Fremantle had it 134 times, and scored 80 points. That would make it 1.35 points per possession for West Coast to 0.60 points per possession for Fremantle.

That quarter of football said a lot about West Coast under Simpson. And it made me believe what I’ve tried ever so hard to deny all season. West Coast can win the flag this season.

But it’s not just this season that I’m excited about.

Sharrod Wellingham is an emerging half back flanker, a role he’s well suited to.

Will Schofield blanketed one of the best forwards of this generation, and has been doing so week in, week out this season.

Nic Naitanui is a bloody good ruckman.

Josh Kennedy is the best spearhead in the game.

Jeremy McGovern should win Comeback Player of the Year.

Luke Shuey and Andrew Gaff are more than seagulls.

Josh Hill and Jamie Cripps are among the most damaging small forward pairings in the game in this scheme.

Mark Hutchings is still a nice player (sorry, Mark).

Shannon Hurn is leadership personified.

Jack Darling is my hero.

Matt Priddis could win the Brownlow again.

Scott Selwood is a glorified tagger. But who cares? He’ll be Geelong’s problem in 2016.

Brad Shepphard is a unique player, thriving in a unique system.

Xavier Ellis and Jamie Bennell are handy recruits, destined to be role players. But that’s okay.

Chris Masten has been reborn as a vampire wingman.

Matt Rosa and Sam Butler are plugging holes, with aplomb.

Dom Sheed is not a bust.

Eliot Yeo looks like a 15-year player.

Patrick McGinnity? You’re kidding right?

Mark LeCras is a new type of player, a wingman that kicks goals like a key forward.

Callum Sinclair and Scott Lycett might be more than adequate.

Our draftees have been good. Really good in fact. And they can’t break into the side.

Simpson’s game plan, built on dare, hard work and structural heuristics, is a blend of everything that’s great about Hawthorn and Fremantle. The ball pings around, and when West Coast are on, they are irresistible. When they don’t have the ball, their opponents better make sure they score, because if they don’t West Coast makes them pay. But then the ball goes into the middle of the ground, and you just know West Coast will win the clearance.

That Hawthorn came to town and took the four points doesn’t diminish what West Coast has done this season. It took the first 100-tackle effort in the Alastair Clarkson era to stop the Eagles’ outside game. Tackle count is a terribly misleading statistic out of context, but in this game, it was a measure of how hard Hawthorn had to work to close down the Eagles’ space. Hawthorn gave them nothing, in full knowledge that victory in last weekend’s game was on the critical path to their chances of a top two berth. The inevitable rematch will be fascinating.

After their derby victory, I’ve been convinced that the Eagles are building something special. And not just in 2015 (I’ll do my best to keep my fandom bottled up, but consider yourself warned: come grand final week, I may not be able to help myself), but in 2016, 2017, 2018 and beyond.

Remember, they have been playing without a real key defender, while their forward line has been dented by injury all season. Add a one-on-one defender of the ilk of Eric Mackenzie to this team, and we could be looking at the league’s best defence – even better than their cross-town rivals.

Are we witnessing the emergence of football’s next superpower? While it may be a little too soon to say, it’s a good time to be a West Coast fan.

And that’s something that has taken me far too long to realise.