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“A sportsperson who dominates inferior opposition, but who cannot beat top-level opponents.”
The flat-track bully. A term that has been pinned to the West Coast Eagles for some time now.
A word that marred their brilliant rise from the ashes over the past few years, and one that highlights the sheer ignorance of eastern AFL ‘experts’ to a tee.
As a West Coast supporter myself, the idea that the Eagles have ever been flat-track bullies is preposterous, but alas, even I can admit, there was a time when this term had some circumstantial weight behind it.
Let’s examine the facts.
In the 2014 season, the West Coast Eagles couldn’t have personified the title of flat-track bully any better. From their 11 wins in that season, not one of them came against an eventual top eight team. In fact, they were the only team, in that season, who didn’t register a win against the top eight. Instead, the Eagles tore the poor teams to shreds, with astounding wins of 90-plus margins against teams such as Melbourne and Greater Western Sydney, boasting the sixth best percentage in the league.
Of course, as we interstate-team fans have come to expect, the off-season bashing followed, with claims that the team who were predicted to win the flag just 18 months before, were looking at a bleak 2015.
Comments such as ‘their list has too many holes’ were put forward. And, ‘Their midfield is second rate’.
Some guy called Matty Priddis won the Brownlow medal that year, no one across the Nullarbor really knew who he was before then, and now that I think about it, nothing has really changed.
Enter season 2015. Eagles take the competition by storm. What happened to the second rate midfield? Who has this mystery team recruited that has made such a spectacular impact?
What’s that? No-one?
Ridiculous, I know. Here I am, claiming that ‘experts’ of the game were wrong in calling the West Coast Eagles second rate. Here I stand, defending the Eagles, with one of the most biased, unfounded ‘I told you so’ statements of all time. So what am I getting at? Hear me out.
Some part of my brain snapped a week back, when an ‘expert’ put forward the motion that the 2016 Eagles are once again, flat-track bullies, after their disappointing loss to reigning, three-time premiers Hawthorn.
I had to rewind the Channel Seven show that I was watching just to make sure that I had heard correctly. This ‘expert’ had made the astounding claim that the 2015 runners-up, were flat-track bullies. This time, I’m not taking a bar of it.
Once again, let’s examine the facts.
In the 2015 season, there was only one team that defeated every single team in the entire competition in that year.
Hawthorn you say? Ah no. Actually, they didn’t beat Port Adelaide at all last year, or the Giants as a matter of fact. So who could it be? No, Richmond fans, it wasn’t you, let’s try and beat the Demons before we make such claims…
Oh, I know, it must have been the Western Bulldogs. They are clearly the best team in the competition. I mean, look how well they played against St Kilda, may as well give them the flag.
Wait, what? It wasn’t them?
As surprised as many might be to hear this, it was actually the West Coast Eagles. They defeated every single team in the competition last year. There is no refuting it. The Eagles were the furthest thing from flat-track bullies last year, and we can all agree that, after such a good year (apart from the only game that counted), the Eagles deserve some level of respect now from the eastern states.
So, I stand before the AFL community, as an interstate team supporter, living in Melbourne, demanding some level of equality in the eyes of the media for the teams that are not situated on the east coast. That teams such as the West Coast Eagles actually get considered as an AFL team once in a while on Foxtel and free-to-air programs.
I stand here, asking for the ridiculous notion that the suggestion the Eagles can only beat the bad teams be put to rest once and for all. Because as we can all agree, it’s just becoming a cop out every time the Eagles drop a game against a decent team.
AFL 360 – Footy from all angles. Now it’s time for them to take the Western angle.
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