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West Coast’s cruisy 68-point win over Richmond on Friday night was their best of the season so far. For a team which has played a lot of ordinary football over the first four rounds, the Eagles are surprisingly well placed at 3-1.
On paper their early-season draw was horrendously difficult – in the opening five rounds they face the teams which last season finished first, third, fourth and fifth, including the premiers Hawthorn.
The Hawks gave them another hiding, but West Coast were lucky enough to run into Fremantle and Richmond line-ups which were amid deep form troughs.
Should they lose on the road to the Swans next week, West Coast’s 3-2 record still would be reasonable considering the challenging nature of their draw. And at this stage a loss at the SCG looks likely – Sydney are in ominous touch, whereas the Eagles are only slowly starting to find some rhythm.
If they are to push the Swans next weekend they will need to operate with the intensity and efficiency which overwhelmed the Tigers in the first half on Friday.
Admittedly, the Tigers were opponents in name only over the first two quarters of that contest. Yet nothing should be taken away from the efforts of the Eagles, who were at their potent best, bossing the Tigers at the stoppages, slicing them in open space, picking and finding the right options up forward, and clinically repelling Richmond’s advances.
While the highlights package of that first half was stuffed with the Eagles free-wheeling offensive thrusts, it was their defensive efforts which were most significant. In remarkably keeping the Tigers to just eight inside 50s in the first half, the Eagles finally reproduced the daunting pressure on the ball carrier which was a hallmark of their highly successful 2015 season.
Starting with allowing the floundering Lions to rack up 102 points against them in the opening round, West Coast’s defensive game was underwhelming over the first three rounds. They cannot afford to give the Swans midfield and half backs too much leeway next week or Sydney spearheads Lance Franklin and Kurt Tippett will run amok.
This heavyweight clash will give us a much clearer picture of where the Eagles are at. The Swans midfield is particularly intimidating and arguably the strongest, physically, in the competition. The Eagles on-ballers were bullied by the Hawks in Round 2 and Sydney’s midfield is every bit as imposing.
West Coast controlled the stoppages against Richmond on the back of the ascendancy of Nic Naitanui and Scott Lycett, who mauled an undermanned ruck unit for the second week in a row. However, Sydney big men Callum Sinclair and Kurt Tippett should offer a far stronger contest in the air and around the ground, leaving West Coast’s midfield without a major advantage.
The Eagles look set to have to enter this midfield battle minus clearance king Matt Priddis, who is tipped to miss again due to a groin injury. It was a good sign they were able to flourish in his absence against Richmond, but to do so against the marauding Swans is a whole different challenge. West Coast are about to face a litmus test.