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It feels hard to continue to put a sledgehammer into the travelling woes of the West Coast Eagles after such a noble defeat to the Bulldogs.
An eight-point loss, consistent with the ten-point margin when these sides met at Etihad in Round 1 last year, is an almost apples for apples comparison.
But we are now talking about one of last year’s grand finalists, a side many predicted would have a significant say in 2016 outcomes.
A quick analysis shows that West Coast have won all six of their home games to sides outside the eight and beaten Port Adelaide in a close contest a couple of weeks back in their sole away win of the season.
They have lost their remaining four away games to the Swans, Hawks, Cats and aforementioned Dogs this year. Hardly alarm bells in isolation, but the fairly meek surrender in three of those must be worrying.
The epitome of this malaise is their full forward, Josh Kennedy.
On raw goal-kicking stats, Kennedy has landed 38.20 this year – strong numbers in output and accuracy.
But then we look at the home figures – 24 goals and 18 behinds, an incredible average of seven scoring shots a game.
Away? Fourteen goals and two behinds in five games. The scoring output is more than halved to just over three shots a match.
Even worse, you take the seven straight he kicked against Port and he has managed seven goals and two behinds in four away games against the ‘big four’.
I have always regarded Kennedy as a good, but not great full-forward with a tendency to dominate weaker sides and be a flat-track bully at home. His 2016 numbers are showcasing this.
Without any flow coming from the centre, Kennedy seems like a one-trick pony when there is nothing to lead up to. By contrast, the great full-forwards can work their way into a contest or influence through hard work-rate, off the ball support and the odd sublime touch even when the goals aren’t flowing.
His 2015 grand final performance was a stinker. While he had some overawed friends on that day, for West Coast to lift back into premiership contention Kennedy needs to dispel the myth that he is a Novak Djokovic on home court, and a wild-card journeyman qualifier on the road.
This week, the Eagles have their first true contest at home this year in a tantalising clash against the Crows.
Interestingly, following this their final ten matches pit them against Brisbane (away), North (home), Carlton (away), Melbourne (home), Collingwood (away), Fremantle (notional away), Greater Western Sydney (away), Hawthorn (home), and Adelaide (away).
Of those, you could almost argue that there are six in a row for the taking until they hit GWS.
If Kennedy can lift on the road, and coupled with the fact that their percentage is great due to their home ground ‘bullying’, we may yet see the Eagles challenge for the top four again.
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