The West Coast Eagles broke their away game hoodoo by overcoming a strong a Port Adelaide side in Adelaide. West Coast held off a fast finishing Power side coming up with a 10-point win.
West Coast got off to a quick start in the first quarter by booting three of the first four goals of the game and never trailed after that first goal.
Mark LeCras was impressive in the first quarter kicking three goals.
The Power fought back in the first but as would end up being the story of the day they struggled to kick accurately.
The second term was similar to the first with the Eagles kicking some early goals before the Power fought back to only be down by nine at the major break.
The first half was a tough, hard-fought affair which was evident later on in the second term where both teams looked exhausted and struggled to finish off the term.
West Coast exploded out of the gates in the third term kicking four straight goals to extend their lead to 32 points.
Port kept fighting though in the quarter and again made a late comeback to show the Eagles they were not out of it completely.
Charlie Dixon was impressive for the quarter but the Power continued to struggle in front of the goals.
A behind right on the siren of the third quarter to Sam Powell-Pepper was big as the Power could have gone into the fourth 16 points down.
The fourth started like the previous three with West Coast kicking a quick early goal this time through Elliot Yeo.
Port answered back with two straight goals to themselves and looked like they were a good shot to overrun the Eagles.
When Josh J Kennedy kicked his second goal of the game it looked like the Power would be down and out, but they had one more run left in them and got the score to just single digits.
Seven points would be the closest they would get to the Eagles though as West Coast held on for a big 10 point win.
Port Adelaide will look back on this game and wonder what could have been as they lead in most statistical categories but inaccurate kicking would be costly, for West Coast it will be good to get the monkey off their back with an away win over a formidable opponent.
Final score
Port Adelaide Power 12.15.87
West Coast Eagles 15.7.97
Slane
Guest
What is it that makes a ground primarily a cricket ground? Amongst cricket grounds all over the world the MCG is still an absolute behemoth of a ground. It's just a big ground in general, its dimensions aren't tailored to one sport over another.
Gary
Guest
The MCG is essentially a cricket ground rather than an AFL ground.
Brendon the 1st
Guest
Ha ha, no bias, just a bad day out for the boys in yellow.
Don Freo
Guest
That nasty ol' AWAY team bias strikes again?
Brendon the 1st
Guest
Port we're robbed, I wouldn't be taking to much from this game if I were the Eagles, Port should have won by 20 points. Hopefully we'll get it back at some stage this season, swings and round-a-bouts. I'm not saying the umps are bias, they aren't, they are however human and they collectively had a bad night. Gut wrenching, sitting in the stands watching that.
Joe B
Guest
MCG 160x141m Adelaide oval 167x124m Subiaco oval 175x122m New Perth Stadium 165x130m Adelaide and Subi are similar in dimensions, suggesting game style works well in Adelaide. MCG is quite different, and the game style gets exposed by quality opponents. Thankfully, the new Perth Stadium dimensions are a bit closer to MCG (Grand Final) dimensions. Interestingly, the Dockers did well (without actually winning) against MCG home team Hawthorn in the 2013 GF compared to West Coast in 2015.
Gyfox
Guest
Umpire 31 was disgraceful! Definitely a case of bias against the home team. Very unusual.
themadchatter
Guest
How can a pack mark be uncontested? If there's a pack there it means the mark was contested. I didn't see any Eagles being held. But regarding the umpires poor calls, there were two calls that were clearly ignored. One being a deliberate kick out of bounds by an Eagles player that was thrown back in. The other was a holding the ball also against an Eagle that was nowhere close to being handballed and again no penalty awarded.
Don Freo
Guest
Do you think they play there much?
Lucky Cosmos
Guest
yep, it was like both Darling and Kennedy were wearing multi-tentacled aliens on their backs most of the game!...(and in most games). but how good are Dixon and Ryder as tall interceptors, makes Gov, Tom and Yeo look positively diminutive.
Lucky Cosmos
Guest
exacto mundo!...and if you look at other teams home and away games, many arent that dissimilar with away losses, but not called flat track bullies etc..silly cliches really that keep media commentators commentating and opposition fans procrastinating..
Scott
Guest
So true. The 2 games this year though they played a completely different game plan to their norm. They played that keepyoff nonsense which is the exact opposite of the attacking corridor footy that's worked for em over the last 2 years. I think Simpson is thinking too much into the field dimensions as the reason why they were terrible against hawthorn in the GF and again last year. They just completely choked in them 2 games but he must've thought it was the game plan
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
"Compared to other teams I don’t think Eagles are that bad away from home" Yep, saying the Eagles have an awful record away from home has become a furphy oft-repeated by pundits and fans when in fact their win-loss record is 7-7 on the road over these past two seasons. Their issue is at the MCG where their gameplan just doesn't work on the wider ground. They've been awful at the G.
Lroy
Guest
you mean how Eagles players were continually held off the ball allowing the Power to take uncontested pack marks?? Jack Darling was being manhandled all day, if thats what you were referring too I agree wholeheartedly.
Damo
Guest
Compared to other teams I don't think Eagles are that bad away from home, they beat Nth in Rd1 and Ade and GWS at the end of last year away. They just can't win at the MCG, which happens to be the most important ground of them all.
Ben
Guest
Worst example of umpiring I've seen ever...really quite embarrassing to watch and hugely impactful on such a tight contest where momentum is such a factor. Both numbers 1 and 31 should be dropped for the season as they were just not up to the task. Disagree? Watch the game again...