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The West Coast Eagles have run over the Collingwood Magpies to take a 16-point victory and book in a home preliminary final at Optus Stadium.
After a hot first few minutes, the Eagles held onto the ball and kept it in their forward half; a goal to Nathan Vardy out of the ruck and two in a row to Liam Ryan had West Coast off to the start they desired.
In the second quarter Collingwood worked overtime to bring the ball to ground and create a manic game of football, allowing them to get back into the game and at halftime find themselves in front by three points.
It was a high scoring first half of footy that had fans excited; the second half was set up to be thrilling and that it was.
An inaccurate start to the third term slowed the scoring, but two Collingwood goals and just one to West Coast’s Josh Kennedy meant the Magpies took a 10-point lead into the final change.
The game was poised for a big final term and the 59,585-strong crowd became highly influential in getting the home side up.
Tall forwards Josh Kennedy and Jack Darling scored the first two goals of the fourth quarter, before Jordan de Goey reclaimed the lead for the Magpies.
The Eagles kicked the final three goals of the game to complete a 26-point turnaround: Lewis Jetta intercepted on the Eagles forward 50 arc and goaled, Jack Darling marked inside 50 and kicked truly, before Jack Redden extended the margin after the siren.
Jeremy McGovern took seven marks, including four intercepts, in the first quarter, but was drawn away from the ball by the Collingwood forwards – particularly Chris Mayne – and was unable to dominate in the final three quarters.
Elliott Yeo (36 disposals, 24 contested, 9 tackles), Jack Redden (32 disposals, 12 marks, 1 goal) and Dom Sheed (27 disposals, 7 clearances, 1 goal) worked hard in the midfield for the Eagles.
West Coast’s tall forwards were quiet and fumbled in the first three quarters, but when the game was in the balance Josh Kennedy and Jack Darling stepped up, took some strong marks and kicked two goals each for the game.
It was all Brodie Grundy in the ruck, he had 48 hit outs to Scott Lycett and Nathan Vardy’s combined 28. However, his influence wasn’t capitalised on at ground level; Steele Sidebottom was tagged out of the game in the second half by Mark Hutchings and the rest of the Magpies’ midfield couldn’t lift their side straight through to a preliminary final.
Eagle Brad Sheppard went down in the first term with a high hamstring injury. The underrated defender was chasing Jordan de Goey when he pulled up hurt, immediately clutching at his hamstring and heading off the field.
It didn’t look great and could see him sit on the sidelines with Nic Naitanui and Andrew Gaff for the rest of the finals.
West Coast now have the week off, before hosting the winner of Hawthorn vs Melbourne in a preliminary final. They are just one win away from a grand final berth, an incredible effort considering where many experts had them sitting at the beginning of the year.
Next up for Collingwood, is a clash with the GWS Giants at the MCG next Saturday. The Giants were firing in their Derby with Sydney on Saturday afternoon, rolling the Swans and shifting into another gear in the finals’ series.
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