spell_check wrote:Eagles 8.5 10.7 15.17 19.21 (135)
West 2.0 5.3 6.6 8.8 (56)
Time:
1st: 30:28
2nd: 28:57
3rd: 30:52
4th: 26:56
Winning the toss on a day where at times gale force winds are going to one end helps our slow starts. What was more crucial was how much West were contained to in the second. So, losing that quarter by only 7 points was a fairly positive sign. The third quarter I think we had about 18 or 19 shots at goal for 5.10 and 3 or 4 out on the full, even though it rained for the last half of the quarter. As the rain started, Jarrad kicked an 80+ metre goal, which skidded the last 15 metres.
The most worrying sign for West Adelaide is that the first half of the last quarter they didn't seem to know what to do and looked like spectators; however the last half of the quarter, both teams ended up playing out for time.
Name me any Eagles player and I'll tell you they did well, but in particular the forward line of Salter (who I think kicked 5 goals), Schwarze and Grocke; along with Cicolella, Jarrad, 'agile' Paul Lindsay and Hier.
Ben Hollands was about the only West player I can think of who probably won his position - though I'm not sure who he was on.
There still is no need to jump up and down and say that we are back in the premiership hunt, as I think West fans would agree that this weeks performance was rather ordinary compared to last week.
Oh yeah, and it was friggin freezing.
Well said. Our forward line looked to function better than it had all year and no doubt that toss was a very important one to win. I think we had 3 or 4 goals up by the time it started bucketing down and I thought that was all the advantage we needed at that stage to be able to keep on top. In the end, the Eagles were by far the better team regardless of the conditions/toss etc. Westies looked a rabble. Easy chest marks dropped. Couldn't kick, except for Hollands and Walsh who rebounded well and looked to be the only West players who had the class required at league level.
That Jarrad goal was the highlight of the day. He took the mark on the half back line, dodged the man on the mark, ran his full 15 and then unloaded a drop punt in the direction of the leading full forward. It went over their heads and skidded about 30m through the middle. Amazing! The longest goal I've ever seen! I reckon he was just short of the centre circle when he kicked it so yeah, probably 85-90m goal.
Best players I thought were Jarrad and Treeby. All played pretty well, but the better players I thought were Powell, Redden, Lindsay, Grocke and Lomas.
We've limited the damage somewhat over the last two weeks. Was always going to be a testing period between the byes. The loss to Norwood and subsequent injuries to key players derailed the season and all was looking dim at 3/4 time at Alberton, coming off 3 losses in a row and with 3 goals on the scoreboard. We're now 6 and 6 and a percentage better than 50%. The reality is we haven't beaten a really good team yet. Glenelg will give us an indication and I see that game after the bye very similar to the Norwood game after the last bye. Glenelg are in form, around the same position as we are, have we improved enough to win this and start matching North and Central? Time will tell. For now, I'm satisfied that we're at least heading in the right direction.
