R2: Port v WWT Eagles review

[Macca19]

RESERVES

A thrilling, see-sawing battle has seen the Eagles come out victorious by just 5 points at Oval Avenue today.

In a match which had it all, the Eagles kicked two vital goals against the flow in the final term and held on despite a spirited last gasp effort from the Magpies.

THe opening quarter saw the two clubs go goal for goal, with the Eagles leading by 11 points at the first change. It could, and should have been more if the Eagles had kicked straighter than their 3.5. The Magpies took control in the second quarter kicking to the Northern end with 4 goals to nil to lead by 15 points at the main break.

The Eagles replicated the Magpies efforts in the third quarter, kicking 4 goals to just 3 behinds to lead by 11 points at the final change. Two quickfire goals from the Magpies put them in front and it seemed they would run away with the match kicking to the scoring end of the ground.

But the Eagles regrouped and kicked two unanswered goals by Jake Pavlich and clear best on ground Nathan Batsanis to put some space between the two sides. Travis Natt's third goal game the Magpies some hope but the Eagles held on for a fantastic victory.

In a game played in minimal wind, it was strange that only 4 of the 18 goals were kicked to the Southern End.

Best on ground for the Eagles was midfielder Nathan Batsanis. He kicked 3 goals and would have easily had 30+ possesions in a display which should see him debut for the League side next week, and would put a smile on the face of his AFL coaches. George Pedler and Stuart Hill also played well, whilst skinny Tallan Leighton had a stunning second half, using his pace and confidence to the teams advantage.

Levi Greenwood was best for the 2nd week in a row for the Magpies, with the solid young gun picking up plenty of disposal across the midfield and half back. Cameron Miller, Matthew Phillips and Wes Bilney also played well. Travis Natt kicked 3 goals in his best effort at Reserves level. Dustin Pickett took two absolute screamers during the match, one a massive leap which would rival any mark taken in the last 12 months.

For the Magpies it was another dissapointing loss to add to the pile, with serious questions having to be asked about their ability to finish off matches. They have won just 2 matches since Round 11 last year.

The Eagles lost Lee Staple to a leg injury after kicking two goals in the first quarter, whilst Brendan Papps went off on a stretcher in the third quarter after a heavy collision in a pack. In an odd situation, the stretcher came open whilst carrying him off and the player fell to the ground.

WWT 3.5 / 3.6 / 7.11 / 9.14 68
PA 2.0 / 6.3 / 6.6 / 9.9 63

BEST:
WWT - Batsanis, Pedler, Leighton, Hill, Redden
PA - Greenwood, C Miller, Phillips, Bilney, Hall

GOALS:
WWT - Batsanis 3; Staple, Pavlich 2; Hicks, Redden
PA - Natt 3; J Wait 2; Lokan, Hughes, Bilney, Phillips

LEAGUE

Queries surrounding the Magpies goalkicking were answered in stunning fashion today as they came home with a dominant 52 point victory.

Clive Waterhouse kicked seven to match that of Warren Tredreas effort last week in an inspirational display from the forward. It was a disciplined and unselfish performance from Clive, a player who is known for his enigmatic ways and lack of team discipline. He chased, tackled and dished off numerous opportunities to his teammates in a display that would have more than pleased coach Tim Ginever.

Not only that, Sturt recruit Luke Jarjoura kicked four majors out of Full Forward, whilst AFL import Brent LeCras kicked three to match his efforts from last week.

The breeze had picked up between matches, with the Magpies kicking with a 2-3 goal breeze to the Northern end in the first quarter. They kicked the first 5 goals of the match to make the most of the breeze. The Eagles, through Mckenzie and Cicolella pegged the margin back before LeCras' first sent the Magpies in 23 points up at the first change.

The second quarter saw some sloppy goalkicking from both sides, but the Magpies did well to hold the Eagles to 4.4 to their 2.5. Vinnie Rugolo and Sam Fairclough goaled before Brent Lecras and Clive Waterhouse replied at the other end. The Eagles finished off stronger but couldnt put that on the scoreboard and trailed by 10 points at the main break.

Brent LeCras, Corey AhChee and Joel Perry were good for the Magpies in the first half, whilst Peter Fiacchi, Matthew Cooper and Justin Cicolella were strong for the Eagles.

It was an 8 goal to 1 premiership quarter from the Magpies which saw them break out to what ended up being a match winning 4 point lead at the last change. The Magpies midfield brigade burned their opponents off in the third quarter, with the Pies kicking 4 goals in 10 minutes to start the term. Waterhouse and Jarjoura kicked two each for the term, whilst Lecras kicked his third goal for the match. It was the likes of Jeremy Clayton, Steve Summerton and Troy Butcher who regularly pumped the ball inside 50 for the Magpies.

It was a dominant dispaly against last years premiers who looked out of sorts and wasted the ball when they had possesion.

Any hope of a comeback was ended with Clive kicking the first goal early in the quarter. He would add another two for the term to make it seven for the match, in a dominant display against mainly Paul Stewart.

It was a stunning display from the Magpies whos backline gave their highly rated opponents a thrashing in anyones terms. After kicking 13 goals between them last week, Mark Passador and Adam Grocke were held to just 1 goal between them this week, with Mark Passadors only goal - and one of only a small handful of disposals - coming after the final siren. Corey Ahchee and Joel Perry were fantastic on Passador and Grocke respectively, whilst Perry also spent time on Paul Lindsay who spent considerable time up forward.

The Eagles won their fair share of disposal in the midfield, but with their main two targets held to no influence, they lacked another forward who could wrestle the game back in their favour. Peter Fiacchi was excellent across half back, whilst Brad Dabrowski tried hard in ruck all day, whilst former Sturt pair Adam Klun and Matthew Cooper played ok.

For the Magpies, Waterhouse's seven majors and Corey Ahchee's dominance over Passador saw them as best for the Magpies. Joel Perry was excellent at CHB. Brent LeCras was impressive again at CHF, whilst Luke Jarjoura had a much better display this week, with his strength and goal sense coming to the fore. The 'blonde brothers' Steve Summerton and Mark Dolling also worked extremely well in tandem, swapping from midfield to half forward. The Magpies only worry is the report of Jeremy Clayton, for what seemed like either a strike or attempt to strike with an elbow.

With the emergence of Steve Summerton and Mark Dolling, the recruitment of set needs and with numerous regulars still not in the lineup, the Magpies seem to have deph this year - something they have lacked since the late 90s.

The Eagles will no doubt improve on that performance. They are the reigning premiers and a class outfit. Every club has a bad day. Im sure the Magpies will be keen for their next meeting however.

PA 6.1 / 8.6 / 15.10 / 18.14 122
WWT 2.2 / 6.8 / 7.10 / 10.10 70

BEST:
PA - AhChee, Waterhouse, Perry, Summerton, LeCras, Dolling
WWT - Fiacchi, Mckenzie, Cooper

GOALS:
PA - Waterhouse 7; Jarjoura 4; LeCras 3; J Clayton, H Miller, Summerton, Slattery
WWT - Jarrad, Mckenzie 2; Passador, Lindsay, Rimmington, Fairclough, Rugolo, Cicolella

[power01]

Solid Win for the maggies.........great start to the season.....

[GWW]

Thanks for that Macca.

Did the Clayton incident look fairly bad to you?

Also, from an AFL perspective, did Paul Stewart look like he would have been better suited to standing a smaller player, maybe Jarjoura, as opposed to Clive?

[Macca19]

Thanks for that Macca.

Did the Clayton incident look fairly bad to you?

Also, from an AFL perspective, did Paul Stewart look like he would have been better suited to standing a smaller player, maybe Jarjoura, as opposed to Clive?

I was on the wrong side for the Clayton incident so I didnt see what exactly happened. The guys on the radio said he raised his elbow but it didnt look like he connected.

Stewart would have been thrown around too much by Jarjoura. Im unsure whether Stewart is overly suited to a defensive role like that.

[Aerie]

Port played very well. Pretty much dominated all over the ground and the Eagles were never really in the game. Any chance the Eagles had, when they closed to 10 by half time, was quickly dismissed in the game breaking 3rd quarter.

I thought McKenzie and Jarrad were the Eagles two best players. Didn't have a winner all over the ground.

I'm guessing Fuller was teaching Paul Stewart a lesson by leaving him on Waterhouse all game? He was way out of his depth. I wasn't so disappointed when Waterhouse kicked goals from marks on the lead, but when Stewart was too lazy to put any body pressure at all on Waterhouse when the ball was coming in and consistently played him from behind there was no excuse. Most disappointing was in the 3rd quarter when twice Lindsay blocked off and could have taken the mark had Stewart not let his opponent fly with his knees into Lindsay's back - not only was he letting Lindsay cop it, but the result was two goals to Port when the ball bounced free.

Salter is a good backman and should have been given the job ahead of Stewart, who at this stage of his career will be better suited to a wing or a forward flank. Can't wait to get Hier back in the side.

As for the new players (and I know not to be too harsh as it does take time at a new club):

Schwarze - looks promising. Again, I think he plays a bit small for his size and when he went for a pack mark one handed instead of getting both the big mits up there you can see that he will be more of a serviceable type player as opposed to a game breaker.

Klun - Did some good things in close and could be handy.

Fitzgerald - like the look of him and he seems to have adapted to league footy well. Still slight and will need to work out a way not to get pushed off the ball so easily.

Duncan - got plenty of the ball, but I'm not sure he's got what it takes.

Rimmington - hardly sighted, can't really comment.

Well done Port. Yes, it is early in the season, but the new recruits look to have gelled well together (LeCras, Jarjoura and Miller) and expect Port to be around the mark again.

[Mr66]

Brent LeCras is a great pickup, won the Simpson Medal in the 2003 WAFL GF for West Perth.

[centrecirclelegend]

Brent LeCras is a great pickup, won the Simpson Medal in the 2003 WAFL GF for West Perth.

Port were too good on the day. The Eagles looked flat form the start. They did not put enough pressure on Port when they had the ball. They shutdown our forward line and made our midfield look slow. Our backline was under pressure all day from the ball coming in on most occasions by loose port players. Inside 50s to Port were 54 whilst the Eagles had 50. Our forwards only took 5 marks inside 50 all day. Two telling stats that say it all.

By the way CD had two lamingtons and no donuts as far as I know!

[Wedgie]

Great win by Port, I have to laugh at the amount of people that put last week's win to Tredrea, I told them Waterhouse or Hargs could easily fill his spot and it was proven true with an even more peformance this week without the big punce.

[Macca19]

Brent LeCras is a great pickup, won the Simpson Medal in the 2003 WAFL GF for West Perth.

He also won the Kangaroos reserves BnF last year.

The most impressive thing about his game is just how hard he works out there. Hes incredibly fit and he'll run and chase and tackle his heart out.

I think someone on here pre season said he would be a flop, and its a long way to go, but he looks pretty good at the moment.

[redwhiteandblueblooded]

It doesn't really matter GWW if jc connected with one elbow or two elbows or stomped on his head, he's Jeremy and it's case dismissed!!

[Aerie]

Best on ground for the Eagles was midfielder Nathan Batsanis. He kicked 3 goals and would have easily had 30+ possesions in a display which should see him debut for the League side next week, and would put a smile on the face of his AFL coaches. George Pedler and Stuart Hill also played well, whilst skinny Tallan Leighton had a stunning second half, using his pace and confidence to the teams advantage.

I saw most of the second half of the ressies and Batsanis did look excellent. Will definitely debut in the league next week I'd imagine. Is he partly aboriginal at all? He is very dark skinned. Tallan Leighton caught the eye as well - looks like a Fitzgerald clone - both are skinnier than a matchstick. Another player I was impressed with was Giuffreda.

whilst Brendan Papps went off on a stretcher in the third quarter after a heavy collision in a pack. In an odd situation, the stretcher came open whilst carrying him off and the player fell to the ground.

Oh dear.

[Dan The Man]

Port looked very good and along with Central they are going to be very hard to beat this year. However they started very well last season also and they fell away badly in the latter half of the season. The Eagles will have better days and the ANZAC day game will be their biggest test of the season so far.
Looked like a fairly good crowd today too.

[Macca19]

Best on ground for the Eagles was midfielder Nathan Batsanis. He kicked 3 goals and would have easily had 30+ possesions in a display which should see him debut for the League side next week, and would put a smile on the face of his AFL coaches. George Pedler and Stuart Hill also played well, whilst skinny Tallan Leighton had a stunning second half, using his pace and confidence to the teams advantage.

I saw most of the second half of the ressies and Batsanis did look excellent. Will definitely debut in the league next week I'd imagine. Is he partly aboriginal at all? He is very dark skinned. Tallan Leighton caught the eye as well - looks like a Fitzgerald clone - both are skinnier than a matchstick. Another player I was impressed with was Pat Guffdeharde (sp?) or whatever his name is.

Hes the nephew or cousin of Peter Daicos. So maybe hes macedonian or croation or something.

whilst Brendan Papps went off on a stretcher in the third quarter after a heavy collision in a pack. In an odd situation, the stretcher came open whilst carrying him off and the player fell to the ground.

Oh dear.

Yeah definately havent seen that before. Couldnt help but giggle.

[Aerie]

Here is the Eagles Injury list:

Dale Symmons - Hip Flexor - Test
Jared Petrenko - Hip Flexor - Test
Brodie Lomas - Hip Flexor - Test
Zack Hier - Hip Flexor - Test
Steven Hall - Ankle - Test
Vinnie Rugolo - Broken Nose - Test
Jonathan Lee - Illness - Test
Robert Fiacchi - Finger - 1 week
Tim Inkster - Knee - 5 weeks
Gavin Colville - Shoulder - 5 weeks
Brad Geddes - Broken Arm - 7 weeks
Christian Grocke - Knee - Season

Seem to have a hip flexor problem at Oval Ave! Also notice Colville and Inkster have had there estimated return time extended by a few weeks.