2015 Grand Final - Eagles v West - Sun 27/9/15

[mal]

About time an attacking team won a Grand Final
Godden , should not give up on the defensive style
It won flags for Bassett and Warren
Took Bassett a loss to CD in a GF before the legs got the 3pete

The irony of todays game is I reckon WA made more mistakes and turnovers than the other finals they played in and won
The overwhelming possessions they had was enough to win

Best team on the day beat the best team of the season

[Brodlach]

Fair to say after standing in the outer, watching ordinary footy, wooden spoons and near misses for 32 years I am so emotional at the moment I can bearly string a sentence together. Yelled my head off and have no voice but winning today makes it all worth while. Got to share a grand final victory with my two sons which is indescribable.

I'm so proud of these lads and where they came from last season. Was not a fan of the Mickan appointment but he certainly has made me eat my words. Well done to Mark.

Cannot believe I can say "we are the premiers"

[matt35]

Great! Now another team that has won a premiership since Glenelg!

No seriously, congratulations to West Adelaide. I did not believe the Eagles could be beaten this year, but it was clear from the start that West were on and the Eagles very much on the back foot. Very happy for Mark Mickan to get a flag after having Glenelg around the mark without the ultimate prize for a few years. Great for the West supporters; the 32 year drought is over.

[Brendan M]

Westies way too good, the margin flattered us. Great result for the loyal Westies people. The Eagles will need to re-think and renovate their house.

[daysofourlives]

So the premiership drought list is now as follows with the last Grand Final appearance in brackets

West-0 years
Norwood-1(1)
Eagles-4(0)
Centrals-5(4)
Sturt-13(6)
Port Magpies-16 (16) (will never be broken)
North-24 (3)
Glenelg-29(7)
South-51(36)

Power-2(1)
Crows-2

Only Port and South havnt been to the big dance in the last 7 years, from an evenness perspective most teams are getting a crack

[Wedgie]

Great! Now another team that has won a premiership since Glenelg!

No seriously, congratulations to West Adelaide. I did not believe the Eagles could be beaten this year, but it was clear from the start that West were on and the Eagles very much on the back foot. Very happy for Mark Mickan to get a flag after having Glenelg around the mark without the ultimate prize for a few years. Great for the West supporters; the 32 year drought is over.

Look on the bright side, the Eagles are creeping up on the Bays in regard to % of gfs won/lost.

[RB]

So the premiership drought list is now as follows with the last Grand Final appearance in brackets

West-0 years
Norwood-1(1)
Eagles-4(0)
Centrals-5(4)
Sturt-13(6)
Port Magpies-16 (16) (will never be broken)
North-24 (3)
Glenelg-29(7)
South-51(?)

Power-2(1)
Crows-2

Only Port and South havnt been to the big dance in the last 7 years, from an evenness perspective most teams are getting a crack

South made the GF in 1979.

[Aerie]

Well done West. Way too good. Score board was flattering to the Eagles such was West's dominance. Very ordinary performance by the Eagles in the game that counted. Looked at the stats at 3/4 time and top 7 disposal winners were West players and 9 of top 10. Well deserved West.

[Mr Fuller]

Westies way too good, the margin flattered us. Great result for the loyal Westies people. The Eagles will need to re-think and renovate their house.

I wouldn't go as far as that.....clearly if Borholm, Rowntree and Poole were all playing then it is likely we wouldn't have put in such an insipid performance. Problem was that we lost all our inside grunt and weren't able to replace like for like. This also meant that many of our second tier players were being asked to step up and do more and they showed they weren't capable.

Until the last quarter we were only a couple of goals down so I don't think Godden had any real reason to completely rejig his gameplan. The only error I thought he made was in the first quarter by not putting Boyd in the centre square. He had a reasonable game for the last 3 quarters when he went in there but I feel we needed his ball-getting ability earlier rather than later.

Obviously the guys we brought into our side didn't have great games but can't really blame them - it is difficult playing most of the year in the reserves then being asked to step up to the intensity of the GF. I was more disappointed with guys like Hall ( 7 disposals), Petrenko (12 disposals), Goldsworthy (9 disposals) who either played in the midfield and/or have quite a bit of experience. I really don't know how its possible to spend the minutes they had on the ground in the thick of the action and end up getting so little of the ball.

In the end though, Westies far, far too good. Too big, too strong and showed the flair and intensity you need to win a Grand Final. Quite simply, we didn't turn up and the bloods did.

Over summer I don't think any major changes need to take place. We have the cattle and a gameplan that mostly works so its just a matter of the players (hopefully) hurting and maintaining the rage after a wasted season. I feel we are rich in outside midfielders but clearly now that Rowntree is out for 12 months we badly need a big strong inside midfielder who can accumulate possessions - quite frankly there is no one in the reserves who can fill this role. It will also be interesting if we pursue Redden who has been delisted by the Power. Today we got smashed in the ruck which was a big reason why we lost almost every single centre clearance. Thurlow was one of our big recruits and you would assume in on big coin. Yet he spent most of the season in the reserves and showed today that despite being the biggest and tallest player on the ground he appears unwilling to crash packs and get physical. We aren't going to be able to carry all of Borholm, Thurlow and Redden so will be interesting times ahead to see what they will do.

Anyway, I'm completely devastated so am going to sink some beers and try and forget today happened

[blood bath]

I must say im still in shock!

We lead from siren to siren and played hard, contested football lead by Tuck, Schmidt and Porplyzia.

To go from 9th to 1st in one season (South's 8th to 1st in '64) is a stunning effort and the club's culture has changed in recent years, something started by Collins (who won the VFL flag today - coincidence?)

A win to be enjoyed by all players, support staff, members and supporters. Well done Bloods.

[bulldogproud2]

A thoroughly deserved premiership to the Bloods. Congrats and enjoy... makes the 32 year wait worth it all for them!

[southee]

Well done Westies !!! Played terrific footy today.

Enjoy the celebrations !!

[MW]

32 years was too long, how good is this!

[leggies]

Congratulations Westies and the real supporters!!! Enjoy the night, enjoy the emotion, enjoy the chimney. So happy for you. Well done. Wish it was us again

[Magellan]

Paul Keating said it best: "This is a victory for the true believers."

Congratulations to the Westies faithful who've stuck with them over the years.

[westozfalcon]

Good job Westies. I'm thrilled for the club and fans.

[robranisgod]

25635. No, the stadium is not half full.

Still nearly as many as the WAFL Grand Final crowd (13,094) and the VFL Grand Final crowd (12,900) put together.

Given that it was played between two of the three clubs with the smallest supporter bases (south being the other), I think that the league would be quite pleased with the crowd.

There were enough there to give it an atmosphere.

[Thiele]

Godden...Godden.....Westies two best get 80 touches between them. What did he do to stop them?

Congratulations Bloods. Thiele, R&B, MW etc....enjoy your night and summer ahead. Patience has paid off!

Thanks

[Thiele]

YOU BEAUTY. In shock but THAT IS WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT

[Jimmy]

Very happy for westies the club and their loyal fans!!! Hard to hate them like a port and Norwood so glad they won instead of the hybrids.

Now for Sturt to get amongst it.