The Wrap Up: West v Eagles @ City Mazda Stadium

West   2.2 5.6 11.8 13.9.87
Eagles 1.2 2.3 3.5    5.6.36

Westies hit some form prior to their Foxtel Cup match with a big win over the Eagles at City Mazda Stadium.

Goals
West: Keough, Rankine 4, Birss, Tuck, Hill, Beech, Kirk.
Eagles: Borholm, Day, Goldsworthy, Lewis, Mitchell.

Fantastic win with up to 10 first choice players missing and the eagles having 7 AFL listed players.

Westies sure are a surprise package.

Didn't go into the game confident but a good result but bring on next Tuesday night

This was a win to savour. Even the most optimistic West fans weren't confident about their chances with the injuries to Fielke and Anderson the week before ruling them out and our recent form being poor.

That degree of pessimism looked optimistic when Moran, Ezard, Bricknell and Slattery were late withdrawals with injury and illness

That meant a debut for young Tom Schott, from Roxby Downs, the return of Reserves player Aaron Anderson straight from injury and the inclusion of Schiller, Bonney, Thompson, Kirk and Homburg, all of whom had played mainly Reserves football this year.

The reserves team was duly dispatched by the Eagles without fuss and without West troubling the scoreboard much and the stage was set for a similar result to follow.

Footy's a funny game. West attacked from the first bounce with enthusuasm and vigor and makntained that all day. Their supporters weren't worried about their defence. it's always strong and reliable. On ball, Tuck has made a huge difference and given Schmidt a big boost. It was the forward line that worried them most and that was a reasonable position to hold.

The Eagles looked flat and their situation wasn't helped by the loss of Petrenko in a solid collision with Keough. Keough went off soon after with an ankle injury, but returned to play a big role, with 4 goals from CHF. Next to him on a fla nk was Matthew Rankine. Quick, talented and totally frustrating, Rankine has always looked likely to take a game apart, but has rarely delivered. Today he did and might have kickstarted his career. He kicked 4, but was also exciting and lively.

All the young players stepped up, but it was the older Shane Birss, playing on-ball for a change, who was the general and effective ball distributor and best player.

Half time saw West lead by 21 points, having played well, but 6 goals in the first 12 minutes of the third term blew the game apart. The remainder of the third term saw a fierce tackling West stifle any chance of an Eagles comeback.

West's best were Birss, Webb with a wonderful game in ruck, zrankine and Keough. My apologies to Eagles fans for this being a totally West Adelaide view.

Thevwin keeps West as a genuine top 3 chance. A loss would have made things very difficult.

It could be a season defining win.

Good to catch up with former good player Matthew Bruhn at the game too.

All the Eagles supporters must be watching the cricket or hiding their heads in shame tonight.

Thanks for buggering up my footy tips Westies!

Pics courtesy of Daven Walters..

were they taken with your Iphone or Samsung?

Good action photos

Looks like they were taken with a camera much more sophisticated than the iPhone's.

whatabout the last photo !!!

you don't see marks like that very often in the AFL these days

good clear photos well done, infact all the photographers do a great job

Great photos again, Daven.

Thiele and redandblack in photo 3.