West Coast v Gold Coast
Saturday, June 14 at Patersons Stadium, 4.40pm (AEST)
West Coast will be glad they are back in Perth after a tough match last week down in Tasmania. The Eagles played a very good first half and were keeping up with the much more fancied Hawks but fell away in the second half, eventually going down by 44 points. West Coast had no answers for the Hawks fast ball movement and sublime foot skills, Darren Glass probably played his worst game for the club, it was obvious he was struggling and Jarryd Roughead made him pay booting 8 goals. In a disappointing season for the Eagles they will be looking to turn their form around and try and salvage something in season 2014. A damning stat for the Eagles is they have not beaten a team ranked 14th or higher.
Gold Coast are going from strength to strength and what a young quick list they have, their midfield now is right up their with the best. Dion Prestia, Harley Bennell, Jaeger O’Meara and David Swallow all complementing Gary Ablett, in a few years there will be no stopping this team. The Suns faced arguably the best team in the competition at the moment in the Sydney Swans last week and the Suns put in a pretty good performance going down by 35 points. That match will be great for this young teams development, playing against the Swans they can gauge exactly where they are at and what they need to do to start beating the top 2 or 3 clubs in the comp. Gary Ablett staring like always in that match racking up 37 disposals, kicking a goal and laying 9 tackles. The Eagles will not be able to stop Ablett this week so it will be interesting to see what they produce.
The last time these two sides met was in round 19, 2013 and it was played at Patersons Stadium. In a well contested match the Eagles won by 17 points with Josh Kennedy kicking 5 goals.
Team news sees some massive outs for the Eagles. Darren Glass announced his retirement during the week while Dean Cox (Soreness) and Scott Selwood (Ankle) are also out. That’s three key players gone for the Eagles but also presents opportunities to Scott Lycett and Brad Sheppard. Josh Kennedy is a welcome return as he adds some great lead up presence.
Gold Coast make two changes with Alex Sexton and Aaron Hall being recalled with the omissions of Karmichael Hunt (Knee) and Clay Cameron.
The only up side for the Eagles is this game is being played in front of their home crowd, 3 of West Coast’s 4 wins this year have been on this ground and it’s a track they play well. The Suns quick and skilful midfield players will really test the Eagles game style but the Eagles forward line (if firing) will stretch the Suns defence. With that being said this will turn out to be a pretty tight contest.
My Tip – West Coast Eagles 1-19
Teams
West Coast Eagles
B: J. McGovern, M. Brown, S. Hurn
HB: M. Rosa, E. Mackenzie, W. Schofield
C: C. Masten, M. Priddis, A. Gaff
HF: J. Cripps, JJ. Kennedy, E. Yeo
F: J. Darling, S. Lycett, M. LeCras
Foll: N. Naitanui, S. Selwood, L. Shuey
Inter: B. Sheppard, J. Bennell, M. Hutchings, X. Ellis
Emerg: S. Wellingham, C. Sinclair, P. McGinnity
IN: JJ. Kennedy, B. Sheppard, S. Lycett
OUT: D. Glass (retired), D. Cox (rested), S. Wellingham
Gold Coast Suns
B: K. Kolodjashnij, S. May, G. Broughton
HB: M. Shaw, R. Thompson, T. McKenzie
C: J. Harbrow, G. Ablett, M. Rischitelli
HF: D. Stanley, TJ. Lynch, L. Russell
F: C. Dixon, S. Day, B. Matera
Foll: Z. Smith, J.O’Meara, D. Prestia
Inter: A. Sexton, D. Swallow, H. Bennell, A. Hall
Emerg: S. Lemmens, T. Murphy, C. Cameron
IN: A. Sexton, A. Hall
OUT: C. Cameron, K. Hunt (knee)
Recent History: West Coast v Gold Coast
Date (y-m-d)
Fixture
Score
2013-08-03
West Coast
Gold Coast
20.10 (130)
17.11 (113)
2012-06-30
West Coast
Gold Coast
25.16 (166)
5.10 (40)
2011-06-04
West Coast
Gold Coast
13.7 (85)
10.7 (67)
Form Guide: West Coast
Date (y-m-d)
Fixture
Result
Score
2014-06-07
Hawthorn
West Coast
Loss
19.9 (123)
12.7 (79)
2014-06-01
West Coast
North Melbourne
Loss
6.8 (44)
12.10 (82)
2014-05-24
Collingwood
West Coast
Loss
17.7 (109)
15.11 (101)
2014-05-11
West Coast
GWS
Win
30.8 (188)
12.5 (77)
2014-05-04
West Coast
Fremantle
Loss
7.12 (54)
11.7 (73)
Form Guide: Gold Coast
Date (y-m-d)
Fixture
Result
Score
2014-06-08
Gold Coast
Sydney
Loss
10.14 (74)
17.7 (109)
2014-06-01
Adelaide
Gold Coast
Loss
16.13 (109)
11.11 (77)
2014-05-25
Gold Coast
Western Bulldogs
Win
18.11 (119)
10.14 (74)
2014-05-18
St Kilda
Gold Coast
Win
13.9 (87)
19.11 (125)
2014-05-04
North Melbourne
Gold Coast
Win
11.11 (77)
18.12 (120)