West Coast destroy Collingwood to stay in finals hunt

Scott Lycett

MORE: Eagles vs Magpies Photos

WEST COAST: 6.5, 9.7, 15.10, 19.12 (126)
COLLINGWOOD: 2.1, 7.2, 8.4, 10.6 (66)

GOALS
West Coast: Lycett 4, Darling 4, Kennedy 3, Naitanui 2, Shuey, Brown, Crisp, Hill, Cox, Priddis
Collingwood: Sidebottom, Kennedy, Dwyer, White, Reid, Broomhead, Beams, Elliott, Cloke

BEST
West Coast: Priddis, Butler, Shuey, Gaff, Cox, Mackenzie, Darling, Lycett
Collingwood: Beams, Elliott, Pendlebury, Sidebottom

INJURIES
West Coast: Butler (calf), Ellis (shoulder)
Collingwood: White (calf), Lumumba (thigh)

What Happened
West Coast defied Xavier Ellis’ early shoulder injury to run all over Collingwood, keeping their season alive with a ten-goal demolition of the woeful Magpies at Patersons Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Right from the outset this didn’t look like Collingwood’s day as the Eagles booted four of the first five goals, three of them coming in a sizzling four-minute burst midway through the first quarter as West Coast showed last week’s big win over Adelaide on the road was no fluke.

West Coast would go on to kick six goals to two in the first quarter to lead by 28 points at the first change, but the Magpies rallied a little in the second, cutting that gap down to just 17 when Steele Sidebottom produced the goal of the day as he took four bounces and rolled one home just before half-time.

But that was merely the cue for West Coast to step things up big time in the third term, the Eagles immediately showing their intentions as Scott Lycett – who booted four on the day – kicked two goals within four minutes of half-time ending.

A superb coast-to-coast move ended with Josh Kennedy running into an open goal to nail one of his three goals for the night before Nic Naitanui earned a 50-metre penalty and kicked truly after Tyson Goldsack overstepped the mark.

A goal from Josh Hill and a classy snap from Dean Cox made it six unanswered goals for the Eagles who suddenly led by 54 points just before the final change.

The pies responded with goals to Ben Kennedy and Jamie Elliott either side of three-quarter time as they cut the gap back to 42 points but once again the Eagles calmly responded, with Jack Darling booting three of his four goals in the final term as West Coast romped home by 60 points.

In an indictment on the Collingwood side, a late pitch invader seemed to provide more spark than half the Magpies, whose lack of defensive run contributed in a big way to the result.

Without that defensive pressure, a Collingwood backline minus interception king Tom Langdon, was badly exposed and as a result, Lycett, Darling and Kennedy had a field day despite the late withdrawal of Mark LeCras through a calf issue.

But while Collingwood’s pressure wasn’t up to scratch, that takes nothing away from an Eagles side that dominated every line, with Eric Mackenzie smashing Travis Cloke, who only managed one goal for the game deep in the final term.

Fallout
The fallout from this is massive from a ladder perspective as it means there’s now just four points separating seventh to 12th on the ladder. The result could prove very big for West Coast who have winnable games against eighth-placed Essendon, Melbourne and Gold Coast over the last three rounds. The Eagles may be still in 11th– having leap-frogged 12th placed Richmond – but have a better percentage than all the other teams ahead of them with the exception of seventh-placed Adelaide. 

In an enthralling twist, this result means the bottom two sides in the eight in Adelaide and Essendon will face two of the challengers from below in Richmond and West Coast respectively next week. Collingwood, meanwhile, have three games to keep their finals hopes alive but a Round 23 clash with Hawthorn doesn’t bode well on this current form.

Injury wise, Xavier Ellis may be done for the season for the Eagles after dislocating his shoulder while Sam Butler had calf soreness late in the game. Along with wounded pride, Jesse White (calf) and Heritier Lumumba (thigh) also had treatment during the game.

Hope he's in my fantasy team
Matt Priddis dominated the Fantasy stakes with 42 possessions. Priddis amazingly just edged out veteran Sam Butler, who produced a career best 32 possessions and 14 marks in an indication of just how bad Collingwood’s forward 50 entries were. Dayne Beams tried his heart out with 35 possessions and a goal.

What's next
Collingwood have to respond to keep their season alive against Brisbane while the Eagles face the Dons.

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