Easybeats no more: West Coast Eagles, Harley Reid stun Melbourne Demons in upset
The rebuild may not be over, but teams heading west expecting to walk all over the Eagles have had a rude wake-up call as a young, quick and exciting West Coast side surged over the top of the Demons.
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Let’s put Harley Reid to one side for a moment.
Melbourne’s task against a rejuvenated West Coast outfit became so much harder seven minutes into Sunday night’s game when Jake Lever was benched with concussion.
The Demons, looking to push into third spot on the AFL ladder, played the night without their gun key defender and they missed him, upset by the Eagles by 35 points.
West Coast key forwards Jake Waterman (five goals) and Jack Darling (three) made the most of his absence.
Nine of the Eagles goals in their 16.9 (105) to 10.10 (70) victory came from set shots directly from marks.
The result relegated the Demons to sixth place.
SO, NOW ONTO HARLEY
Anyone not convinced of the talent Reid has is now officially in denial.
He’s already produced two mark of the year contenders. He add a legitimate goal of the year chance to that on Sunday.
Midway through the first term, he stood at a centre-square bounce alongside Melbourne star Christian Petracca.
Reid took possession, had three bounces and kicked a terrific goal from just inside 50m to give his side a 14-point lead.
Petracca chased him the whole way, but was never going to catch him.
PETRACCA’S OBVIOUS REPLY
Petracca would never take being on the wrong end of a highlight reel laying down.
Halfway through the second term, West Coast was 27 points in front.
Jack Darling had just kicked his second goal and the Eagles second for the quarter.
But as Petracca did a week earlier against Carlton, he single-handedly swung the momentum in the game.
It’s as if he took Reid’s earlier heroics personally.
Within two minutes, former Adelaide Crow Shane McAdam had his first goal for the Demons and Kade Chandler had booted Melbourne’s fourth.
Petracca had a hand in both.
He had eight possessions for the term and his goal at the 20-minute mark got the margin back to a much more manageable 11 points.
BUT REID WASN’T DONE
Reid doubled down in the third term when he won another centre clearances courtesy of a double fend off, first to Clayton Oliver and then to Petracca. It resulted in a Darling goal.
Later in the same term, Bake Howes got caught in a one-on-one against the young West Coast star, deep in the Eagles forward line. It resulted in a Reid’s second goal, Howes left metres behind him watching the show.
DEMONS IN ATTACK
Melbourne did well to be only 13 points down at halftime.
The Demons had been into their forward line only 15 times. At least they were accurate and had 6.1 on the scoreboard.
In the third term, their forwards saw a lot more of the ball, but their efficiency left them.
Melbourne went forward 14 times for the quarter, but added just 3.7. West Coast kicked 5.0 and opened up their lead to 18 points at the last break.
The upset was well and truly on.
Originally published as Easybeats no more: West Coast Eagles, Harley Reid stun Melbourne Demons in upset
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