West Adelaide wins Foxtel Cup in four-point thriller against East Fremantle
WEST Adelaide has survived a desperate fightback from East Fremantle to claim the Foxtel Cup at AAMI Stadium by four points.
WEST Adelaide survived a desperate fightback from East Fremantle to claim the Foxtel Cup with a four-point grand final triumph at AAMI Stadium on Tuesday night.
The Bloods, despite scoring only three behinds in the second half, secured their first major trophy since the 1983 premiership triumph.
It was not pretty and the Bloods were on the ropes for the final quarter. But they were able to withstood a tough fight from the Sharks, who will rue shoddy kicking for goal and finished with two two goals and 16 behinds.
The opening quarter was a dour struggle as both sides adopted defensive tactics and struggled to find rhythm with their ball movement.
The Bloods bombed the ball deep into attack at every opportunity but most of the forward thrusts were comfortably defused by the Sharks defence.
Bloods skipper Ryan Ferguson was making his first appearance in the competition and he dominated at centre half back while Ben Macreadie and Chris Schmidt had a huge influence on the ball.
Brett Peake, James Bayliss and former Docker Steven Dodd were busy for the Sharks although the visitors could not break free from the relentless tackling pressure of the Bloods.
The lack of attacking football was evident of the scoreboard with the only goal for the opening quarter being kicked by Bloods' Michael Still.
The Bloods were content to get numbers behind the ball, which meant many turnovers often went unpunished because of the lack of a presence deep in attack.
And there were plenty of opportunities for the Bloods as the Sharks constantly coughed up possession with clumsy skills.
Free flowing football was a rarity and when the Bloods did produce a threatening foray, they would break down because of a missed handball or stray kick.
It was not until late in the second quarter that the home side started to capitalise on its accendency and when lively forward Jonathon Beech snapped a terrific goal from the pack the Bloods had built a handy 25-point buffer.
After failing to register a goal for the first half, the Sharks had prime chances go to waste early in the third term when O'Brien and Jack Perham missed easy set shots.
The Sharks needed nine minutes of the third quarter to finally kick a goal - Scott Hancock nailing the major after the visitors pounced on a Bloods mistake.
The third quarter ended in anger as almost every player became involved in a push-and-shove melee.
WEST ADELAIDE 1.2 4.5 4.7 4.8 (32)
EAST FREMANTLE 0.3 0.4 1.10 2.16 (28).
BEST - West: Schmidt, Ferguson, Mangan, Thompson, Beech, Silverlock. East:
O'Brien, Peake, Stephen, Dodd, Tropiano.
GOALS - West: Beech 2, Silverlock, Still. East: Stephen, Hancock.
REPORT - West: Webb.
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