Field Marshal: West Coast has a bad away record, but so does every other AFL team
WEST Coast has been rightly criticised for its appalling record on the road. But guess what? The Eagles aren’t on their own when it comes to winning interstate.
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DOWNHILL skiers, flat-track bullies and front-runners.
All those words and more have been used to criticise West Coast, who play like Tarzan at home, but more like Jane away.
Since 2011, the Eagles have won 48 of 68 at their Subiaco fortress. Since Adam Simpson took over as coach in 2014, it’s 22 of 30.
Yet when West Coast fly interstate the plane should be marked: “Fragile. Handle with care.”
Over the past five years they have saluted in only four of 27 interstate matches against top eight sides.
The Eagles have lost their three interstate games this year to Hawthorn, Sydney and Geelong by an average of 43 points.
Quality opposition, but that isn’t an average losing margin befitting a side that played in a Grand Final only seven games ago.
“I’m going to cop a lot of questions this week and so be it. Internally we’ve got to keep doing the basic things well because we do them well every second week at the moment,” Simpson said.
“Winning and losing happens, but to stay in the moment and contest for four quarters is our challenge every week. We just seem to do it better at home at the moment.
“I can’t hide away from it. We’ve got to address the fact that we haven’t really come close in the three (interstate) games.”
But guess what? West Coast isn’t on its own. In fact, winning interstate is a monster challenge for every club from the premiership contenders to the battlers.
So much so that since 2011 only Hawthorn (eight wins, six losses) has a positive record interstate against top eight sides — and that excludes its matches in Launceston.
Richmond has won four of 10 against the top tier in that time, Collingwood five of 13, North Melbourne three of 12, Fremantle eight of 30, Essendon and Carlton three of 13 and the Western Bulldogs two of 13. St Kilda and Melbourne are winless in their last 14 and 12 matches, respectively.
They are the startling numbers that prove Geelong’s Friday night meeting with Adelaide at Adelaide Oval isn’t just a raging blockbuster, it’s also the Cats’ biggest test of the year so far.
Yes, Geelong beat Hawthorn in Round 1, but the top-scoring Crows on their own deck is one of the toughest assignments in the game.
Adelaide has won its past eight matches at home. Geelong is 3-11 playing top eight sides interstate since 2011.
But premiership teams get it done on the road against quality opposition.
There’s a popular school of thought that the first key indicator of a side’s legitimacy as a contender is how it holds up in hostile territory.
Perhaps it was a fact not lost on Geelong coach Chris Scott when he was asked on Saturday about Patrick Dangerfield’s return to Adelaide.
“The bigger factor in our mind is how well Adelaide are playing and how hard they are to beat at home,” Scott said.
TRIPPING UP
Teams struggle playing interstate against top-eight opponents
Note: Excludes Hawthorn and North Melbourne in Tasmania, GWS in Canberra; since 2011
Source: CHAMPION DATA
Originally published as Field Marshal: West Coast has a bad away record, but so does every other AFL team
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