AFL Round 9 Melbourne v West Coast: All the news, action and fallout from the Demons’ big win
It didn’t happen like many expected, with the Eagles putting up a fight, but Melbourne has kept its unbeaten start to the season alive. And rivals should be even more worried.
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Simon Goodwin is not concerned whether or not his side belts up on teams struggling for form or having difficulty putting their best line-ups on the park.
Despite bold predictions, externally, ahead of Sunday’s game against bottom side West Coast, the Demons coach is more than happy with the way his side ground out a 74-point win at Optus Stadium.
He even shrugged off the fact his side struggled to win momentum for half the game against the undermanned Eagles, who were missing, arguably, 12 of their best 22.
Going into the game, many were predicting record margins, with the Eagles worst ever loss, –142 points against Essendon at Windy Hill in 1989 – believed to be at risk of being knocked off.
But after leading by 35 points at the first break, the Demons won the second quarter by just seven points and the third by only two.
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They kicked 13.9 of their 16.16 in the first and final quarters – managing just one goal in the second term and two in the third.
Winning 16 consecutive games and claiming a premiership in between clearly has Goodwin showing confidence in what his side can achieve over a season – and rightly so.
The four premiership points is obviously what he cares about the most.
“I thought it was a pretty tough game. West Coast bought a lot of intensity to the game,” Goodwin said.
“I thought for the majority of the game, it was hard-fought.”
“In the end, we just try to play the same way all the time.
“Defensively, we were sound again and were able to hit the scoreboard late in the game.
“The shape of the game was in really good shape for us.
“We know we are a side that will eventually wear sides down and we’ll get opportunities at some stage and that has been the hallmark of this group for a long period of time now.
“We are sound defensively and at some stage, we’ll get a look at the game. Our look at the game was in the first quarter and the last quarter and we walked away with a really strong performance.
“It looked like a Melbourne game in the end.”
As tough as the contest appeared to be, it ended in the Demons second biggest score of the season and their biggest win, also equalling the impressive margin they beat the Western Bulldogs by in the 2021 Grand Final at the same venue.
It was also their biggest ever victory over the Eagles.
James Harmes appears to be the only possible casualty from the game, subbed out during the final quarter with hamstring tightness.
Goodwin said that, while he will have scans on Monday, the Demons were hopeful he would be available for the Round 10 clash against North Melbourne.
It was in Round 10 last season that the eventual premiers dropped their first game of the season, upset by the Crows at Adelaide Oval by one point.
It ended up being just one of four losses Melbourne lost in 2021.
But Goodwin said he doesn’t need to go back to last season to keep his team’s mind on the job.
“We respect every opposition we come up against every week and it’s the same every week,” he said.
“We have a team that compete unconditionally all the time. And that’s what I like about our playing group and what makes it hard for us to play against.
The results in the end take care of themselves; the ladder takes care of itself.
“Things in the season happen that we learn from and there will be times we get beaten.
“We will continue to grow from that. That is what AFL footy is about, it’s a tough industry to win at and we’ll continue to push hard.”
Dees show off weapons in another warning to chasing pack
Melbourne’s return to Optus Stadium, the scene of their 57-year premiership-breaking win in 2021, for Sunday’s clash with West Coast was never a risk to the Demons unbeaten start to 2022.
And, while the Demons left Perth with a 74-point win and the four premiership points, the going wasn’t as easy as most expected it would be.
Having kicked seven consecutive goals through the opening term to the start of the second, the Demons threatened to open the floodgates.
Only two from the side that beat the Western Bulldogs – also by 74 points – at the same venue on the last Saturday of September last year were missing – Christian Salem and Michael Hibberd.
It hardly seemed a fair fight, up against an Eagles team that is at the start of their rebuild and missing, arguably, 12 of their best 22 players.
But the Eagles settled midway through the second term and strangled the Demons ball movement when going into attack.
Those floodgates didn’t open until late in the game. The record winning and losing margins that most were expecting didn’t eventuate.
Although, the win is still the biggest the Demons have ever scored against the Eagles, beating the 70-point margin set in Round 22, 2000.
The Demons won every quarter to win 16.16 (112) to 5.8 (38) and stretch their unbeaten start to the season to nine games.
Challenge to switch on
One question hanging over the Demons going into this game seemed to be whether they could switch on from the opening bounce, considering where both teams sit at this stage of the season.
For the first five minutes of the opening term, West Coast took the intensity to the fight, with Tim Kelly and Jack Redden owning the midfield.
The Eagles kicked the first goal of the game, from the boot of Jake Waterman, just three minutes into the opening quarter.
But then the errors started coming off the boots and hands of the Eagles.
And then Demons started to hit the scoreboard.
Less than 20 minutes into the term, Kysaiah Pickett kicked his second goal and the Demons fifth for the quarter.
It gave Simon Goodwin’s side their best opening term for the season, 6.5 (41).
The 35-point quarter-time lead was the best start the reigning premiers have had to a game in 2022.
They ended the quarter with 11 scoring shots to the Eagles one.
Options aplenty
The Demons continue to show off riches in attack.
They sit on top of the table with no player having kicked more than four goals in a game this season. And they had seven goal scorers again on Sunday, five hitting the scoreboard multiple times.
Tom McDonald booted four and Bayley Fritsch and Kysaiah Pickett, who got the Demons started, kicked three apiece.
Christian Petracca, who claimed the Norm Smith Medal when he last played at Optus Stadium, also added 2.4, to go with 28 possessions.
At the other end of the ground, the Eagles forward line has been decimated. Willie Rioli and Oscar Allen can’t get on the park and Jack Darling struggling for form.
It didn’t help when Josh Kennedy was forced out of the line-up before the game with a suspected hamstring injury.
Despite the efforts of Tim Kelly in the midfield, supported by Jack Redden in his 250th game, the Eagles aren’t getting enough possessions to earn enough scoring shots to put themselves in a winning position.
Sunday’s loss was the seventh consecutive defeat at home and also the fifth consecutive game (and seventh overall this season)
SCOREBOARD
EAGLES 1.0 1.3 3.4 5.8 (38)
DEMONS 6.5 7.9 9.12 16.16 (112)
ELBOROUGH’S BEST
Eagles: Kelly, West, McGovern, Barrass, Redden.
Demons: Petracca, Jackson, Oliver, Viney, Pickett, Brayshaw.
GOALS
Eagles: McGovern, Cripps, Waterman, Williams, Darling.
Demons: McDonald 4; Fritsch 3, Pickett 3; Brown 2, Petracca 2, Spargo, Neal-Bullen.
INJURIES
Eagles: Foley (head), Ryan (ankle), Jones (leg), Kennedy (knee) replaced in selected side by Dixon. Demons: Harmes (leg).
UMPIRES: Donlon, Dore, Heffernan.
VENUE 27,488 at Optus Stadium
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
BRAD ELBOROUGH’S VOTES
3 Petracca (DEMONS)
2 Jackson (DEMONS)
1 Kelly (EAGLES)
Simpson: Stick with us, we had some little wins
Adam Simpson has called on West Coast fans to stick by the club as it continues to work through probably its most difficult period ever.
The Eagles lost their eighth game of the season on Sunday night, their fifth in a row by a margin of more than 10 goals.
In fact, their past five losses have come at an average of 81 points; after they beat Collingwood by 13 points at the MCG in Round 4.
Every opposition over those five weeks has scored 105 points or more.
Only 27,488 fans showed up on Sunday, although there were report os issues with Perth’s main train station on Sunday afternoon.
In consecutive weeks, the Eagles have played top-four sides, Melbourne and Brisbane, and Simpson hopes their supporters are seeing the improvement he can see, regardless of the final results.
“I really hope our fans stick by us in challenging times,” Simpson said after the 74-point loss to the Demons; the Eagles lowest every score at home.
“We really appreciate their support. I know it’s been disappointing so far this year, but we like their support, we appreciate the crowds.
“We’re here to win, don’t worry about that.
“Even though we got blown away late, we had some little wins throughout the day. We lost (Josh Kennedy) late in the week; it was our youngest team for a long time and we saw some growth.
“Second quarter, supply, front-half turnovers, contest, pressure, tackles — all the things that our fans want to see. If you don’t win, they want to see effort.
“It sounds a bit silly, we lost by a pretty big margin, but just like last week, I thought the effort was there.”
The Eagles were missing 11 or 12 of their best 22 players on Sunday and that is probably a lot closer to their best line-up they have been in a lot of games this season.
Yet, despite the 74-point final margin, they lost the second and third terms by a combined nine points.
Not handing over total control of the game to the Demons was a small win for West Coast.
Sidelined this week were Oscar Allen, Tom Cole, Nic Naitanui, Zac Langdon, Willie Rioli, Dom Sheed, Luke Shuey, Elliot Yeo, Shannon Hurn, Andrew Gaff and Kennedy.
Jack Petruccelle didn’t play on Sunday and the Eagles first pick in the 2021 Draft, Campbell Chesser’s ankle injury has stopped him from getting a run.
Rookie Patrick Naish, who was the medical sub against the Demons on Sunday, is the only player to have featured in all nine games this season.
“It’s a balance because we don’t want to make excuses, but it’s reality,” Simpson said.
“We’re obviously looking to play some youth, get to the draft, looking for a new identity as a club in terms of the way we want to play.
“All those things make it challenging when you don’t have your best team on the track.”
West Coast play Greater Western Sydney in Round 10, in Mark McVeigh’s first game at the helm of the Giants.
Shuey is likely to be among a handful the Eagles get back, while Gaff and Yeo will be in the frame for selection, but are no guarantee to make the trip.
“Someone like Elliot, he’s played one-and-a-half games all year, he’s gone into COVID protocols, he’s gone into isolation, he’s coming off two weeks of concussion.
“We don’t want to set them up to fail, but we’ll work through it.”
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