Eagles sweat on Kennedy after win over Roos

West Coast just needed a win and no injuries against North Melbourne. A hobbling Josh Kennedy wasn’t part of the plan.

West Coast and North Melbourne battle it out at Metricon Stadium

West Coast entered Thursday night’s clash against 17th-placed North Melbourne with two simple objectives – get the win and get out unscathed.

On a dour evening at Metricon Stadium it was a tick – just – and a cross. The 15-point win was expected.

The ankle injury sustained by Josh Kennedy was not. West Coast’s super spearhead hobbled from the field during the second quarter and walked straight into the rooms.

Coach Adam Simpson, whose side won 7.7 (49) to 4.10 (34) said at halftime it was a new problem.

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“He can’t feel it,” Simpson said. Kennedy’s leg started to swell and by early in the third quarter he had ice strapped on and was ruled out for the match.

The Eagles will already be without Jeremy McGovern (hamstring) and Elliot Yeo (groin) for the first final.

But Nic Naitanui noted Kennedy was walking fine after the game and had 14-16 days to recover.

Wins by Geelong and Richmond on the weekend will render this clash a dead rubber – which it thoroughly resembled – because West Coast would remain fifth and host an elimination final.

But they needed to roll the Roos to climb into the top four and so losing Kennedy with an upset looming was far from ideal.

The Eagles didn’t snatch the lead until Oscar Allen’s double strike in the final quarter, the first coming after Josh Walker was penalised for a block and following a 50m penalty paid against Sam Durdin.

Allen’s Eagles will fly home to Perth in third place, however they will need the help of either Adelaide or Sydney to stay in the top four.

Tom Murphy had the chance to push North Melbourne to a 19-0 lead in the first quarter and his inaccurate set-shot foreshadowed what was to come.

The Kangaroos blew easy chances, kicking three behinds from set-shots within 30m, and managed just two goals after the 14-minute mark.

The Roos have finished the season with one win from their final 15 games and so this was about finding glimmers of hope.

The aggressive Cameron Zurhaar, blessed with a big leap, rolled into the ruck at times and effectively gave North an extra midfielder while Taylor Garner crashed in during the third term.

Regular ruckman Todd Goldstein’s palms set up North’s fast start and, while Goldstein faded after a long season, his work against Naitanui bodes well for his All-Australian hopes.

The Roos won 10 of the first 12 effective clearances thanks to Goldstein as Jed Anderson got to work.

Gillon McLachlan declared at his Gabba grand final press conference that his trusted Queensland contacts had given assurances that the nightly dew will have dried out before October 24. Footy has never been played in late October and fans hoping for a cracking contest will be hoping McLachlan’s local intelligence is on the money. West Coast will be praying it is.

The Eagles are a kick-and-catch team and such controlled, measured ball use becomes harder to execute in greasy conditions under the Gabba and Metricon Stadium lights. The scrappy contest against the Kangaroos exemplified that.

They are 3-4 at night in Queensland this year as rivals including Richmond have looked to limit their time in position.

In short, they need to be able to mark the ball and that’s not easy when it turns to soap.

West Coast was held scoreless in the first quarter, something which has not happened to the Eagles since a clash against St Kilda at Waverley back in 1998.

Liam Ryan’s disposal count also read zero at the first break.

Herald Sun