The Soaring

The Scene
Subiaco Oval, Saturday arvo, overcast skies, light breeze. The Adelaide Crow-bots, two games clear and a percentage nearing four digits come to town to take on the spluttering and injury depleted Eagles.

The bookies have us as long outsiders - probably the longest odds at home since 2002 or earlier.

The result was nothing short of remarkable. The Eagles clicked into gear like we know they can but have rarely done so in 2006 to win by a season-high 82 points.

West Coast Eagles 26.9.(165) def. Adelaide 12.11.(83)

The Characters
It might be the utilities that get us over the line in the come from behind classics, but it is the midfield firing on all cylinders that has us purring, and so it was on Saturday.

Braun - 41 possessions 5 clearances, Cousins - 38 possessions, 7 clearances, 2 goals, Kerr - 34 possessions, 2 goals, 10 clearances, Butler - 29 possessions, Judd - 21 possessions, 8 clearances, 3 goals, Stenglein - 20 possessions, 10 tackles.

Dominant.

The forwards were dangerous. Lynch kicked 4, Hansen presented well (3 goals, 7 marks), Rowan Jones was prolific (26 possessions), Armstrong was opportunistic (3 goals) and Sampi was terrier like in his attack on the ball.

Defensively the reconstructed back unit looked very solid. Chick was aggressive in shutting down Riccuito, Glass was again a stand out in the air and on the ground, Jaymie Graham provided some excellent rebound and Beau Waters (22 possessions) played one of the better games he’s played this season.

The Plot
It was all quite simple really. The intensity was there, right from the word go. Numbers around the ball, hardness at the contest, defensive pressure, hard running, smart use of the ball.

The result was an overwhelming amount of possession that we did not waste, fritter away or overuse but pushed forward at every opportunity and ended up with a season-high 26 goals. Against the league best defence, that hadn’t until Saturday given up more than 100 points in a game.

It was such impressive football.

Such was the pressure, even Adelaide’s dinky tempo football was rendered useless against the Eagles pressure. The resultant turnovers were devastating for the visitors as goal after goal came from such pressure.

The Summary
You sense we are a team that likes a challenge. Write us off at your own risk. I know I did. I thought we were no chance. But I underestimated the resolve of this group to rise to the challenge. This year has been flavoured heavily by the comeback and haven’t some of them been wonderful. But I tell you what, I prefer to see a game like this every now and again. Just to let you believe it’s all a bit more than a series of flukes and lucky breaks.

I’ve wanted to believe it, I’ve just been waiting for some semblence of evidence. 82 points right now is all the evidence I need.