The Soaring

Recap
Another torrid derby saw the Eagles go down by 27 points after being outplayed from the start by Fremantle.

West Coast Eagles 2.4 6.7 11.8 14.13 97
Fremantle 5.3 9.4 13.7 19.10 124

It’s Tuesday and a short one.

Top Five
1. Switch on
Too much lazy football by the Eagles; one step kicks, fumbles, handballs missing the target, players losing their feet. The early signs were not good - forget the rough stuff I think it was a case of our players no looking switched on from the start. The work-rate (or lack thereof) would seem to back that assessment up…

2. Midfield Ascendency
This game was won and lost in the midfield. Fremantle got their hands on the footy first and our tackling and pressure overall was not good enough to win the midfield battle. Aside from the that Fremantle’s defence had way more run than our backline which was telling in the end.

3. The Rise of LeCras
Good on Mark LeCras for standing up and grabbing his opportunity. He is still to get his ear back from Shaun McManus but his 4 goals was another a very steady result. His second quarter handball to RoJo for a goal was, dare I say it, Sampi-like.

He is weekly finding more and more touch at the top level and at 20 is now proving to be a very astute selection. 24 goals from 13 games is a great return for a small forward with less than 20 games under his belt.

4. Adam Selwood
Another scalp. Held Bell to 15 touches and limited influence on the game. Of course Josh Carr and Haselby won plenty of the ball so you can’t win them all. But Selwood, who finished top 5 in the B&F last year, would be firming for a similar result this season.

Apparently left training on crutches yesterday so that is not a great result. If fit will go to Simpson on Sunday.

5. Booing Josh Carr
Is it worse to boo a player because you didn’t think we should’ve won the medal (ie Judd 2006) or because the player who won is dirty and his style of play is disapproved (ie Carr, 2007)?

Dirty players have been booed since Adam was a boy and will continue to get booed particularly when they make no secret of their desire to target their opponent. Carr played well and was universally consider best afield - good luck to him. Not a big fan of playing the man though, I have to say.

Looking ahead - we have a (nother) massive game this week against the Roos. Will be a good test of the boys resolve and hunger to bounce back from a disappointing loss.