Match Report – Eagles too powerful for SharksSaturday, June 26, 2021 - 10:58 PM - by Chris Pike

AS their AFL side gets closer to being at full strength, that depth is trickling down to the West Coast Eagles WAFL team and they made it two wins on the trot on Saturday, proving too good for East Fremantle winning by 51 points.

With injuries hitting a bevy of the Eagles first choice AFL players in the opening half of the 2021 season, that has created a challenge at times for the West Coast team in the WAFL to remain competitive.

That saw them lose their opening eight matches including some hefty losses and none more so than last time they took on East Fremantle and the Sharks handed them an embarrassing 125-point hiding.

It was a much different story this Saturday at New Choice Homes Park with the Eagles taking control of the contest against the Sharks after quarter-time and never being headed from there.

Scores were all tied at quarter-time after both teams kicked two goals apiece in the first term, but the Eagles held the Sharks to just two behinds in the second term while kicking three goals themselves to be leading by 18 points at the major break.

West Coast continued to pull away further in the third term kicking four goals to two from East Fremantle, and then the Eagles really put their foot down.

In what could have been their best quarter of football for the season, West Coast finished the game with six goals to two in the last term to end up beating East Fremantle 15.9 (99) to 6.12 (48).

It was West Coast's small forwards that proved most dangerous in attack with Zac Langdon putting his hand up for an AFL call up with three goals from 20 possessions and six marks.

Kieran Hug and Jarrod Garlett were also lively for the Eagles kicking three goals apiece to take the most of their opportunities. They combined for six goals from just 13 kicks.

Mark Hutchings put together another tremendous performance in the midfield for the Eagles up against the East Fremantle coach, Bill Monaghan, he won a premiership and Simpson Medal with in 2013. Hutchings produced 26 possessions, nine tackles, five marks and a goal.

Alex Witherden also finished with 25 possessions for West Coast, Xavier O'Neill 23, Zane Trew 22, Jarrod Brander 21, Jamaine Jones 21, Brayden Ainsworth 21, Luke Foley 20 and Hamish Brayshaw 20.

The absence of Jonathon Marsh, Hugh Dixon and Dillon O'Reilly robbed East Fremantle of a genuine target in attack, and as a result the six goals for the Sharks were all from individual sources.

Blaine Boekhorst ran hard all afternoon for East Fremantle to finish with 31 possessions, 13 marks and a goal while Kyle Baskerville gave good drive out of defence with another 30 disposals and nine marks.

Morgan Davies also collected 30 possessions for the Sharks, Jarrad Jansen 18, Tom Bennett 17 and Luke English 17 while Cody Smith laid eight tackles to go with 16 disposals and captain Matthew Jupp took six marks down back to go with 15 touches.

West Coast will now look for a third straight win next Saturday against South Fremantle at Fremantle Community Bank Oval while East Fremantle takes on East Perth at Leederville Oval with the Royals on their own two-game winning run now.

OPTUS WAFL PREMIERSHIP SEASON – ROUND 12

EAST FREMANTLE            2.3    2.5    4.10    6.12 (48)
WEST COAST EAGLES            2.3    5.5    9.7    15.9 (99)

EAST FREMANTLE: Goals – Boekhorst, Burton, Bockman, English, Teakle, Monaghan.
Best – Boekhorst, Davies, Baskerville, Smith, Bennett, Jansen.
WEST COAST EAGLES: Goals – Langdon, Garlett, Hug 3; O'Neill, Jones, Williams, Hutchings, Brayshaw, Deegan.
Best – Hutchings, O'Neill, Jones, Trew, Langdon, Witherden, Brander, Ainsworth.