A solitary round eight derby

By the time 2011 came around the Eagles’ round eight winning run at Subiaco had reached five.

They’d beaten Carlton at Subiaco in round eight in 1998, Adelaide in the Chad Rintoul payback game in 1999, Sydney in Glen Jakovich’s last game in 2004, St Kilda in 2005 and Melbourne in 2007.

But this was special. It was derby No.33. The Dockers, sixth on the ladder at the time, had won seven derbies on the trot to cut the Eagles’ overall head-to-head advantage to four. It didn’t matter that West Coast were 10th. It was time for a response.

And they got it as Scott Selwood played his 50^th game and Andrew Gaff, Jack Darling and Luke Shuey, in their 6^th, 7^th and 13^th games respectively, faced their first derby.

From the time Josh Kennedy and Jack Darling kicked the first two goals the Eagles were not headed. It was 9.5 to 3.4 at half-time and despite a lesser third term they still led by 18 at the last change.

Mark LeCras made it 24 and after two Fremantle goals, Kennedy and Nic Naitanui kicked steadiers as West Coast won 14.12 (96) to 9.9 (63).

Matt Priddis’ 27 possessions earned him three Brownlow Medal votes and the first of what is now two Glendinning/Allan Medals, while Quinten Lynch and Dean Cox took the minor votes.

Five goals for Cox

Yes, you read that correctly. Dean Cox kicked five goals in round eight, 2012 as West Coast beat St Kilda by 30 points at Subiaco.

It was Cox’s 209^th game and the champion ruckman had never kicked more than four. And that was all the way back in his 95^th game in 2005.

The Eagles had started the season with six wins before a 61-point wakeup call from Essendon at Docklands in round seven. They needed to bounce back.

But, with Mark LeCras out for the season with a bad knee and Josh Kennedy two weeks into a 15-week ankle layoff, they needed to kick more than the seven goals they’d managed the week before against the Bombers.

Who would have thought Cox would provide the answer?

He’d started the season in reasonable goal-kicking form … for him. He’d gone 2-0-1-0-1-1-0 through the first seven games. For a player who would average 0.58 goals per game over his career, it wasn’t too bad.

After St Kilda kicked the first goal of the game, West Coast got the next six, including Cox’s first. They led by 28 points at the first change.

The home side kicked seven more in the second term, including three to Cox. He got their first, fifth and seventh for the term and already had an equal career-best at halftime as he set up a 13.6 to 5.5 lead.

Eleven minutes into the third quarter the one-time rookie turned 2006 premiership player and six-time All-Australian was at it again. He kicked his fifth. A career best. They were 45 points clear.

But St Kilda got a life from a 20-year-old East Fremantle product playing his 10^th game. Jamie Cripps, in his first and last game against West Coast before joining the club the following year, kicked two in the term and it was back to 21.

Patrick McGinnity gave the home side the start they wanted in the fourth quarter and two late goals from Luke Shuey and Nic Naitanui iced an 18.13 (121) to 13.13 (91) win. They didn’t even need any more heroics from Cox.

Brownlow votes? Who else? The five-goal hero, with 15 possessions and 22 hit-outs, took three, while Shuey’s 25 possessions and two goals earned him one vote.

Eagles brothers

It’s difficult to argue that the Matera brothers are not the Eagles’ most famous brothers. Peter, Phil and Wally played 456 games for the club between them and kicked 627 goals. Peter is seventh on the all-time games list, Phil is 4^th on the goal-kicking list, and Wally was a member of the club’s very first side.

But in round eight, 2013 the club celebrated another outstanding brotherly double when Scott Selwood joined older brother Adam in the Eagles 100-game club.

With Peter and Phil Matera they are the only other set of brothers among 69 100-gamers.

The Selwood brothers, playing together for the fifth-last time in Adam’s last season, shared the milestone stage with skipper Darren Glass, who posted his 250^th game in the Subiaco clash with North Melbourne.

Glass became the Eagles’ sixth 250-gamer behind Guy McKenna, Peter Matera, Glen Jakovich, Drew Banfield and Dean Cox, and has since welcomed Andrew Embley and Shannon Hurn into this elite group.

Fittingly, the club marked the joint occasion with a Friday night win. Just. Thanks to the heroics of one man.

On a six-day break after a 26-point win in Brisbane in round seven, the Eagles trailed at every change. It was a game-high 17 points at quarter-time before the home side cut it 13 at halftime and four points at three-quarter time.

They’d got eight up midway through the third term via Luke Shuey and Josh Hill goals, but North kicked two late goals.

After Hill kicked his second goal early in the final quarter North set themselves to take advantage of the tiring Eagles. They were 15 points clear when Brent Harvey found the big sticks, and there was still 20 minutes to play.

But it wasn’t the Eagles who tired. They lifted. Hill kicked his third, Shuey his second and, with 35sec to play, Adam Selwood accepted a free kick and bombed the ball long to the goalsquare.

Nic Naitanui started at the back of a huge pack but flew over the top of it to pull down a screamer.

He was 25m out on a 45-degree angle. As he started to move in to take his kick the siren sounded. He stopped and checked himself and then steered it home. West Coast won 12.18 (90) to 13.10 (88).

Naitanui, who would repeat his last kick heroics to beat GWS at Sydney Showgrounds in 2016, received two Brownlow Medal votes for 18 possessions, 20 hit-outs and that goal.

What’s better than 10?

Josh Kennedy had a career-best of 10 goals as West Coast prepared to tackle the GWS Giants at Subiaco in round eight, 2014. Coming off a career-best 60 goals in his sixth campaign with the club in 2013, he’d started the new season under new coach Adam Simpson in just average form. In the first seven rounds he’d kicked 2-4-2-1-1-2-1.

After kicking 13.12 in the first seven rounds he exploded with 11 goals straight as the Eagles obliterated the Giants 30-8 (188) to 12-5 (77).

He kicked West Coast goals 1-4-5 in the first quarter, 7-8 in the second quarter, 14-18 in the third, and 23-25-27-29 in the last.

The Giants had started their third season well, with two early wins, but they were no match for a rampant Eagles outfit as Mark LeCras kicked four goals and Jack Darling three.

Kennedy received three Brownlow Medal votes while Matt Priddis and Luke Shuey collected the minor votes.

Another 100-point win

West Coast posted their 15^th and most recent 100-point win, and their last 100-point win at Subiaco, in round eight, 2016, thumping St Kilda 20.12 (132) to 3.11 (29).

Josh Kennedy started as if he would beat his career-best again when he kicked five goals in the first quarter, but that’s where he finished. And still he beat the Saints on his own with 5-1. Mark LeCras, too. He kicked six goals straight.

LeCras picked up two Brownlow votes as Matt Priddis (28 possessions) polled three votes and Andrew Gaff (36 possessions) one vote.

There’s nothing like it

There’s nothing like playing against the old club, and Jamie Cripps has enjoyed it as much as anyone.

A 16-game St Kilda player at the start of his career, he has now played against the Saints 10 times since joining West Coast for nine wins. And in round eight 2019 he added another layer to the ‘party’ when he played his 150^th AFL game against them.

He had 21 possessions and kicked two goals in a 12.16 (88) to 10.10 (70) win in which Elliot Yeo was judged best afield by the umpires, Luke Shuey picked up one vote, and Andrew Gaff had 30 possessions.