Worsfold notches 200 games

If you could retrospectively ask John Worsfold which opposition club he would prefer to play in his 200^th game the numbers suggest he’d quickly come up with an answer very different to most Eagles players.

Likewise, if you asked him where he might like to play his 200^th game if he could not play it in Perth.

Why might he be on such a different page to others? Because Worsfold might very well pick the team against which West Coast have their fourth-worst record, and the venue at which they have their fourth-worst record (excluding venues where they have played seven or fewer times).

He might pick Geelong at Kardinia Park. And he would have a justifiable case.

Through 779 games and 33 years (and one round) West Coast have their best win/loss ratio against Gold Coast (86.4%), Brisbane (72.9%), GWS (72.7%) and Melbourne (68.5%). Their worst is against Sydney (41.2%), Port Adelaide (44.1%), Essendon (46.3%) and Geelong (50.0%).

Excluding Subiaco Oval, the WACA Ground and Optus Stadium, and venues where they have played seven or fewer times, they’ve had best success at Adelaide Oval (80.0%), Carrara (66.7%), Whitten Oval (60.0%) and Waverley (55.8%). Their least successful interstate venues have been the SCG (15.8%), Princes Park (29.2%), Football Park (32.3%) and Kardinia Park (35.4%).

So why might Worsfold pick Geelong at Kardinia Park for his 200^th?

That’s just Worsfold, who skippered the club for the first time at 22 in his 76^th game and went on to captain the Eagles in the 1992-94 premierships and a record 138 times overall.

Nothing intimidated Worsfold. The harder the better for the man after whom the club champion award is named.

Also, the Geelong/Kardinia Park combination, against the norm, brought him much success through his stellar 208-game career. It would have just felt right.

Worsfold played against Geelong more than any other club for a 16-4 win/loss record. He was 4-0 in finals against Geelong, with wins in the two biggest games of his life – the 1992 and 1994 grand finals.

That alone should explain things.

But it goes further. Worsfold, equal 20^th on the Eagles’ all-time games list, 81 games behind games record-holder Dean Cox, had more wins over the Cats than any other West Coast player.

Indeed, the cumulative record of others in the top 20 against Geelong is 141-159, with eight draws. Or in percentage terms, Worsfold had an 80% success-rate against the Cats, and the others in the top 20 a cumulative 47%.

In 24 visits to Kardinia Park overall West Coast have an 8-15 win/loss record, with one draw. Or a 34.7% strike rate. Worsfold was 6-2 at 75%. Moreover, the club has won at the ‘Cattery’ only twice in 33 years without him.

Now, to be totally transparent and to defend the ‘flashback’ department of westcoasteagles.com.au against any possible claims of romantic bias, Worsfold might have chosen to play his 200^th against Fremantle.

After all, he was 5-0 in derbies. Unbeaten against the arch enemy. Outstanding. But that creates a problem. Where would you play it? Remember, WA venues are out.

He also had a superior record against Brisbane of 93.3%. Or 14-1 from 16 games with a draw. But he never played a final against Brisbane so you might argue the numbers are inflated. Why take a chance for such a big occasion?

Worsfold’s next best record is his 16-4 against Geelong.

This was the opposition he played in his 50^th, game, his 99^th game and his 149^th game, and the opposition against which he posted his 101^st win in the 1994 grand final after becoming the first Eagle to 100 wins in the preliminary final the week before.

It wasn’t quite the mathematical symmetry that would clinch the deal, or the sort of romantic bias which appeals to the ‘flashback’ department and said Worsfold’s 200th had to be against Geelong, but it was good enough.

And so, when it came time for Worsfold to play his 200^th game in round nine of 1996, who was it against and where was it?

Worsfold played his 200^th game against Geelong at Kardinia Park

So, as the Coronavirus pandemic series moves to round nine this week, Worsfold is the headline story for the ‘Best of the Eagles – round nine’.

Happily, his 200^th game, and what turned out to be his last against Geelong, was a win.

Going into the match which would see Worsfold become the third Eagle to his double-century behind Guy McKenna and Chris Lewis, West Coast were 11^th at 3-5 and Geelong ninth at 4-4. Both were coming off wins.

Coach Mick Malthouse made three changes to the side which had beaten Carlton by eight points at Subiaco Oval in round eight. Jaxon Crabb, Phil Read and David Wirrpanda, who had played 2-7-12 games between them, made way for Chris Lewis, Tony Evans and Nick Stone.

Appropriately, Lewis and Evans, who would play his second-last game in Worsfold’s 200th, joined fellow 1992-94 premiership players Glen Jakovich, Dean Kemp, Peter Matera, Ashley McIntosh, Guy McKenna and Chris Waterman and 1994 flag winners Drew Banfield and Jason Ball in celebrating with their 1992-94 premiership captain.

Conditions were atrocious as both sides went goalless in the first term before the visitors kicked five goals in the second to lead by 19 points at half-time. They were never headed and won a tough slog 9-11 (65) to 5-14 (44).

Ben Cousins, still only 19 in his 47^th game, led the West Coast possession count with 23 and picked up three Brownlow Medal votes, while Chad Morrison, in his 50^th game, kicked two goals from 17 possessions. Fraser Gehrig also kicked two goals for one Brownlow vote.

Brad Sholl earned two votes in a Geelong side which included two ex-Worsfold teammates.

Derek Hall, who had played two games with West Coast in 1993 before 74 with Geelong from 1995-2000, was recalled to the side and responded with 27 possessions, second-best in his career.

Brett Spinks, playing the sixth of 19 games in his only season at Geelong after four years and 21 games at West Coast, had three possessions.

And a quirky statistic for those inclined … against which club did Worsfold enjoy his worst career-record, with six wins from 16 games? Clue? Where does he coach now? Essendon.

Round nine at a glance

In 33 years West Coast have played 32 round nine games for 21 wins and 11 losses, and a bye in 2014. They’ve played every side except Brisbane, Gold Coast and North Melbourne, and have beaten every side except St Kilda (0-3) and Collingwood (0-2).

Almost as if inspired by the Worsfold influence, they are unbeaten in round nine against Geelong (3-0), Fitzroy (2-0), Adelaide (1-0), Sydney (1-0), Fremantle (1-0), GWS (1-0) and Port Adelaide (1-0). They’ve got the better of Melbourne (3-1), Hawthorn (2-1), Richmond (2-1) and the Western Bulldogs (2-1) and have an even split against Carlton (1-1) and Essendon (1-1).

With an 11-4 round nine record at Subiaco and a 2-0 mark at Optus Stadium (and no round nine games at the WACA), they have only lost in round nine in two states. In Victoria they are 0-3 at Docklands, 0-2 at the MCG and 0-1 at Moorabbin, and they are 0-1 at York Park in Launceston.

Victoria has given up four round nine wins – the Eagles are 1-0 at Princes Park, Whitten Oval, Waverley and Kardinia Park – while they are unbeaten in South Australia via a 1-0 record at Adelaide Oval (and no round nine games at Football Park), unbeaten in NSW via 1-0 records at the SCG and Sydney Showgrounds, and unbeaten in the ACT with a 1-0 record at Bruce Stadium. 

A good scalp

West Coast hosted Melbourne at Subiaco in their first round nine game in 1987 and picked up one of what turned out to be four really big scalps in their first year in the big-time.

After trailing early they beat the Demons 20-15 (135) to 18-11 (119) thanks to four goals from Robert Wiley, three each from Ross Glendinning, John Annear, Don Holmes and Laurie Keene, and a combined 54 possessions from Dwayne Lamb and Murray Wrensted, who picked up three and two Brownlow Medal votes respectively.

It was a season in which West Coast would finish eighth on the 14-team ladder, missing the top five by a game plus percentage, and a win that looked better as the year went on.

Having already beaten Hawthorn in round five and later to beat Carlton in round 17 and Hawthorn again in round 18, the Eagles had knocked off the sides that finished first, second and third after Hawthorn beat Melbourne in the preliminary final before losing to Carlton in the grand final.

Missed it by that much

West Coast had gone through their first 100 games in the AFL without a 100-point win, but they very nearly got it in their 101^st game in round eight 1991.

Playing Fitzroy on a Sunday afternoon at Subiaco in Peter Sumich’s 50^th game, they led by 66 points at three-quarter time and triumphed 17.23 (125) to 3.8 (26).

Sumich was one of three Eagles players to lead the rout with four goals but was the worst offender in front of the big sticks. He kicked 4.4 while Chris Mainwaring returned an unblemished 4.0 and Craig Turley 4.1.

Guy McKenna and David Hart picked up three and two Brownlow Medal votes while Paul Roos, with a career-best 42 possessions in the 195^th of his 356 AFL games, earned one vote.

The club’s first 100-point win followed soon after too, coming in round 13 when Sumich kicked 13 and they beat Footscray by 118 points at the WACA.