Always a fan favourite
It’s always been a favorite national pastime for supporters of every AFL club to delight in venting their ill-feelings towards Collingwood. And it was no different when Collingwood ventured to Perth for the first time in round 10, 1987.
It was a Monday public holiday game at Subiaco to commemorate what was then called Foundation Day, now known as WA Day.
It marks the occasion on June 1, 1829 when the WA coast was first sighted from the merchant ship Barque Parmelia, prompting the establishment of the Swan River Colony, the first permanent British colony in WA.
The game pulled a crowd of 38,274.
It was easily the biggest of the Eagles’ first season in the big time in which the other seven games at Subiaco averaged 21,949 and the four WACA Ground games averaged 19,215.
And from the perspective of the home fans it was sensational. The Eagles led by 20 points at quarter-time, 41 points at halftime and 59 points at three-quarter time. Only when the game was won did they ease off, and then only slightly. They won by 57 points – 19.23 (137) to 11.14 (80).
Ross Glendinning, in his 199th AFL game, and Don Holmes in his 10th game, kicked four goals each as John Annear picked up three Brownlow Medal votes with 26 possessions and three goals. Dean Turner received two votes and Holmes one.
A bright light at Football Park
There’s no way to massage the numbers … West Coast’s record at Football Park in Adelaide was poor. In 34 visits they had an 11-23 record, including 1-3 in finals. They kicked 100 points three times to the opposition’s 14 times, had an aggregate Football Park score of minus 666, an aggregate percentage of 78.95, and were beaten by 50 points or more eight times.
So, the only time West Coast won at Football Park by 50 points or more is noteworthy.
It came in round 10 in 1996 against Adelaide. The Crows were fourth on the ladder at 6-3 and the Eagles eighth at 5-4 after a 1-4 start.
With Jason Ball playing his 50th game the visitors were out of the blocks early and led 5.5 to 1.1 at quarter-time. By half time the Crows had cut the margin to 11 points before a blistering third quarter from the Eagles put it beyond doubt.
They kicked 9.3 to 1.2 and cruised home 19.16 (130) to 11.10 (76).
It was West Coast’s highest score at Football Park and the only time they topped 100 apart from two games in 2011, when Adelaide finished 14th and Port Adelaide 16th, and West Coast were preliminary finalists.
Chris Mainwaring topped the possession count with 28 while Tony Evans had 24 and kicked three goals, and Mitchell White 24 and two.
The three-vote hero was a 25-year-old midfielder playing his 10th game for the club after being traded to West Coast from Melbourne in exchange for Craig Turley.
Andy Lovell had 24 possessions and kicked a goal in the Eagles’ commanding win and took the Brownlow votes from Drew Banfield (20 possessions) and Fraser Gehrig (23 possessions).
Lovell, son of a former world wood-chopping champion and drafted by Melbourne from Tasmanian club Glenorchy, had played 121 games with the Demons from 1988-95. He played in the losing 1988 grand final, was runner-up in the club’s 1992 best and fairest and kicked a career-best eight goals against Richmond at the MCG in 1993.
While Turley, five years older than Lovell and with six games fewer behind him, played only one season and 16 games for Melbourne, Lovell played 39 games with West Coast in 1996-97, including finals both years, and four games in 1998.
Eight goals in a loss
An Eagles player has kicked eight or more goals in a game 17 times. Five times he celebrated with a 100-point win, and five other times the win was 10 goals or more. And only once has the player with the big haul walked off the ground after a loss.
It was in round 10, 1999 when Scott Cummings kicked eight against Carlton at Subiaco and lost 12.12 (84) to 15.11 (101) after his side had led by five points at halftime.
The Eagles sat on top of the ladder, facing a Carlton side that was eighth at the time ahead of a charge that would ultimately see the Blues lose to North Melbourne in the grand final.
It was an unusual night which began when the Eagles entered the arena through a banner which recognised “201 quality games” for Dean Kemp. He’d played his 200th game interstate in round seven and missed the next fortnight.
West Coast twice had chance to put the game away. They led by 26 points midway through the second quarter and, after Carlton pulled it back to five points at half-time, were 23 points clear late in the third quarter.
But five goals from Aaron Hamill and three from 50th gamer Lance Whitnall got the visitors home.
Cummings, in his first season with the Eagles, kicked 8.2 from 12 kicks and five marks and after 10 games with his third club had a week-by-week goal sheet that read 4-2-7-4-6-4-1-7-5-8.
He had 48 goals on his way to a career-best season haul of 95 goals and a Coleman Medal.
The big full forward also sat at the top of an unusual West Coast goal-kickers list for the round 10 game against Carlton which almost had you asking ‘what about the others?’
It was Cummings 8 … Phil Matera 4. End of story.
Only three times previously and once since have the Eagles had two or less goal-kickers. And such was the contribution of Cummings and Matera that the Eagles score of 84 points was 20 points higher than in any other game in which the club has had one, two or even three goal-kickers.
Cummings, playing on Carlton’s Stephen Silvagni, fullback in the AFL Team of the Century no less, kicked West Coast’s 1st-3rd-4th-6th-8th-9th-11th-12th goal, slotting his last after the siren.
Note: Only once in 24 times in which an Eagles player has kicked seven goals in a game has his seven-goal bag come in a loss – when Phil Scott kicked seven in round one, 1989 against Essendon at the WACA.
Loyalties – what loyalties?
Ken Judge was a West Australian who played in Hawthorn’s 1983 premiership side, was a member of their 1984-85 grand final sides, and coached the Hawks from 1996-99. Originally from East Fremantle, he returned home to Perth to coach West Coast in 2000.
He coached against his former club for the first time in round 10 and quickly put aside all former loyalties when the Eagles enjoyed a 30-point win at Subiaco.
Fraser Gehrig and Scott Cummings kicked five goals each, Dean Kemp had a career-best 38 possessions to claim three Brownlow Medal votes, and Callum Chambers made his debut.
Sam Butler debuts
As a 16-year-old in 2001 Sam Butler was eying a career in soccer. A product of Gawler, 40km north of Adelaide and the oldest country town in mainland Australia, he was a member of the SA under-16 soccer team and had only dabbled in Australian football.
Yet after joining SANFL club Central District he represented SA at the AFL Australian under-18 Championships in 2002-03 and was drafted by West Coast with selection #20 in the 2003 AFL National Draft.
Then, in round 10, 2004, only 136 days beyond his 18th birthday, he made his AFL debut in a 37-point win over Richmond at Subiaco. He had 14 possessions and kicked a goal as the Eagles kicked seven of their 14 goals in a 20-minute blitz in the third quarter blitz.
Chris Judd was judged best afield, Phil Matera kicked six goals and Callum Chambers an equal career-best three.
Interestingly, Butler and Beau Waters, the Eagles first pick in the 2003 Draft at #11, had both debuted in the first half of 2004. At 20 they were the youngest pair in the 2006 premiership side yet both would go on to endure long careers plagued by injury.
When finally they reached 100 games the pair had waited longer than any other Eagles. Waters missed 92 games and Butler 113.
Welcome to the AFL
Eighteen years ago Mark LeCras could have been excused for taking a quiet moment after his AFL debut and thinking ‘maybe this isn’t such a hard caper’.
The Eagles had posted a 117-point win over defending premiers Port Adelaide in his first game at Subiaco, perhaps giving him just a slight justification to momentarily think as much.
He would have been wrong, of course. It is a terribly hard business.
But it was an extraordinary introduction to the AFL as a club record 16 players got on the goal-kicking sheet – all but Sam Butler, Ben Cousins, Dean Cox, Darren Glass, Brent Staker and Tyson Stenglein. Quentin Lynch topped the list with four and Cousins, Daniel Kerr and Michael Braun took the Brownlow votes.
The 117-point winning margin is the second-biggest by an Eagles player on debut.
Only Murray Newman, who played four games in 2012 and two games in 2015, had a bigger first game win. He was the starting substitute in a 126-point win over Gold Coast in round 14, 2012 picking up 13 possessions and kicking two goals after being injected into the game in the third term.
Darren Glass enjoyed a 114-point win on debut while Troy Ugle savored a 99-point triumph.
Other Eagles to win by more than 70 points in their first game have been Sean King, Paul Mifka and Joe Cormack (88), Will Schofield (87), Ryan Turnbull (82), Tony Evans, Mark Hepburn and David Hynes (79) and Tom Cole (77).
LeCras, from the tiny crayfishing town of Cervantes, 200km north north-west of Perth, had followed an odd journey just to get to the AFL. He’d done his schooling at Prindiville Catholic College in Perth, playing with Whitfords and Quinns during his school years before playing colts with West Perth in 2003-04.
He was a member of the 2004 All-Australian under-18 side that included fellow West Australians Mitch Morton and Alan Toovey, later to win AFL premierships with Sydney and Collingwood respectively, plus four other AFL 200-gamers - SA’s Ryan Griffen and Heath Grundy and Victoria’s Brett Deledio and Jordan Lewis.
Drafted at #37 in the 2004 National Draft, LeCras joined a West Coast side that was top of the ladder with an 8-1 record going into round 10 but were coming off a 23-point MCG loss to Collingwood.
Phil Matera missed with a hip injury and Josh Wooden and Daniel McConnell were dropped as Chris Judd returned from suspension and Mark Seaby was recalled for his 21st game.
LeCras, wearing jumper #19, had 14 possessions and kicked two goals, and did enough to hold his spot when Matera returned in round 11. But he didn’t play again for more than 12 months.
Another warm welcome
If Mark LeCras had a slightly soft introduction to the AFL, Matt Priddis was totally the opposite when he made his debut 12 months later in round 10, 2006. It was a game of the highest intensity against Geelong at Kardinia Park.
And it was the game in which West Coast came from a record 39 points down at half time and a record 36 points at three quarter-time to win.
The Eagles, top of the ladder against a 12th-placed Geelong, were down 4.1 to 10.4 at half-time and fell as far as 54 points behind 14 minutes into the third quarter.
The visitors kicked the last four goals of the third term via Quinten Lynch, Rowan Jones, Tyson Stenglein and Andrew Embley. It was 9.2 to 14.8 at the final break.
Adam Hunter, who had had what commentators said was a poor day, got them off to a final quarter flyer in 55 seconds. He was quickly followed by Mark Nicoski, Stenglein, Embley and Stenglein again before Daniel Kerr put them in front after 21 minutes. But there was still eight minutes to play.
Nathan Ablett, in just his sixth game, answered for Geelong from close range on a tight angle after a smart pass from brother Gary, putting them back in front. Still six minutes to play.
Every contest was critical. Michael Braun out-bodied Steve Johnson to take a strong mark and fed Ben Cousins, who kicked long to centre half forward. The ball fell loose. Brent Staker was dis-possessed. Kerr gathered and found Rowan Jones and he shovelled it out Hunter.
From a standing start 40m out Hunter let fly. It sailed through and the Eagles were back in front. Three minutes to play.
Kerr and Cousins, later to finish with 31 possessions apiece and figure with Dean Cox in the Brownlow votes, were everywhere.
Cousins found a leading Daniel Chick inside 50 with a brilliant kick but Chick pushed it across the face for a behind. Geelong got the ball back. Still time.
An unmarked Darren Milburn ran it out of the square and found Johnson by hand. He kicked long where a joint spoil from Ashley McIntosh and David Wirrpanda quelled the charge.
Kerr gathered but was swamped. Cox tried to kick it out of the air at the ball-up but missed. Kerr gathered and handballed to space. Jones took it on the bounce and coolly handballed backwards to Cousins who kicked wide towards the boundary.
Cox took the ball from the boundary throw-in and scrubbed it forward. It dribbled inside 50m as the siren sounded and commentator Michael Christian declared “one of the most remarkable games you’ll ever wish to see”.
It was West Coast’s first win in Geelong since 1999 and big confidence-booster in a season in which they would go on to beat Sydney by a point in the grand final.
Priddis had 19 possessions and five tackles on debut at 21 in what was a tribute to his perseverance.
Originally from Manjimup in WA’s south west, he represented WA at under-16 and under-18 level but was overlooked in his 18th year in the 2003 National Draft. And the 2004 Draft. And the 2005 Draft.
He was finally picked up with the 31st pick in the 2006 Rookie Draft but only after the Eagles had claimed Shannon Hurn (#13), Ben McKinley (#29) and Matt Spangher (#34) in the National Draft and Steven Armstrong with selection #15 in the Rookie Draft.
By then Priddis had been a member of Subiaco’s 2004 WAFL premiership side, won the 2004 WAFL Rising Star Award, rejected a well-paying SANFL contract, won the Simpson Medal as WA’s best player in a 2005 State game against Queensland and won the 2005 Subiaco best and fairest.
Like LeCras, Priddis played only two AFL games in his first season before going on to become the Eagles’ third Brownlow Medallist and one of the club’s all-time greats.
Another rookie makes good
Chad Fletcher played his 150th game for the Eagles in round 10, 2007 as they gave North Melbourne an 11-goal touch-up at Subiaco. He was another rookie made good. Very good.
A Subiaco product, Fletcher joined the Eagles as an 18-year-old via what was virtually the 126th player in the draft pool of 1997.
In a prolonged process that must have been agonising for Fletcher, West Coast took Jaxon Crabb (#12), Callum Chambers (#13), Rowan Jones (#28), Andrew Williams (#34), Todd Holmes (#37), David Antonowicz (#44) and Phillip Read (#60) in a National Draft that stretched to 86 players.
They sat out a 12-player Pre-Season Draft and at #11 in the Rookie Draft they took Conrad Chambers from East Fremantle, who did not play an AFL game.
Not until selection #28 in the Rookie Draft did Fletcher get his chance.
Still, by his 150th game in 2007 he had finished 4th-3rd-2nd in the Eagles Club Champion Award in 2002-03-04, represented Australia in the International Rules in 2003, won All-Australian selection in 2004 and shared in the Eagles’ premiership in 2006.
Fletcher had 23 possessions in his 150th as Matt Priddis, Adam Selwood and Michael Braun collected 106 possessions and six Brownlow votes between them. By the time he played his 179th and last game in 2009 he’d reached a level that today sees him fourth on the Eagles games list for ex-rookies behind Dean Cox (290), Priddis (240) and Quinten Lynch (209).
TOM COLE DEBUT
Round 10 wins were scarce thereafter as the Eagles in each of the next eight years. They even went down to Brisbane at the ‘Gabba in 2012 after they had led by 21 points early in the final quarter, eventually succumbing to a miracle snap from the home side’s Jason Polkinghorne.
It wasn’t until 2016 that they won in round 10 again, when Tom Cole debuted against Gold Coast at Subiaco in 2016 after Andrew Gaff missed with concussion and Elliot Yeo with a quad strain.
Cole had 14 possessions as Josh Kennedy kicked five goals to pick up three Brownlow votes from Luke Shuey (two votes) and Brad Sheppard (one vote).
Cole was yet another product of the Bendigo Pioneers, who count among their most famous AFL products the Selwood family, including Eagles’ Adam and Scott Selwood. Also, they were the football nursery that gave the AFL Eagles premiership player Michael Braun, plus Dustin Martin, Nick Dal Santo, Ollie Wines, Dean Solomon, Chris Tarrant, Josh Hunt, Andrew Walker, Brent Guerra and the Nathan Brown of Western Bulldogs/Richmond fame.
Other Eagles drafted from the Pioneers have been Michael O’Brien (2 games), Kane Munro (4) and, most recently, Jarrod Brander.
And 12 months ago
The Eagles’ most recent round 10 game was another one of the very best. It was against Adelaide at Adelaide Oval last year, when they trailed by 28 points at halftime and were still 21 points down midway through the third quarter.
Willie Rioli and Jason Cripps kicked the last two goals of the term to cut it to 10 before Josh Kennedy, Elliot Yeo and Cripps kicked the next three. They were three points up.
Wayne Milera slotted a steadier for the Crows but Kennedy, Oscar Allen and Jack Darling goaled to give West Coast the points 13-7 (85) to 10-13 (73).
Andrew Gaff (333), Luke Shuey (33) and Dom Sheed (31) led the possession count, Cripps, Kennedy and Darling kicked three goals apiece, and Yeo (three) and Shuey (one) took the
