Sampi after the siren

Ashley Sampi kicked a goal after the siren to give West Coast an unlikely and unbelievable draw in the round 11 clash of 2003 with the Western Bulldogs at Subiaco.

It was an absorbing contest between an Eagles outfit sitting second on the ladder and a Dogs side which had lost nine in a row to sit at the bottom.

After leading by 16 points at quarter-time and 11 at half-time the Eagles were smashed 7.2 to 3.1 in the third term and trailed by 14 at the final change.

In a battle between arguably the two best small forwards in the competition at the time, the home side’s Phil Matera kicked his third before Nathan Brown kicked his fifth for the visitors.

Then it was Matera again before Andrew Embley cut it to two points.

The Dogs answered not once via Brown but twice, and 20 minutes into the final term they were back roughly where they had started the quarter - 12 points down.

Glen Jakovich crashed through a pack to win the football. He found Kerr by hand and when Kerr found the running Embley he only needed to kick straight from 20m. He did.

Kerr won the ball from the next centre bounce and fed Rowan Jones who kicked long. Matera edged opponent Matthew Robbins under the ball to mark overhead and levelled the scores from the pocket with five minutes to play.

Brad Johnson, playing his 200^th game for the Dogs, slotted a magnificent running goal from just inside 50m on the boundary line, and then, after two bounces running forward, Johnson spotted up the leading Brown. But Brown pulled it right. Still alive.

When Ryan Hargraves snapped truly for the Dogs to make the difference 13 points with two and a half minutes to play the commentator was convinced. “The Bulldogs are home,” he declared.

But Darren Glass gathered in the back half for the Eagles and fed Rowan Jones who kicked long. A charging Jakovich, playing at centre half forward, brought the ball to the ground where Chad Fletcher, showing great poise in the right forward pocket, turned inboard onto his left and slotted it from 30m on a tough angle.

Two minutes, seven points down.

A rushed behind put the Eagles within six as Rohan Smith kicked in for the Dogs. He went short to Robbins in the pocket. Winding down the clock, he was called to move it on by the umpire but rather than kicking long down the line he played on back into the goal square.

Under all sorts of pressure he took a bounce, made a U-Turn and found Steve Kretiuk by hand. A frantic Kretiuk gave it to Robert Murphy who kicked long to clear the area.

But the ever-alert Embley took the mark and sent it long to the square. Nothing else he could do. And dashing in from the right before launching himself at the ball was Sampi. He marked virtually unopposed just before the siren sounded.

From 15m on a 45-degree angle he conquered the nerves and locked it up at 19.10 (124) apiece.

Matera kicked three goals in the final quarter to finish with five for the Eagles, and Brown three to finish with an equal career-best seven and three Brownlow votes. Ben Cousins (28 possessions and one goal) earned two votes.

And what did Kerr, Fletcher, David Haynes and David Wirrpanda have in common for the home side? They each received one free kick. And that was all. In one of the lowest team free kick counts in club history, they went 15-4 to the Dogs.

A SNEAK PREVIEW

West Coast averted a potentially embarrassing loss when they posted a spectacular come-from-behind win over Carlton at Subiaco in round 11, 2006 and took a sneak peak into the future.

On top of the ladder with a 9-1 record going into the match against a young Carlton side that sat second-bottom with a 2-9 record, the Eagles found themselves 29 points down at three-quarter time.

The biggest bombshell result of the year beckoned before Adam Hunter masterminded a very special comeback which saw them kick eight goals in a stunning final quarter blitz to win by 10. This game a week after the momentous comeback against Geelong at Kardinia Park in round 10.

Hunter had 18 possessions and kicked four critical goals in a win which saw his side continue down a path that 15 weeks later would see them win their third premiership under captain Chris Judd.

Hunter kicked West Coast’s eighth goal just before three-quarter time and their ninth in the first minute of the last term.

It went goal for goal. Heath Scotland for Carlton, David Wirrpanda for West Coast. Nick Stevens for Carlton and Hunter again for West Coast.

At the 17-minute mark an 18-year-old Marc Murphy, in his 11^th game, kicked a behind for Carlton. The visitors were 22 points up with 15 minutes to play. They didn’t score again.

Hunter kicked his fourth before Daniel Chick and Ben Cousins joined the late rally. The deficit was still two but the momentum had swung and Andrew Embley, with two goals, saw the Eagles home 16.15 (111) to 15.11 (101).

Hunter picked up one Brownlow vote behind Carlton’s Fevola, who kicked six goals, and Lance Whitnall, who was playing in defence. Chad Fletcher topped the West Coast possession count with 30 and Quinten Lynch kicked three.

It was a euphoric occasion, but what West Coast coach John Worsfold didn’t know as he recounted a tough day at the office was that playing in the Carlton side that day, in his just his fifth AFL game at 18, was a future Eagles superstar.

Born in Melbourne, raised in Northampton and drafted with pick #4 by Carlton in a 2005 AFL National Draft, Josh Kennedy was learning fast that it was not easy for a young key forward to find his feet in the AFL. Especially in a battling side where Fevola was such a dominant forward focus.

Kennedy had played in the VFL in round two, missed round three with a groin strain, played in the VFL in Round 4 and was an AFL emergency in round five. He debuted in a 72-point loss to Collingwood in round six for the unflattering return of two marks, three kicks, three clangers and one tackle from 41% game time.

He had eight marks and 11 possessions and kicked his first two goals in a 33-point round seven win over Essendon but went goalless in rounds 8-9 and was dropped in round 10.

Recalled by coach Denis Pagan in round 11 to play the Eagles, he had six possessions and kicked two behinds and found himself back in the VFL again in round 12.

He played four more senior games in the back half of the year before his first AFL season ended with a punctured lung, and the following year he played 13 senior games and signed a new two-year contract at Carlton.

In two games for Carlton against West Coast Kennedy had suffered two losses, picked up 12 possessions and gone goalless. But, just like his West Coast opponents of his fifth game, he didn’t know what was coming.

On October 10, 2007, after much speculation on the playing future of Judd, it was announced that the Victorian-born midfielder would join Carlton in a blockbuster trade which would see Kennedy join the Eagles.

West Coast had originally demanded pick #1 and pick #3 in the 2007 Draft for Judd but when Carlton baulked they settled on pick #3, pick #20 and Kennedy for Judd and pick #46.

So, when it all played out, Carlton got Judd and drafted Matthew Kreuzer from the Northern Knights and Dennis Armfield from Swan Districts. West Coast got Kennedy and drafted Chris Masten from East Fremantle and Tony Notte from Swan Districts.

Twelve years later, on the eve of Kennedy’s 200^th game for the Eagles in round two last year, the Carlton football chief who engineered the trade admitted he had made a massive blunder.

Steven Icke said on reflection he should have given West Coast what they originally wanted (pick #1) and kept Kennedy.

Now, 222 games, a club record 600 goals, a premiership, three All-Australian blazers, two Coleman Medals, six West Coast leading goal-kicker titles and a massively powerful club influence later, Eagles fans are terribly pleased he didn’t.

Welcome home Bluey

In round 11 of 2011 West Coast welcomed home a favourite son. But instead of the blue and gold he’d worn so proudly through 267 games and two premierships ex-Eagles captain Guy McKenna was dressed in red and yellow as the inaugural coach of the Gold Coast Suns.

West Coast sat seventh on the ladder at 5-4 as they prepared for their first game against the League’s 17^th club, who were bottom of the ladder at 2-6 but had done better than many pundits expected.

If Eagles form watchers had been tracking round 11 performances they might have been just a little worried. After all, in round 11 in 2007 and 2008 they’d lost to Essendon at Docklands and Sydney at Subiaco after leading at each change, and had lost twice to Geelong at Subiaco in round 11 in 2009 and 2010.

Playing his 100^th AFL game for the Eagles was Matt Rosa, later to finish his career with the Suns, while inaugural Suns captain Gary Ablett Jnr played his 200^th AFL game.

The last thing the Eagles wanted to do was give the Suns an early sniff. And they didn’t. They kicked seven goals in the first term to lead by 24, and by half-time it was 10.6 to 5.4.

The Suns got to within 12 late in the third but West Coast had it covered and won 13.7 (85) to 10.7 (67). Matt Priddis had 31 possessions for three Brownlow votes and Shannon Hurn 30 possessions for one vote. Josh Kennedy kicked four goals.

McKenna would go on to coach against West Coast five times in his four seasons at the helm of the Suns but never experienced a win against his former club.

Another not-so-happy reunion

Adam Simpson, North Melbourne captain and 300-gamer turned West Coast coach, found himself coaching against his former club for the first time in round 11, 2014. Like McKenna three years earlier, it wasn’t a happy reunion.

Matt Priddis had 32 possessions and kicked two goals to earn one Brownlow vote in a season in which he would go on to win the coveted medal, but North, brilliantly led by Ben Cunnington and Nick Dal Santo, were always in control and prevailed 12.10 (82) to 6.8 (44).

Happy birthday Jack

Jack Darling has been all but indestructible in recent years, playing 107 of the last 112 games. But there was a time five years ago when it wasn’t quite the case. A foot problem was causing huge concern.

Having suffered a foot stress fracture at the end of the 2014 season he missed the entire 2015 pre-season and the first 10 games of the 2015 campaign.

Given the unpredictable nature of such an injury, even when he was given the medical all-clear to make his long-awaited return in round 11 there were plenty of crossed fingers and concerned looks in the Eagles camp.

He resumed against Essendon at Subiaco on his 23^rd birthday, when the only present he and the entire West Coast football operation wanted from his 91^st game was a clean bill of health.

He got through unscathed, playing 86% game time and kicking two goals, but never had four marks, nine disposals and one tackle been so closely monitored. They watched his every move in a game in which a 50-point win was not exactly secondary, but there wasn’t much between them.

Matt Priddis (32 possessions) and Andrew Gaff (33 possessions) led the Eagles’ midfield domination to head the Brownlow votes, while Mark LeCras’ four goals earned him one vote.

A new home ground advantage

The Eagles never played a round 11 game at the WACA Ground and after their less-than-fantastic home record of five wins and a draw from 13 round 11 games at Subiaco they were well pleased to have a new ‘home’ for round 11 matches over the past two years.

They beat St Kilda in round 11, 2018 but only after a late scare. After being 48 points up at three-quarter time they conceded the last six goals and but for six goals from Josh Kennedy it may have been a different story. They won by 13 points. Kennedy picked up two votes and Jeremy McGovern one.

It was more comfortable in round 11, 2019 when, after scores were tied at quarter-time and they led by just 11 points at half-time, they kicked 14.4 to 5.2 in the second half to beat the Western Bulldogs by 61 points. Andrew Gaff dominated through the midfield with 36 possessions to pick up three votes, while Jack Darling kicked six goals to earn two votes.