Three votes but no medal

It is one of the oddities in West Coast history that Peter Matera never won a Glendinning Medal. He enjoyed a 12-2 winning record against Fremantle and averaged 21 possessions and just less than a goal in derby football. But no best afield medal.

In round 18 1997, though, he did pick up three votes in the Brownlow Medal after the Eagles turned on a second half blitz to win 13.4 (82) to 7.7 (49) after scores in derby #6 were level at halftime.

Matera had a team-high 29 possessions to take the votes from Dean Kemp, who had received the medal for his 23 possessions and two goals. Chris Lewis was another standout with 27 possessions and three goals as David Hart, who had played his 100^th Eagles games in round 18 five years earlier, played his 184^th and last game for the club.

Eight in a row

West Coast stretched their unbeaten run in the western derby to eight when they beat Fremantle by 39 points in round 19, 1998. And after missing the spoils 12 months earlier Chris Lewis took three votes and the Glendinning after 16 possessions and four goals.

Three years later

Late in the round 18 game against Essendon in 1996 a burly young Scott Cummings took a series of saving marks for the Bombers deep in defence. He was 22 in his 39^th game and after kicking two early goals he found an unlikely role late in what turned out to be his second-last game in red and black.

Fast forward three years to round 18, 1999 and it was a different Cummings. He’d had a two-year stint with Port Adelaide in 1997-98 before joining West Coast and was on target to win the Coleman Medal as they hosted Collingwood at the WACA Ground.

Cummings kicked seven goals and Phil Matera four as the home side prevailed 16.12 (108) to 10.12 (72). He picked up two Brownlow votes as Peter Matera (27 possessions) took maximum votes and Chad Rintoul, later to join Collingwood in 2001, had 31 possessions.

Career-high for Jako

Glen Jakovich played his 201^st game against St Kilda at the WACA Ground in round 18, 2000 and did something he’d not done in his first 200 games. He had 34 possessions.

It was a tough year. The Eagles had lost six games in a row, were coming off a 61-point loss to eventual premiers North Melbourne and were 13^th on the ladder as they prepared to host a Saints line-up doing it even tougher. The Saints were at the bottom of the ladder but were coming off a 28-point win over Sydney.

Coach Ken Judge, in his first season at the helm, needed his senior players to lift. And they did. Dean Kemp, in his 231^st game, had 35 possessions. It was a tally second only to his career to the 38 eight weeks earlier and earned him three votes.

Jakovich had 27 kicks, took 13 marks and gave off seven handballs for his career-best possession total as the home side piled on 8.7 to 1.1 in the second half for a 17.13 (115) to 4.5 (29) win. And still Jakovich missed the votes, with Phil Matera receiving two for his five goals for two votes and Stewart Loewe one vote for 28 possessions and eight contested marks despite the heavy loss.

St Kilda were back in Perth in round 18 2001 and suffered an even bigger loss. Andrew Embley and Ashley McIntosh kicked four apiece in a 92-point win at Subiaco in which Ben Cousins, Michael Gardiner and Chad Fletcher took the votes.

Three votes for Adkins

Damien Adkins played 54 AFL games for Collingwood and West Coast from 2000-05 but only once did he figure in the Brownlow Medal votes. It was in round 18, 2004 when the Eagles beat the Western Bulldogs by 49 points at Subiaco.

Then 23 and playing his 20^th game for the Eagles, he had 15 possessions and kicked an equal career-best two goals in an all-the-way win in which Chad Fletcher had 30 possessions and Phil Matera and Andrew McDougall kicked three goals.

It was a standout moment for the running utility who hailed from Leongatha, south-east of Melbourne, was drafted with pick #50 in the 1998 AFL National Draft, and is among a star-studded list of Gippsland Power draftees that includes retired AFL captains Brendon Goddard, Robert Murphy and Jarryd Roughead and current AFL captains Scott Pendlebury, Dyson Heppell and Sam Docherty.

Traded by Collingwood to West Coast in 2002 for Andrew Williams, he was so highly rated that the 2003 AFL Guide said of him “... has the potential to be one of the most damaging midfielders in the competition”.

But it didn’t quite work out as Adkins was hit by the ‘right place, wrong time’ affliction for the second time in his career. Having been at Collingwood when they played in the 2000 grand final and missed out, he had to confront the same scenario at West Coast in the 2005 grand final.

Collingwood and West Coast played a total of eight finals during his time but his only finals appearance was with West Coast in 2004, when they lost an elimination final to Sydney by 41 points.

Adkins also has an obscure No.1 ranking in AFL history? On the all-time playing list of now 250 AFL players he is #1 alphabetically from current trio Brendon AhChee, Brayden Ainsworth and Oscar Allen.

At the risk of turning sublime trivia into ridiculous trash, only six of 821 listed players across the entire AFL this year would slot in ahead of him. They are Marcus Adams, Taylor Adams, Blake Acres, Gary Ablett, Ryan Abbott and a recent debutant who will take some beating – Jake Aarts.

Wayward kicking

There were two games about 100 years ago in which Geelong and St Kilda kicked 0.18. The Cats did it in 1919 and the Saints followed in 1921. It’s an all-time AFL record for most behinds without a goal.

In round 18, 2005 the Eagles didn’t quite get to that stage, but they did kick 25 behinds.

It was 12.25 (97) to Hawthorn 7.7 (49) at Subiaco. Twenty-three more scoring shots for a side sitting on top of the ladder and yet they won by only 48 points against an opponent sitting second bottom.

And still it was one behind short of the club’s all-time behinds record of 26 posted in 1990 (16.26) and 1992 (14.26) and not even remotely close to the all-time AFL record of 41 behinds in a game, set in 1977 when Hawthorn kicked 25.41 to StKilda’s 16.7.

By the final siren coach John Worsfold was just happy to get out of it with no major damage. Ben Cousins topped the possession count with 29 and picked up three Brownlow Medal votes.

An anxious moment

There were no such goal-kicking dramas 12 months later when second-placed West Coast beat fourth-placed St Kilda by 39 points at Docklands in round 18, 2006. On a mission to go one better than their grand final loss of 2005, the Eagles were travelling beautifully.

Ben Cousins had 35 possessions and kicked two goals but had to be content with two Brownlow votes behind Daniel Kerr, who had 26 possessions and two goals. Chris Judd missed the votes altogether despite his 28 possessions and three goals.

But all was not well with one long-time favorite. Drew Banfield, in his 14^th and final season, was dropped for the second time in four weeks. The former #1 draft pick hadn’t played in the seniors until round 9 in 2006 due to a thumb injury and was just hanging on.

He lost his place in the side in round 18 as Andrew Embley and Chad Fletcher returned from injury, and at 32 the 259-game veteran was walking a selection tightrope.

As it turned out he was an emergency again in round 19, was recalled for the last three home-and-away games and the first final but was dropped again for the second final.

Banfield was recalled for the preliminary final when David Wirrpanda was out with a hamstring and Matt Rosa was dropped, and was given a fairytale grand final exit when he was picked ahead of Jaymie Graham when Wirrpanda returned.

A twin century

In 123 years and six rounds of the crazy season that is 2020 a total of 12,797 players have played in the VFL/AFL. Of these 1992 have played 100 games for the same club. Or 15.6% of the total player pool. But only 44 players, or 0.3%, have played 100 games for two clubs.

That puts Daniel Chick in very, very special company.

Chick joined this exclusive ‘twin centuries club’ in round 18, 2007 when he played his 100^th game for West Coast after 149 games for Hawthorn, becoming the TCC’s 28^th member.

His special milestone coincided with Quentin’s Lynch’s 100^th game for the Eagles but, sadly, the outcome of the game against Fremantle at Subiaco didn’t match the occasion. Fremantle won by 27 points despite 25 possessions from Daniel Kerr and four goals from Mark LeCras.

The twin centuries club had welcomed its first member back in 1980 when Barry Round played his 100^th game for South Melbourne after having played 100 games for Footscray.

And after Round shared the 1981 Brownlow Medal with Fitzroy’s Bernie Quinlan he welcomed his good mate to the TCC in 1982 when Quinlan, who had started his career at Footscray, reached 100 games for Fitzroy.

The pair had begun together at Footscray in 1969, and after 19-year-old Round debuted in round one he welcomed 17-year-old Quinlan to the AFL ‘family’ in his 12^th game in round 12.

They played together for seven years and against each other for 10 years before Round retired in 1985. Quinlan retired 12 months later to close one of football’s great stories.

The pair shared a very special bond not just with each other but with their countless teammates at two clubs. Just as Chick did when he joined the TCC.

Chick was the second player with a West Coast connection to qualify for TCC membership after Fraser Gehrig, an Eagles youngster turned St Kilda recruit, had become the 25^th member in 2006.

It was a busy time for the TCC membership clerk, with Sav Rocca following in round 20 and Jeff Farmer in round 22 before Chick in 2007.

Tyson Stenglein, who started at Adelaide before joining West Coast, was member #30 in 2009 and Chris Judd, who went from West Coast to Carlton, was member #33 in 2012.

Only last week Patrick Dangerfield became member #44, with Mitch Robinson scheduled to follow him in round nine, fitness permitting.

Closing in on the same milestone is Jack Redden, who has played 88 games for the Eagles after 129 for Brisbane. Lewis Jetta is 15 further back, with 73 Eagles games after 127 for Sydney.

Eleven goals in a quarter

In 784 AFL games and 3136 AFL quarters West Coast have kicked 10 goals or more in a quarter just 15 times. They’ve kicked 11 goals or more just eight times, and a record 12 goals just once.

The record 12 came in the third quarter against Gold Coast at Subiaco in 2015, when Josh Kennedy and Mark LeCras kicked three each in a 12.0 to 1.4 onslaught to set up a 92-point win.

The biggest first quarter blitz was 11.4 against GWS at Blacktown in 2012, while the biggest second quarter blitz was 11.4 against North Melbourne at the MCG in 2000.

And the biggest final quarter scoring assault was in round 18, 2012 against Brisbane at Subiaco, when the Eagles kicked 11.1 to 5.2 for a 98-point win. The final term went 36min 57sec – almost two quarters in season 2020 – and only a Jonathan Brown goal on the final siren spared the Lions a 100-point loss.

Who did the damage for the Eagles? It’s a tough question because Josh Kennedy and Mark LeCras were both sidelined by injury.

Jack Darling kicked three for a game-high total of five but you’d almost have to be a family member to recall the other Eagle who kicked three. It wasn’t Josh Hill, who kicked four overall, or Nic Naitanui, who kicked an equal career-best three. They kicked one in the last quarter along with Shannon Hurn, Andrew Gaff and Scott Selwood.

And it wasn’t Quinten Lynch, who kicked one for the day to be among 15 different goal-kickers.

The other three-goal destroyer in the final term was a 25-year-old originally from Busselton on the south-west tip of WA in the 28^th game of a career that began on the rookie list and only reached 39 games.

He was a small forward whose three-goal final quarter on this pleasant Sunday afternoon against Brisbane was an equal career high for a full game.

Final clue. He wore #43. In fact, of 48 Eagles games in which #43 has been worn he was responsible for all but nine of them. And it wasn’t Brad Gwilliam or Neil Marshall, who played four games each in #43, or Zac Beeck, who played his one and only game in #43.’

It was Ashton Hams.

Naitanui’s 15 possessions, three goals, 36 hit-outs and five contested marks in his 70^th game earned him three Brownlow votes, while Beau Waters and Gaff, with 30 possessions and a goal each, took the minor votes.

It’s a draw

West Coast played their fifth and most recent draw in round 18, 2015 against Gold Coast at Carrara.

It was the second-placed Eagles against the 17^th-placed Suns but it was a thriller. The visitors led by four points at quarter-time and six points at halftime but trailed by three points at the last change.

In the fluctuating final 30 minutes Elliot Yeo put West Coast in front before Charlie Dixon replied for the Gold Coast. Jack Darling answered for West Coast before Gold Coast got two in a row via Brandon Matera and Aaron Hall. Suns by 10 points after 12 minutes as the upset of the year beckoned.

West Coast got the next two via Callum Sinclair and Shannon Hannon to get two points up before kicking four consecutive behinds. Six points up.

For five minutes the ball went end to end until Suns co-captain Tom Lynch floated in from the side to pull down a superb mark. He kicked truly from 40m on an angle, just sneaking it inside the right post as time expired.

Matt Priddis (34 possessions),  Luke Shuey (33) and Chris Masten (30) had plenty of the ball for West Coast as Priddis took two Brownlow votes the Suns’ Harley Bennell (3) and Steve May (1) also caught the umpires’ eye.

Interestingly, five years on 13 members of the Eagles side that day are still with the club, eight have retired and Callum Sinclair is playing at Sydney. Of the Suns side, eight have retired, only five are still at the club, and nine are at other clubs – Lynch (Richmond), Dixon (Port), Bennell and Kade Kolodjashnij (Melbourne), Hall (North), Jack Martin (Carlton), Adam Saad (Essendon), Brandon Matera (Fremantle).

A tough fight

The Eagles were on a four-game winning streak when they hosted Melbourne at Subiaco in round 18, 2016., but they hit an unexpected hurdle. They trailed the inconsistent Demons at each break by one point, two points and six points, and suddenly things didn’t look so rosy.

Andrew Gaff and Josh Hill goaled early in the final term to put the home side in front before 22 frenetic minutes without a goal closed out the game. It was tough going. Melbourne posted two behinds and West Coast two behinds and won 10.6 (66) to 8.12 (60). Matt Priddis was judged best afield.

A milestone meltdown

It was a milestone bonanza in round 18, 2017 when West Coast, eighth on the AFL ladder, headed east to play Collingwood, out of finals contention, at Docklands.

It was Josh Kennedy’s 200^th AFL game, Luke Shuey’s 150^th game and Elliot Yeo’s 100^th game. And when the Eagles led by 18 points at three-quarter time it seemed like all was going to script. It was going to be a big celebration. Especially after Jack Darling kicked the first goal of the final term to push the margin out to 24 points.

But the Pies had something left in the tank. They kicked a steadier shortly after the Darling goal and, after 15 goalless minutes, they banged on four in eight minutes to win 13.15 (93) to 13.7 (85).

Kennedy kicked six goals in his 200^th to pick up two Brownlow votes but otherwise it was a sorry bunch as they slid outside the top eight. After they fluctuated between eighth and ninth in the following weeks it took a round 23 win over minor premiers Adelaide to get them into the finals.

A special moment in Alice

Traeger Park, known as the jewel in the centre, is the premier sporting stadium in Alice Springs. It was named after Alfred Herman ‘Alf’ Traeger OBE, an Australian engineer and inventor who died in 1980 aged 84.

He was best known for the development of the pedal radio and was instrumental in the establishment of the Royal Flying Doctor Service and the School of the Air. Originally from Adelaide, he was known and respected throughout the Territory and is commemorated via a plaque and an old RFDS plane at the stadium that carries his name.

The stadium began hosting AFL pre-season games in 2004 and despite an official capacity of 7200 and a grandstand that has just 220 seats proudly boasts a record attendance of 11,000 for a NAB Cup game between West Coast and Adelaide in March 2007.

It hosted the 2016-17 Sheffield Shield Final, has been used by the Hobart Hurricanes and Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash since 2018, and has been a home away from home for the Melbourne Football Club since 2014.

The Demons played Port Adelaide at Traeger Park in 2014-15-16, Gold Coast in 2017, Adelaide in 2018 and last year it became the 27^th different official venue to host the West Coast Eagles.

It was round 18. And fittingly, after a late call-up, Francis Watson became the 33rd Indigenous player to wear the blue and gold of the Eagles at AFL level.

He’d been three years on the Eagles list waiting for a chance, and got it out of the blue when skipper Shannon Hurn, passed fit to play the day before, pulled up with a tight calf 90 minutes before the first bounce.

It capped a remarkable and at times uncertain journey from the tiny community of Balgo in the shire of Hall Creek in the Kimberley region of WA which in the 2016 census recorded a population of 359.

By then Watson had gone. A basketball player in his youth, he took up football at 17 and by the age of 20 had made his senior WAFL debut with Claremont in 2015.

His path to the Eagles had been questioned when in September 2016 the Fremantle Dockers attempted to register him as part of their Next Generation Academy, but the AFL ruled against them because Watson had not lived in the Kimberley region in the relevant period.

After being snapped up by the Eagles as a Category B rookie he made a brilliant start to the 2017 WAFL season and was in line for a shock senior call-up then until he was cut down by an ankle problem.

He was an emergency for the AFL side in rounds 1-5-22 in 2018 and rounds 2-4 in 2019 before a trip to Alice thinking he was only going to watch turned into the moment of his dreams.

Wearing jumper #26, Watson had 14 possessions as West Coast, 20 points up at quarter time and six point down at three-quarter time, beat Melbourne by 13 points. Dom Sheed collected 34 possessions and three Brownlow votes and Jack Darling kicked four goals.

In a thrilling final term Elliot Yeo and Darling (two) added three goals in the first 10 minutes to put the Eagles 11 points up before Harry Petty cut the margin to seven. Although there were still five minutes to play when Sheed kicked his side’s 14^th goal the Eagles were home.

Watson became player #248 on the all-time Eagles list after Jarrod Cameron had been #247. With Tim Kelly and Jamaine Jones following this year the last four new Eagles players have all been Indigenous.