Match

West Coast Eagles vs Essendon

Commentary / 05 Sep 2019

Pre Game

00:00
Essendon has jumped from 11th in 2018 to eighth on the ladder this season. The Bombers concede the third-most time in forward half differential (over six minutes per game), however they compensate by averaging the fourth-highest score (32 points) launched from defensive half.

Quarter 1

00:00
Q1 is now underway.
02:24
Andrew McGrath has opened the scoring for Essendon in enemy territory. Michael Hurley has already won three intercepts, the latest of which has generated the possession chain ending in the Bombers' first goal.
04:03
SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Josh J. Kennedy)
04:37
West Coast hits back straight away as Nic Naitanui's centre clearance eventually ends in a mark to Josh Kennedy in front of goal. This season the Eagles have outscored their opposition by an average of 5.5 points per game from scores launched from centre clearances (ranked second).
06:27
SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Jamie Cripps)
09:12
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Will Snelling)
09:47
In just his fifth career game, Will Snelling has notched his fifth career goal. The Bombers have won two forward half intercepts and generated goals in general play from the resulting possession chains of both.
11:05
SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Jack Darling)
11:08
History repeats as once again the Eagles takes the next centre clearance and finds a marking target inside 50, this time in Jack Darling. This season West Coast only averages 10.9 marks per game inside forward 50, ranked 11th of all league teams.
12:35
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Orazio Fantasia)
14:43
SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Jamie Cripps)
16:54
SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Jamie Cripps)
17:12
With his third attempt of the quarter Jamie Cripps has kicked his first major and put the Eagles seven points clear. West Coast has retained possession with six of its eight kicks inside 50, while Essendon has done likewise just once from seven kicks inside 50.
19:19
SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Jake Waterman)
19:35
The Eagles are starting to control possession, with 74 per cent of their kicks effective (in comparison to the Bombers' 56 per cent). West Coast has taken nine more uncontested marks than Essendon.
20:55
SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Willie Rioli)
21:04
In the past ten minutes the Eagles have conceded an extra three clearances to the Bombers, but have won an extra three intercepts. West Coast has generated its past three goals from intercepts won in the midfield.
23:43
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Jayden Laverde)
23:53
Essendon captain Dyson Heppell is leading from the front, winning a clearance and three intercepts on his way to recording a game-high nine disposals. He has been involved in three of the four possession chains ending in scores to the Bombers.
25:38
SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Rushed)
26:17
SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Willie Rioli)
29:06
SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Josh J. Kennedy)
29:09
As noted pre-game, the Eagles have the highest kick-handball ratio (1.78) across the year of any side. West Coast has taken this split to the next level with the highest ratio of any team in a first quarter this year (3.39), recording 61 kicks in comparison to 18 handballs.

Quarter 2

00:00
Q2 is now underway.
00:19
SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Josh J. Kennedy)
00:54
That's three goals to the Eagles launched out of just five centre clearances. For context, this season the league average is a score resulting from 23 per cent of centre clearances, with West Coast averaging 12.3 points per game from this source (ranked third).
02:11
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti)
03:43
SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Liam Ryan)
05:03
SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Liam Ryan)
05:34
Two goals in just over a minute to Liam Ryan and this match is sliding heavily in West Coast's favour. The Eagles have been superbly efficient with seven goals from their last 13 ventures inside 50 (54 per cent). significantly above the season league average of 22 per cent.
06:38
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Will Snelling)
08:36
Will Snelling has two to his name for the Bombers, matching his personal best set in his previous game in Round 20 against Port Adelaide.
08:37
SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Josh J. Kennedy)
12:29
SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Jamie Cripps)
12:55
West Coast is just too clean for Essendon, with 8.8 disposals for every turnover this quarter in comparison to the Bombers' ratio of just 3.7 disposals per turnover.
13:44
SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Rushed)
15:25
SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Tom Hickey)
17:15
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Orazio Fantasia)
17:45
With just the Bombers' third tackle inside their forward half for the match, Orazio Fantasia has won a free kick for holding the ball and kicked truly. The Eagles have laid nine tackles inside their forward half.
20:10
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Adam Saad)
21:35
Essendon has capitalised on some sloppy play from West Coast with three goals from its past four entries. The Eagles have turned the ball over nine times in their past 26 disposals, after it took 65 disposals for their previous nine turnovers of the match.
23:13
SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Rushed)
30:28
West Coast flew out of the blocks in the second quarter but were more wasteful as the term progressed. The Eagles only retained possession from five of their past 11 kicks inside 50 (45 per cent), after they did so on 16 occasions from their first 19 kicks inside 50 (84 per cent) of the match.

Quarter 3

00:00
Q3 is now underway.
02:16
SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Josh J. Kennedy)
02:36
Willie Rioli has found Josh Kennedy to open West Coast's account for the second half. Rioli has recorded a game-high eight score involvements, while Kennedy has kicked 4.1 (25) to go with two goal assists of his own.
05:43
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti)
06:12
Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti brings the game back to the half-time margin with his first. Of the top 50 goal kickers this season, the Bombers forward had the sixth-highest accuracy at 73.2 per cent prior to this match.
06:51
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Adam Saad)
08:18
Essendon is back within four goals as the centre clearance to Kyle Langford eventuates in a goal to Adam Saad on the run from outside 50. The Bombers have only managed one goal from within 30 metres, whereas the Eagles have kicked six from within this distance.
09:02
SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Jake Waterman)
13:43
Bombers Interchange - Mitch Brown and is possibly out for the game.
14:11
SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Chris Masten)
16:05
From their past ten shots the Eagles have managed just 2.4 (16) with four misses. Prior to this West Coast kicked 9.3 (57) with two misses from its first 14 shots.
17:46
SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Jamie Cripps)
17:57
Jamie Cripps has taken West Coast's 12th mark inside forward 50 and kicked their sixth goal from marks, and third goal individually. Essendon has only taken three marks inside 50 for the match.
21:28
SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Elliot Yeo)
22:40
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Rushed)
24:06
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Orazio Fantasia)
25:39
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Rushed)
26:28
SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Jake Waterman)
27:18
Jake Waterman has won a ground ball inside forward 50 and run into open goal. The Eagles have won 15 ground balls inside forward 50 in comparison to just three by the Bombers, with Jamie Cripps leading the way with five for the home side.
29:08
West Coast has fended off an early Essendon surge in the third quarter and by three-quarter time has increased its lead to 36 points. Luke Shuey was immense in the term, with four clearances, 13 disposals and three entries inside forward 50.

Quarter 4

00:00
Q4 is now underway.
03:40
SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Josh J. Kennedy)
06:46
SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Jamie Cripps)
07:14
West Coast has only laid 32 tackles for the night (five fewer than Essendon), however six of these have resulted in receiving free kicks for holding the ball (three more than the Bombers).
09:04
SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Dom Sheed)
09:42
SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Dom Sheed)
10:14
Sheed makes amends after hitting the post just a minute earlier. The Eagles have controlled possession (14 per cent more time in possession) and field position (68 per cent time in forward half) to stamp out any chance of a Bomber comeback early in the final term.
10:57
SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Liam Ryan)
12:12
Two goals launched from successive centre clearances and the Eagles will be playing next week in Victoria. West Coast has won 15 centre clearances which have launched six resulting goals, the club's highest score from this score source in a match since 2017.
18:01
Eagles Interchange - Jackson Nelson and is possibly out for the game.
20:13
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Darcy Parish)
21:48
West Coast has notched 109 marks to date in this match, with of those 93 uncontested. Prior to this match the Eagles averaged 98 marks per game (ranked third) and they had won nine out of ten games when taking 100 or more marks.
22:27
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti)
24:18
That's now seven goals launched from 16 centre clearances for West Coast, matching the tally kicked by the club back in Round 14 2017 against Melbourne.
29:09
Jamie Cripps has been industrious in the forward line for West Coast. Along with his 4.3 (27), he has recorded 22 disposals, 401 metres gained and recorded a game-high 12 score involvements.
29:49
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti)
30:17
West Coast has won its fourth consecutive finals match and first final against Essendon. The Eagles won all four quarters on their way to a 55-point margin, but blew the game open with seven goals from 13 forward 50 entries across the first and second quarters.