Match

West Coast Eagles vs Melbourne

Commentary / 22 Mar 2020

Pre Game

00:00
The Eagles scored a goal from 35 percent of their kicks into the forward 50 last season (ranked equal-second). Melbourne averaged the fifth-most inside 50 entries in 2019 but ranked last at converting these entries into scores.

Quarter 1

00:00
Q1 is now underway.
00:47
The Demons won the opening centre bounce clearance of the game but were not able to convert this into a score. In 2019, Melbourne was ranked second for centre bounce clearance differential; but ranked in the bottom-4 at scoring from centre bounces.
02:09
SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Kysaiah Pickett)
03:06
SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Rushed)
03:26
The first score for the Eagles was sourced from a kick-in. In 2019, West Coast ranked fourth at scoring from this source and Melbourne ranked last at conceding scores from opposition kick-ins.
05:34
SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Bayley Fritsch)
06:18
Both of the early scores to Melbourne have come from midfield intercepts. Last season the Demons scored 25 points per game from such intercepts (ranked second-last).
06:54
SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Liam Ryan)
07:14
The opening goal of the game to West Coast was sourced from a kick-in (both Eagle scores have cone from this source), with Melbourne already having difficulties defending the Eagles slick ball movement.
10:09
Melbourne has had the ball in its forward half for 63 percent of this quarter but has only had possession of the ball 30 percent of the time with the Eagles able to control the ball with their precise kicking.
11:58
Andrew Gaff has been prolific early with a game-high six disposals. The hard-running Gaff averaged 26 disposals away from a stoppage last season (ranked fourth in the AFL).
14:03
SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Rushed)
14:39
Melbourne has an early 17-7 lead in post-clearance contested possessions, but with kicking efficiency of only 50 percent has not been able to capitalise on this advantage.
15:38
SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Ed Langdon)
16:40
SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Brendon Ah Chee)
16:54
All three scores to the Eagles now have come from kick-in chains. In 2019, the AFL average was just three points per game from this source.
18:05
SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Brendon Ah Chee)
18:24
West Coast was ranked No.1 for centre bounce score differential in 2019 (outscoring its opposition by an average of seven points per game), and the last goal to Ah Chee came from this source
19:32
SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Dom Sheed)
22:15
SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Lewis Jetta)
22:29
West Coast has now scored four goals from its last four inside 50 entries. The Eagles have converted a 9-5 edge in clearances into a 12-1 lead in points scored from stoppages.
24:52
Despite a 23-12 advantage in post-clearance contested possessions and a 14-9 lead in inside 50 entries, the wayward Demons have conceded the first five goals of the game. West Coast recorded a kicking efficiency of 72 percent compared to Melbourne only 48 percent.

Quarter 2

00:00
Q2 is now underway.
00:09
Nic Naitanui won 70 percent of all his disposals at stoppage last season (the highest percentage of any player in the AFL). In the opening quarter, the West Coast talisman won five of his seven disposals post-clearance.
00:27
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Alex Neal-Bullen)
00:41
The early opportunistic goal to Alex Neal-Bullen was sourced from a centre bounce clearance. Melbourne scored only eight points per game from this source in 2019, despite ranking second for centre bounce clearance differential.
03:38
SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Jack Petruccelle)
03:46
Melbourne leads 9-5 in forward half intercepts, but has only scored one point from this source. In 2019, AFL teams on average scored 108 points per 100 forward half intercepts, while Melbourne scored only 93 points per 100 such intercepts (ranked second-last).
06:52
The Eagles were out-marked in only 11 percent of their defensive one-on-one contests in the defensive 50 in 2019 (ranked No.1 defensively). West Coast currently leads 3-0 in one-on-one contest wins, with all of these wins in defensive contests.
09:17
West Coast has retained possession from 64 percent of its inside 50 entries, while Melbourne has retained possession from only 44 percent of its forward 50 entries.
11:00
SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Liam Ryan)
12:54
Jack Viney currently leads all players for contested possessions (nine) and ranking points in a prominent start to the game. His team-high 13 disposals also include three score involvements.
15:28
SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Bayley Fritsch)
15:37
After recording kicking efficiency of only 48 percent in the opening quarter, Melbourne has improved this to 88 percent in the second quarter.
17:06
SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Jack Viney)
17:23
The last score to Melbourne was sourced from a forward half stoppage. Last season the Demons scored from only 30 percent of forward half clearances (ranked last). Today the Demons have scored two points from three such clearances.
20:45
Jack Viney has won nine contested possessions this quarter, which is almost half of his team's total of 21. The former Demon captain now has a total of 14 such possessions which is more than double any other player on the ground.
21:23
SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Jack Darling)
22:17
West Coast has now scored 3.2.(20) from chains starting in its defensive 50, while Melbourne has not scored from any such chains. The AFL average in 2019 was 12 points from these chains.
23:10
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Tom McDonald)
24:47
Melbourne has not been able to convert a 15-6 advantage in forward half intercepts on to the scoreboard with only two behinds scored from this source.

Quarter 3

00:00
Q3 is now underway.
00:57
SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Brendon Ah Chee)
01:24
West Coast has played on after a mark on 20 occasions while Melbourne has only done so nine times. Most of the time West Coast has played on has been in the midfield (16), with this contributing to some quality inside 50 entries.
02:08
SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Liam Ryan)
03:26
Another goal to the Eagles launched from a chain starting in the defensive 50. West Coast has now scored 4.2.(26) from such chains and only scored more than this twice in all of last season, with a season-high of 32 points.
03:35
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Kysaiah Pickett)
06:07
SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Liam Ryan)
08:32
SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Liam Ryan)
08:42
The last goal to Liam Ryan was sourced from a forward half intercept. West Coast has now scored 2.0.(12) from nine such intercepts and in 2019 averaged 24 points per game from 21 forward half intercepts.
10:56
SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Angus Brayshaw)
11:46
Melbourne has now scored 1.4.(10) from set shots at goal while West Coast has returned 4.3.(27) from such shots at goal. The Demons have scored 0.6.(6) from shots at goal from beyond 30 metres and the Eagles have scored 6.3.(39) from their kicks at goal from the same range.
13:10
SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Jarrod Brander)
13:54
SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Dom Sheed)
14:27
Dom Sheed has an equal game-high seven score involvements which includes three assists and two goals while being used primarily in the midfield today.
16:43
SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Tim Kelly)
17:02
The last three goals of the game to the Eagles have all come from intercepts in the attacking midfield. Melbourne has scored 0.4.(4) from 19 forward half intercepts and West Coast has scored 4.1.(25) from 12 such intercepts.
19:59
SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Kysaiah Pickett)
22:10
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Jake Melksham)
22:33
Melbourne has directed nine of its kicks inside 50 to Tom McDonald and seven to Bayley Fritsch. McDonald is yet to take a forward 50 mark with the West Coast defenders able to double-team and disrupt these entries. The Eagles lead 6-1 in intercept marks in the defensive 50.
24:43
West Coast was again able to use the ball more effectively in the third quarter (kicking efficiency 78 percent compared to Melbourne 68 percent). The Demons had only four tackles in the quarter with this contributing to the Eagles being able to use the ball fluently.

Quarter 4

00:00
Q4 is now underway.
01:23
Melbourne has only twice come from more than 33 points behind at three-quarter-time to win. The last occasion was in Round 9, 1977 when it trailed St Kilda by 35 points.
06:23
Melbourne leads 30-27 in forward 50 disposals but has recorded disposal efficiency of only 40 percent in this zone compared to West Coast 59 percent.
06:25
Melbourne has won the first five clearances to start the final quarter but has not been able to convert any of these chains into scores. The Demons have only scored 0.6.(6) from forward half chains today compared to the Eagles 5.2.(32).
08:44
Shannon Hurn, Jeremy McGovern and Tom Barrass have disrupted many Demon attacks and now recorded a combined 21 intercept possessions (including eight intercept marks), 17 spoils and not lost a one-on-one contest.
12:03
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Tom McDonald)
12:09
The goal to Tom McDonald was the second of the day for Melbourne to be launched from a defensive 50 chain. The Demons averaged 15 points per game from such chains in 2019.
15:14
Unfortunately for Demon fans, the forward half struggles from last year have continued with advantages for inside 50 entries (43-32), forward 50 marks (8-7) and forward 50 disposals (35-27) not being converted on to the scoreboard.
16:47
SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Andrew Gaff)
18:11
Melbourne has a massive 89-59 advantage in groundballs which is driving its contested possession dominance. However, the Eagles 117-80 lead in marks is indicative of their ability to control the ball when they do win possession.
18:38
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Kysaiah Pickett)
21:43
A comfortable win for the Eagles with a five-goal first quarter the difference. West Coast recorded more effective kicks (159-116), defeating a wayward Demon team.