Match

Fremantle vs West Coast Eagles

Commentary / 02 Apr 2023

Pre Game

00:00
West Coast gained 285 handball metres last week against GWS Giants – its highest since 2017.

Quarter 1

00:00
Q1 is now underway.
00:50
SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Jack Darling)
02:50
West Coast has scored the opening goal of the match from the first centre bounce. The Eagles were the second-highest scoring side from centre bounces in the first two rounds of the season.
04:10
SCORE GOAL - Dockers (Luke Jackson)
07:02
Luke Jackson has scored Fremantle's first goal after starting the match with a centre-bounce attendance as a midfielder. This is Jackson's first goal of the season, despite having spent 55% of his time on ground playing as a forward this year.
07:16
SCORE GOAL - Dockers (Michael Walters)
08:52
SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Jack Darling)
10:37
SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Oscar Allen)
12:07
Jack Darling has scored two first-quarter goals, having only managed two goals in his first two matches this season. This is the 22nd time that Darling has scored multiple goals in an opening quarter throughout his 260-match career.
13:56
SCORE GOAL - Dockers (Jye Amiss)
15:46
SCORE GOAL - Dockers (Jye Amiss)
16:22
Fremantle's forward line has been potent early, with Jye Amiss scoring his second and the Docker's fourth goal of the match. In the opening two rounds of the season, Fremantle has scored four first-quarter goals - the fewest of any side.
17:30
SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Oscar Allen)
19:18
Four of the seven goals scored so far in the match have been sourced from stoppages. This has not been an area of strength for Fremantle and West Coast, ranked 14th and 11th respectively for this score source in their first two matches of the season.
20:44
SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Oscar Allen)
23:44
SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Oscar Allen)
24:07
Oscar Allen has taken four marks inside 50 for the quarter, converting three of these into goals. No player has taken more than four marks inside 50 in a single quarter this season.
25:08
SCORE BEHIND - Dockers (Rushed)
28:07
SCORE GOAL - Dockers (Michael Walters)
28:57
Having won a career-high 11 inside 50s and 776 metres gained last round against the Giants, Jamaine Jones is one of only two players to have not won a disposal in the first quarter.
34:29
West Coast's contested work was a highlight of the opening term, leading groundballs 28 to 15. This is their best differential in a quarter since 2018.

Quarter 2

00:00
Q2 is now underway.
02:59
Eagles Interchange - Luke Shuey off due to an injury.
03:17
SCORE GOAL - Dockers (Sam Switkowski)
04:16
Fremantle won two hard ball gets in the first quarter. There has only been one match since 2007 when Fremantle has won fewer hard ball gets in a quarter (Round 1, 2020 v Essendon).
04:32
SCORE BEHIND - Dockers (Sean Darcy)
05:53
SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Dom Sheed)
06:19
SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Campbell Chesser)
07:27
Shannon Hurn is playing an important intercepting role across half-back, winning a game-high four intercept possessions. 36% of Shannon Hurn’s disposals have come from kick-ins this season – the highest percentage of any player in the league.
10:02
Eagles Interchange - Tom Barrass off due to the blood rule.
10:37
SCORE GOAL - Dockers (Michael Walters)
11:26
Michael Walters has scored his third goal of the game, overall his 33rd career goal against the Eagles - his best result against any side. Walters has not scored more than three goals in a match since Round 13, 2019.
12:29
SCORE GOAL - Dockers (Michael Frederick)
13:25
Fremantle has been very efficient tonight at converting their inside 50s into goals. They have scored eight goals from their 23 inside 50s at a conversion of 35%. Fremantle ranked last for goals per inside 50 in the first two rounds (14.4% conversion).
15:27
SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Oscar Allen)
16:38
SCORE BEHIND - Dockers (Liam Henry)
19:20
SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Jamie Cripps)
19:40
Eagles Interchange - Jeremy McGovern and is possibly out for the game.
20:21
Sean Darcy has won 25 hitouts, with nine of these being to advantage. Overall the Dockers lead hitouts to advantage 10 to one. Despite this large differential, the Dockers only lead clearances by two (16 to 14).
20:36
SCORE BEHIND - Dockers (Jye Amiss)
22:19
SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Elijah Hewett)
25:11
SCORE GOAL - Dockers (Sean Darcy)
25:51
Accuracy has been a key difference between the two sides in the second quarter. The Dockers have scored 4.3 (27) from their seven shots at goal this term, compared to a wasteful 0.5 (5) for the Eagles from their five respective shots.
28:24
SCORE BEHIND - Dockers (Rushed)
30:03
Eagles Interchange - Alex Witherden and is possibly out for the game.
31:37
The Eagles trail by 22 points entering half-time, and it could be much worse if not for Tom Barrass. Barrass has won a game-high five intercept marks and has collected 11 disposals at 91% efficiency. Barrass completed five intercept marks throughout the entire first two rounds of the season.

Quarter 3

00:00
Q3 is now underway.
05:08
The Eagles have generated the first five inside 50s of the quarter. The Eagles struggled with territory in the second quarter, recording a time in forward half of 42% as well as four fewer inside 50s.
06:39
SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Oscar Allen)
09:03
SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Dom Sheed)
10:03
West Coast has finally got some reward for their effort this quarter, with Dom Sheed scoring their first goal since the 24-minute mark of the first quarter. The Eagles have had the ball in their attacking half of the ground for 90% of the quarter so far.
11:55
SCORE GOAL - Dockers (Lachie Schultz)
12:25
Caleb Serong has won a team-high 19 disposals and leads the match in clearances (five), contested possessions (nine), inside 50s (seven), score assists (three) and tackles (five). Caleb Serong is averaging 31.8 disposals in his last five games – ranked second in the competition.
15:48
Fremantle's score of 10.5 (65) surpasses their average of 64 points in their last five games at Optus Stadium.
16:27
Eagles Interchange - Jamie Cripps and is possibly out for the game.
17:25
SCORE BEHIND - Dockers (Nathan O'Driscoll)
18:50
The Eagles have won eight forward-half intercepts at the halfway point of the quarter. They managed to win just 11 intercepts in this zone in the entire first half.
21:00
Fremantle's pressure has increased in the third quarter, as they continue to absorb the Eagle's attacking 50 entries. Fremantle's pressure factor for the quarter is 226, considerably higher than their first-half result of 179.
21:45
SCORE BEHIND - Dockers (Michael Walters)
23:11
SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Tim Kelly)
25:40
SCORE BEHIND - Dockers (Nathan O'Driscoll)
28:52
Eagles Interchange - Liam Ryan off due to an injury.
28:59
SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Jayden Hunt)
29:11
The Eagles currently have no fit players available on the interchange bench. Luke Shuey has been substituted out of the match, and Jeremy McGovern, Alex Witherden, Jamie Cripps and Liam Ryan are all currently injured. The Eagles have only used their interchange 10 times this quarter, compared to 18 for the Dockers.
31:05
SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Jake Waterman)
32:32
SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Elijah Hewett)
34:38
SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Jack Darling)
34:42
Despite the lack of fit players available on the interchange, the Eagles finished off the quarter full of momentum. They generated five of the last six inside 50s of the quarter, and in the last 10 minutes of the quarter led disposals 42 to 18, tackles five to one, and contested possessions 12 to five.

Quarter 4

00:00
Q4 is now underway.
01:24
SCORE GOAL - Eagles (Jack Darling)
02:56
SCORE GOAL - Dockers (Andrew Brayshaw)
03:29
Andrew Brayshaw, who leads the match in clearances with eight, has scored a much-needed goal for the Dockers - his first goal of the season. Brayshaw averages 26.7 disposals, 17.7 uncontested possessions, and 4.7 tackles in his last three games against West Coast.
06:04
Last round, West Coast won the groundballs by 22 against the Giants – its best differential since 2017. They have improved on this result tonight, leading groundballs by 24 (87 to 63).
06:25
SCORE GOAL - Dockers (Michael Walters)
08:14
SCORE BEHIND - Eagles (Tim Kelly)
09:45
SCORE BEHIND - Dockers (Michael Frederick)
10:59
SCORE BEHIND - Dockers (Rushed)
11:58
Since half-time, the Dockers have generated a score from 47% of their inside 50s and a goal from under 18% of these entries. This is a strong improvement defensively by West Coast. The Eagles have conceded a score from 52.5% and a goal from 29.7% of their opponents inside 50s this season – ranked 17th in both measures.
14:34
SCORE GOAL - Dockers (Hayden Young)
14:55
Hayden Young has scored the second goal of his career - the eighth goal of the match for the Dockers from a forward half launch. Fremantle has outscored West Coast considerably from forward-half score launches tonight, scoring 9.4 (58) from this zone compared to 4.7 (31) for the Eagles.
17:35
Eagles Interchange - Liam Ryan and is possibly out for the game.
18:58
Fremantle has played distinctively more direct tonight compared to their previous two performances this season. They came into the match averaging 17.5 backward kicks this season –the most in the competition. Tonight they have recorded just the five backward kicks.
19:59
SCORE GOAL - Dockers (Sam Switkowski)
20:40
Sam Switkowski has topped off a career-best performance with a late goal. Switkowski has won a career-high 21 disposals and has an equal team-high nine score involvements. Switkowski has recorded 42.8 pressure points per game in the forward half – ranked fourth in the AFL.
21:42
SCORE GOAL - Dockers (Luke Jackson)
23:07
SCORE BEHIND - Dockers (Rushed)
25:15
Fremantle has taken full advantage of the Eagle's limited player availability in the second half. After half-time, the Dockers have made 37 player interchanges, compared to 16 for the Eagles.
25:31
SCORE BEHIND - Dockers (Sean Darcy)
27:05
West Coast has impressively won the contested possession contest tonight, currently leading the count by 12. The Eagles have won the contested possession count just once since Round 17 last season which was last week against the Giants by six.
27:39
SCORE GOAL - Dockers (Michael Frederick)
30:38
The Dockers were dominant late in the game, outscoring the Eagles in the final quarter 6.4 (40) to 1.1 (7). 61% of the play in the final term was held in their attacking half of the ground and they were able to generate eight more inside 50s after the final break.