2018 West Coast Eagles season

Last updated

West Coast Eagles
2018 season
West Coast huddle 2018.jpg
Team huddle in round 5
Coach Adam Simpson
(5th season)
Captain(s) Shannon Hurn
(4th season)
Home ground Optus Stadium
AFL season 2nd
Best and Fairest Elliot Yeo
Leading goalkicker Jack Darling (48)
Highest home attendance100,022 vs. Collingwood (Grand Final)
Lowest home attendance46,854 vs Western Bulldogs (round 18)
Club membership80,290
← 2017 2019 →

The West Coast Eagles are an Australian rules football team based in Perth, Western Australia. Their 2018 season was their 32nd season in the Australian Football League (AFL), their fifth season under coach Adam Simpson, and their fourth season with Shannon Hurn as captain. The West Coast Eagles finished the season with 16 wins and 6 losses, placing them second on the ladder, qualifying for the 2018 AFL finals series. They would go on to win the Grand Final by 5 points against Collingwood.

Contents

Background

Shannon Hurn 2018.1.jpg
Adam Simpson 2018.1.jpg
Shannon Hurn (captain) and Adam Simpson (coach)

The West Coast Eagles are an Australian rules football team based in Perth, Western Australia, that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). They finished the 2017 home-and-away season eighth on the ladder. They were eliminated in the semi-finals.

Shannon Hurn was the team's captain in 2018 for a fourth consecutive year. [1] Adam Simpson was the team's senior coach.

West Coast had 80,290 members in 2018, a 23.40% increase on 2017 numbers. [2]

Playing list

2017 off-season changes

Statistics

Playing list and statistics [3]
PlayerNo.Games Goals Behinds Kicks Handballs Disposals Marks Tackles Notes/Milestone(s)
Liam Ryan 1132015113371503725AFL debut (round 1)
Mark LeCras 22332212301013318970
Andrew Gaff 31912433924458310056
Dom Sheed 418872311824137233
Brad Sheppard 5230125312037314853
Elliot Yeo 6251415390225615129167
Chris Masten 7247527419046414042
Jack Redden 825104351277628140118
Nic Naitanui 9156582811632564
Jarrod Brander 1010150531AFL debut (round 13)
Oscar Allen 122011382185AFL debut (round 16)
Luke Shuey 1320672572194766397
Liam Duggan 14242229111640711549
Jamie Cripps 1525381824914939812297
Eric Mackenzie 160———————
Josh Kennedy 17144320117381556828
Daniel Venables 18159975691444238
Nathan Vardy 1910743744812629
Jeremy McGovern 2024622599735616931
Jack Petruccelle 21320791633AFL debut (round 6)
Hamish Brayshaw 220———————
Lewis Jetta 2320112271013289132
Luke Partington 240———————
Shannon Hurn 25251243010153119644
Francis Watson 260——————— Rookie
Jack Darling 272148271888827612950
Tom Cole 2821011511242757351
Scott Lycett 292510101671453126983
Jackson Nelson 3010027921100368
Will Schofield 3112006428924016
Ryan Burrows320——————— Rookie
Brayden Ainsworth 333102714411013AFL debut (round 8)
Mark Hutchings 3420952121303426987
Josh Rotham 350———————
Fraser McInnes 3631315102598 Rookie
Tom Barrass 3719001934924212415
Kurt Mutimer 380———————
Malcolm Karpany 390———————
Tony Olango400——————— Rookie
Brendon Ah Chee 4182554551093025West Coast debut (round 8)
Tarir Bayok420——————— Rookie
Matthew Allen430———————
Willie Rioli 44242814182902727763AFL debut (round 2)
Jake Waterman 45161312118601787523AFL debut (round 1)
Callan England460——————— Rookie

Season summary

West Coast started the 2018 season by facing Sydney in the first AFL match at the newly opened Perth Stadium (known under sponsorship as Optus Stadium). The Eagles lost that match by 29 points. [4] West Coast would then go on to win their next 10 matches, the most notable of which was against Richmond at Optus Stadium in round 9. Richmond were the reigning premiers, and ladder leaders at the time, having lost just one game, and were ahead of West Coast on the ladder by percentage only. The Eagles managed to win that game by 47 points, putting West Coast first on the ladder and in serious contention for the premiership. [5]

After their round 12 bye, West Coast lost the next three matches against Sydney, Essendon and Adelaide. [6] West Coast broke their streak of bad games by beating Greater Western Sydney in round 16. This was followed by wins against Collingwood, Western Bulldogs, a loss against North Melbourne in Hobart, and a win against Fremantle in the season's second Western Derby. During the Derby, Eagles midfielder Andrew Gaff made an unprovoked and off-the-ball punch on Fremantle's Andrew Brayshaw, breaking his jaw. Gaff was criticised for this on social media and figures in the AFL world. [7] Gaff received an eight match suspension for this punch. [8]

The following week after the Western Derby, West Coast beat Port Adelaide after Jeremy McGovern kicked a goal after the siren. West Coast did not have the lead at any point during the match, and came from four goals down to win the game. This was the second time in a year within a year that West Coast beat Port Adelaide with a goal after the siren, the first being an elimination final in 2017. [9] West Coast would then lose the second last match of the season to Melbourne, and win the last match against Brisbane Lions. At the end of the season, West Coast were second on the ladder, only behind Richmond. This qualified West Coast to have two home finals. [10]

Their first final was a qualifying final against Collingwood. The Eagles came from 10 points down at three quarter time to win by 16 points. [11] This sent West Coast into a preliminary final two weeks later against Melbourne. In the match, West Coast thrashed Melbourne by 66 points. In the first half, Melbourne scored no goals, the first time this happened in a final since 1927. [12] This win sent West Coast into the 2018 AFL Grand Final against Collingwood at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

In the first quarter of the grand final, West Coast trailed by as much as 29 points, as Collingwood kicked the opening five goals. From there, the Eagles clawed back the margin back to zero by three quarter time. In the final quarter, the Magpies kicked two early goals, leaving much of the rest of the quarter for the Eagles to be trailing. With two minutes remaining, and West Coast two points down, Dom Sheed kicked the winning goal from the boundary. The Grand Final finished with West Coast winning their fourth AFL premiership. [13]

Results

Regular season results [10]
RoundDayDateResultScoreOpponentScoreGroundAttendanceLadder
GBTGBT
1 Sunday25 MarchLost13886 Sydney 187115 Optus Stadium H53,55314th
2 Sunday1 AprilWon1813121 Western Bulldogs 91670 Etihad Stadium A22,8688th
3 Sunday8 AprilWon141195 Geelong 111480 Optus Stadium H54,5355th
4 Saturday14 AprilWon2113139 Gold Coast 9559 Optus Stadium H51,7742nd
5 Saturday21 AprilWon101979 Carlton 10969 Melbourne Cricket Ground A27,9002nd
6 Sunday29 AprilWon131189 Fremantle 12981 Optus Stadium A56,5212nd
7 Saturday5 MayWon166102 Port Adelaide 9660 Optus Stadium H50,5162nd
8 Saturday12 MayWon121486 Greater Western Sydney 81361 Spotless Stadium A9,2532nd
9 Sunday20 MayWon2010130 Richmond 121183 Optus Stadium H57,6161st
10 Sunday27 MayWon11975 Hawthorn 9660 Etihad Stadium A28,0771st
11 Saturday2 JuneWon165101 St Kilda 14488 Optus Stadium H54,1881st
12 Bye 1st
13 Friday15 JuneLost71557 Sydney 101272 Sydney Cricket Ground A36,4022nd
14 Thursday21 JuneLost61652 Essendon 12880 Optus Stadium H51,4093rd
15 Saturday30 JuneLost12678 Adelaide 121688 Adelaide Oval A44,7713rd
16 Sunday8 JulyWon13886 Greater Western Sydney 101575 Optus Stadium H52,1053rd
17 Sunday15 JulyWon1512102 Collingwood 91367 Melbourne Cricket Ground A53,4392nd
18 Sunday22 JulyWon1416100 Western Bulldogs 61046 Optus Stadium H46,8542nd
19 Sunday29 JulyLost6541 North Melbourne 12981 Blundstone Arena A11,1762nd
20 Sunday5 AugustWon2116142 Fremantle 13684 Optus Stadium H57,3752nd
21 Saturday11 AugustWon9862 Port Adelaide 9458 Adelaide Oval A32,5342nd
22 Sunday19 AugustLost14791 Melbourne 1612108 Optus Stadium H55,8242nd
23 Sunday26 AugustWon141498 Brisbane Lions 11672 The Gabba A16,3672nd
QF Saturday8 SeptemberWon121486 Collingwood 101070 Optus Stadium H59,585—
PF Saturday22 SeptemberWon1813121 Melbourne 71355 Optus Stadium H59,608
GF Saturday29 SeptemberWon111379 Collingwood 11874 Melbourne Cricket Ground H100,022

Ladder

PosTeam
PldWLDPFPAPPPtsQualification
1 Richmond 22184021431574136.172 2018 finals
2 West Coast (P)22166020121657121.464
3 Collingwood 22157020461699120.460
4 Hawthorn 22157019721642120.160
5 Melbourne 22148022991749131.456
6 Sydney 22148018221664109.556
7 Greater Western Sydney 22138118981664114.154
8 Geelong 22139020451554131.652
9 North Melbourne 221210019501790108.948
10 Port Adelaide 221210017801654107.648
11 Essendon 221210019321838105.148
12 Adelaide 221210019411865104.148
13 Western Bulldogs 2281401575203777.332
14 Fremantle 2281401556204176.232
15 Brisbane Lions 2251701825204989.120
16 St Kilda 2241711606218273.618
17 Gold Coast 2241801308218259.916
18 Carlton 2222001353228259.38
Source: AFL
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for.
(P) Premiers

Awards

West Coast had four players in the 2018 All-Australian team. They were Andrew Gaff, Shannon Hurn, Jeremy McGovern and Elliot Yeo. [14]

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References

  1. ↑ "Shannon Hurn revealed as West Coast Eagles captain for 2018 season". The West Australian. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  2. ↑ Waterworth, Ben. "AFL club membership numbers 2018: Over 1 million members, Richmond surpasses six figures". Fox Sports. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  3. ↑ "2018 Player Stats". AFL Tables. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  4. ↑ Johnston, Greig. "Sydney Swans beat West Coast Eagles in first AFL game at Optus Stadium". Perth Now. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  5. ↑ McGarry, Andrew. "What did we learn from West Coast's win over Richmond?". ABC News. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  6. ↑ Balmer, Matt. "Adelaide defeat West Coast: Tex's 'stunning' final quarter keeps the Crows' season alive". Fox Sports. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  7. ↑ "AFL Match Review for Round 20: Andrew Gaff referred to tribunal, plenty of fines". Fox Sports. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  8. ↑ Beveridge, Riley. "Season over: Gaff cops massive ban". AFL.com.au. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  9. ↑ "AFL round 21: West Coast Eagles beat Port Adelaide Power at Adelaide Oval". The Australian. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  10. 1 2 "2018 Season Scores and Results". AFL Tables. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  11. ↑ King, Travis. "Match report: Eagles into prelim after classic". AFL.com.au. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  12. ↑ King, Travis. "Match report: Eagles destroy Dees, reach GF". AFL.com.au. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  13. ↑ McGarry, Andrew. "AFL grand final: West Coast beats Collingwood by five points at the MCG in classic decider". ABC News. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  14. ↑ Laughton, Max. "AFL All-Australian team 2018: Lance Franklin joins all-time greats as captain in eighth appearance". Fox Sports. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
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