Finals Week 1 – West Coast v Collingwood: Eagles too strong in epic encounter

            
I was very excited to get a late ticket to the Final here in Perth on Saturday night as I knew many that had missed out and although not that optimistic about the result going our way felt that we had a chance and was hopeful of a Pies win.
I thought this was our best chance of making the GF although I have said all year that someone has to go through Richmond at the MCG to win it and hopefully we will still get our shot at them.
The Pies started brightly enough and we seemed to be on top in the middle of the ground but our long kicking game really plays into some teams hands like the Eagles and Hawthorn and once again they were the ones taking the marks inside our 50.
The Eagles then started to look really dangerous and put on 3 unanswered goals. The worry was that the Pies were not going to turn up but the Pies have been very resolute all year. Although have had some bad quarters here and there we have been able to play well enough for long enough in most games to not get brushed aside easily as sides in recent previous seasons.
Varcoe kicked a great goal before quarter time and we had started to look like we were really in the contest.
The next 2 quarters we seemed to really have the upper hand but credit to the WCE, they never let us get too far away and were always pegging us back. We never capitalized on some dominant play although seemed to have the momentum and took a handy 10 point lead into the last. The thoughts of many a magpie would have been that ‘I think we might have this one in the bag’.
The last quarter was a real arm wrestle. Lots of pressure and mistakes and open play for us had dried up and most of the play was between the arcs – turning point seemed to be Adams going down and although was half killed by a West Coast bump the home fans thought that they should have got a kick for taking out the legs (hate that rule). Adams won the free kick but came up very groggy and we lost a dominant midfielder.
After that we really unraveled and all the good work on Darling and Kennedy came undone as they really got off the leash and we struggled to get the ball over half way.
I will forward the votes through to Steve separately and good luck with all who get to go on Saturday night – would be great for our belief to win a final and have a crack at the tigers  – you never know.
Rory from Perth

WEST COAST           3.3     6.7    7.11   12.14     (86)
COLLINGWOOD     1.3     7.4     9.9     10.10     (70)

GOALS
West Coast: 
Ryan 2, Darling 2, Kennedy 2, Vardy, Jetta, Sheed, Cripps, Rioli, Redden
Collingwood: Adams 2, De Goey 2, Mihocek 2, Stephenson, Thomas, Varcoe, Mayne

BEST 
West Coast: 
Yeo, McGovern, Ryan, Jetta, Sheed, Redden
Collingwood: Sidebottom, Adams, Grundy, Goldsack, Treloar, Mihocek

INJURIES 
West Coast: 
Sheppard (hamstring)
Collingwood: Nil 

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Nicholls, Meredith, Harris  

Official crowd: 59,585 at Optus Stadium

 

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