Round 17 Match Report

THE West Coast Eagles put together their most emphatic performance of the 2021 season to beat the hapless Perth by 56 points at Mineral Resources Park on Saturday.

It continues to turn out to be a season to forget for the Demons in first year in charge for new coach Garry Moss and there's precious little he can do about it when he has virtually a full team he'd like to have out on the field unavailable through injury.

The end result is that Perth is now closer to another unwanted wooden spoon than being able to back up their breakthrough finals appearance of 2020, and the Eagles took full advantage of them on Saturday at Lathlain.

Possessing a team with plenty of players desperate to play well to try an earn a recall with the West Coast AFL team, the Eagles didn’t let up the entire day having started with five goals to one in the opening term.

West Coast continued on with that momentum in the second term as well with another nine scoring shots to four for six goals to two to go into half-time well on top to the tune of 50 points.

It was cruise mode through the second half and West Coast kicked another four goals to three from Perth with the Eagles going on to win 15.9 (99) to 6.7 (43).

What it does do is fires up the race to avoid the wooden spoon for 2021 with both teams now sitting on 4-10 records with the Demons only just ahead of the Eagles courtesy of percentage.

However, with West Coast having now won four of its past six matches and Perth having seven in-a-row, it's going to be tough for the Demons to avoid finishing last now this season.

West Coast had a whole host of impressive big ball winners of players trying to press their case for an AFL call up. Alex Witherden led the way with 40 possessions, 11 marks and seven entries inside the forward 50.

Jarrod Brander also racked up 33 disposals and 13 marks for West Coast, Hamish Brayshaw 29 touches, Jackson Nelson 24 possessions and Luke Foley 19 disposals, four marks and a goal.

Former Demon Lennon Marlin enjoyed a day out against his old side as well with 27 possessions, six marks, six inside 50s and a goal while Jordan Bsher kicked four goals, Jarrod Garlett three, Nathan Vardy two and another ex-Perth player Kieran Hug two.

Sam Stubbs provided a bright spark in attack for Perth kicking three goals from 15 possessions and eight marks.

Jack Avery also amassed 26 possessions and 11 marks for the Demons while Corey Byrne worked hard once again for 23 disposals and seven tackles.

Matthew Taylor finished with 22 touches and 10 marks, Andrew Fisher 21 possessions and 10 marks, Austin Davis 21 disposals and five marks, and Kasey Nicholas 19 touches and a goal.

Perth will now turn their focus to a clash at Leederville Oval against East Perth next Saturday while the Eagles have the bye before facing West Perth on Sunday August 15 as part of Round 19.

OPTUS WAFL PREMIERSHIP SEASON – ROUND 17

PERTH                1.0    3.2    5.5    6.7 (43)
WEST COAST EAGLES        5.1    11.4    12.6    15.9 (99)

PERTH: Goals – Stubbs 3; McPartland, Nicholas, Edmonds.
Best – Byrne, Avery, Nicholas, Stubbs, Taylor, Fisher, Davis.
WEST COAST EAGLES: Goals – Busher 4; Garlett 3; Vardy, Hug 2; Foley, Nelson, Brayshaw, Marlin.
Best – Witherden, Brander, Brayshaw, Nelson, Marlin, Busher, Foley.