West Coast aims to claim its third win in a row when it travels to play Gold Coast at People First Stadium on Sunday afternoon, but they’ll have to do so without Harley Reid.
The Eagles (2-4, 75.7%), who are catapulting from a stirring pair of wins against Richmond and Fremantle, chose to rest Reid after a scintillating stint of form.
Meantime, after starting 2-0, the Suns (3-3, 93.9%) look to restore their winning record following last Sunday’s hefty loss to Sydney at the SCG.
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Barrass’s ‘good guy’ defense falls short | 01:14
At selection, Damien Hardwick’s match committee recalled senior players Rory Atkins and Sam Day in place of Ethan Read (managed) and Bodhi Uwland (omitted).
For the Eagles, electric goalsneak Liam Ryan will return for his first game of the season after managing just three outings last year.
Luke and Harry Edwards also return to Adam Simpson’s side, with West Coast’s three outs coming in the form of star defender Tom Barrass (suspension), forward Noah Long (injured) and first-year sensation Harley Reid (managed).
Gold Coast has won its past three games against West Coast at People First Stadium — a venue these sides have met just twice since 2017.
The match gets underway at 1pm AEST from People First Stadium.
Watch it live on Fox Footy (channel 504), streaming on Kayo and via Hubbl from 12:30pm AEST.
MATCH UPDATES
Final teams are in at People First Stadium. There are no late changes, and the starting subs are David Swallow (Gold Coast) and Dom Sheed (West Coast).
The Eagles have started swiftly, kicking the game’s first three goals through Ryan Maric, Elliot Yeo and Jake Waterman.
Yeo (three disposals, two clearances and a goal) has started strongly again, shrugging a tackle attempt to snap a major, while Waterman continued his hot form with a bending banana. Eagles lead 18-0 early.
Veteran ruckman Jarrod Witts put the Suns’ first goal on the board, but the Eagles have applied terrific early pressure and still have the upper hand.
A beautiful Noah Anderson set shot brought the Suns to within four points late in the first term.
After a blistering start, the Suns have been able to stem the Eagles’ flow, particularly from the back half. Four-point West Coast advantage at quarter-time.
“First 10 minutes, West Coast dominated on the back of Elliot Yeo’s presence – he was magnificent,” Brisbane Lions legend Jonathan Brown told Fox Footy at quarter-time.
Sam Day and Jack Petruccelle opened the second quarter scoring before a brilliant Gold Coast transition resulted in a Ben Ainsworth goal to give the Suns their first lead of the afternoon.
A bit of back and forth followed, before a Bailey Humphrey goal gave Gold Coast a game-high 10-point lead.
Jake Waterman’s third goal of the first half brought the Eagles back to within three points at the main change.
Speaking during Fox Footy’s half-time coverage, Jonathon Brown shone a light on the 25-year-old’s season so far.
“He’s on fire at the moment. The Coleman (Medal is his) to lose if he keeps going at this rate, especially over the last two and a half weeks,” Brown said
“It’s great to see him go so well after spending time out of the game with health issues last season,” Alastair Lynch, Brown’s former teammate added.
Halfway through the encounter, Gold Coast’s Noah Anderson leads the disposal count with 20 disposals – 16 of which are handballs.
His eight inside 50’s also lead the count for both sides, and is twice as many as any other player on the field.
Brown was full of praise for the Gold Coast inside midfielder.
“Noah Anderson’s been fantastic; I think he led the charge… he’s only had the four kicks, but he’s been able to have 16 handballs – he was a bit part of their resurgence halfway through that first quarter,” Brown said.
Jeremy McGovern has been solid in defense for the Eagles, holding even more responsibility in the absence of Tom Barrass – holding a game-high seven intercept possessions at the main break.
After a quiet first half, it took Jamie Cripps just one minute to nail a set shot from the 50m arc, giving West Coast the first say in the second half – as well as the all-important lead.
The Suns abruptly responded, kicking two goals in 30 seconds through Jake Rogers and Ben Ainsworth, with the former registering his first major at AFL level.
A Noah Anderson dribbler deep inside the Suns’ forward 50 scored him his second goal for the match, Gold Coast’s third in a row.
Ben King slotted his second major for the match with just under six minutes to go in the third term, and extended the Suns’ lead out to a game-high 21 points.
Matt Rowell’s back-to-back goals late in the quarter has given the Suns the last six goals, and a 34-point lead at the final break.
Kicking with the wind in the last quarter, Jamie Cripps got the ball rolling for the Eagles with an early major, before Jake Waterman kicked his fourth for the match and 100th career goal to bring the margin back down to 22 points.
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