WEST COAST 6.4 8.8 10.12 18.16 (124) COLLINGWOOD 1.1 4.3 8.5 9.8 (62)
Goals: West Coast: J Cripps 3, J Kennedy 3, M LeCras 3, S Lycett 2, A Gaff, J Darling, J Hill, J Redden, M Hutchings, N Naitanui, S Wellingham. Collingwood: D Moore 2, M Cox 2, T Broomhead 2, J Blair, J Crisp, L Greenwood.
BEST: West Coast: M LeCras, L Shuey, J McGovern, J Kennedy, N Naitanui, M Priddis. Collingwood: A Treloar, S Pendlebury, J Crisp, S Sidebottom, J Smith, J Frost.
Umpires: Jeff Dalgleish, Scott Jeffery, Robert O'Gorman.
Official Crowd: 37,931 at Domain Stadium.
On a weekend when big questions were asked of some premiership favourites, West Coast did not escape scrutiny, despite recording a 10-goal win on Sunday.
They bounced back from another away loss, to the Sydney Swans, with a 62-point victory over Collingwood at Domain Stadium.
But for a side looking at coming back from a shocking grand final appearance, they wasted a chance to demolish a team struggling for consistency and to stamp some authority on their season.
After kicking the first five goals, the Eagles scoring dropped to a crawl in the middle parts of the game and they led by just two goals late in the third term.
The Magpies, who made scoring look as difficult as any side has this season, managed to kick six of seven goals and somehow get back into the contest.
But the Eagles dominated the final quarter, kicking 8.6 to the Magpies 1.3 to finish the round in sixth spot on the ladder.
West Coast will need to carry the momentum from the fourth quarter to Simonds Stadium next week when they play Geelong. That game against the second-placed Cats becomes a massive contest and the Eagles will need to win their first game away from home since round 16 of last season.
The performance they put in during the second and third quarters against the Pies won’t be good enough.
The Magpies lost their fifth of six opening terms for the season, by 33 points. The Eagles had 5.4 on the board before Collingwood even scored.
The Pies went inside their attacking 50 area only four times in the opening term for 1.1 (to the Eagles 20 for 6.4). Until that first Magpie goal came, with just three minutes to go before the siren, they didn’t look like scoring.
A performance like that against Carlton next week could give the Blues their third consecutive win of the season.
The Eagles got out to a 39-points lead midway through the second term and their outstanding home record since the start of last season looked safe.
But Collingwood got back to within 10 points.
Scott Pendlebury, clearly still sore after Monday’s Anzac Day win over Essendon, had just five touches in the first term, all handballs. Steele Sidebottom had the same number.
By the main break, the Magpies captain had 20 (including 15 handballs). By three-quarter-time Sidebottom had 18.
Jack Crisp’s pace in the midfield caused the Eagles some issues and there will be several AFL recruiters heading to the US after Mason Cox became a focal point in attack and kicked a couple of goals.
Again, goal-kicking accuracy hurt West Coast. Coleman medallist Josh Kennedy was the main culprit. He kicked 14.10 in five games in 2016 before this round, including 8.2 in the season opener against Brisbane.
And he had 2.5 to three-quarter-time against the Magpies. He finished with 3.6, his third coming late in the game when the result was decided.
Fortunately for the Eagles, Mark LeCras found some form early, kicking two goals in the opening term. He kicked another in the final term flurry to finish with 3.3.
Jamie Cripps booted all three of his goals in the final term too.
LeCras was outstanding early in the game though and was the reason the Eagles were able to break away so quickly.
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