AFL 2026 Recap: West Coast Eagles fail to fire as Carlton make it six straight wins

Eagles under pressure but a lovely kick from Bo Allan gets them out of pressure as Elliot Yeo takes a one-handed grab.

He gets the Eagles to half forward and a tumbling ball inside 50 gets to Duursma who snaps and goals.

CAR 3.3 (21) WCE 2.1 (13)

Can that fire up the Eagles as Harley wins the clearance, gets space to run, and launches from 50 and belts through a stunner.

CAR 3.1 (19) WCE 1.1 (7)

There’s just a deluge of Carlton ball for the Eagles to try and defend.

“Major concerns for the visitors,” Mark Howard says as the Blues tumble through a third,

Carlton are dominating out of clearance early on leading the stat 5-1.

The Eagles finally at least half a contest and Jake Waterman has an early look but he’s tumbling snap on the run is spoiled over.

Harley Reid lays a huge tackle to get him up and about early and the Eagles are out with Duursma running up the wing but the kick inside 50 is poor and goes straight to the Carlton defender.

Blues tranition and Harry McKay presents early and converts an early set shot to give them the first.

CAR 1.1 (7) WCE 0.0 (0)

Carlton with an early clearance win, but the Eagles defend before Hutchinson coughs the ball up, handing it straight over to the Blues with Taylor Byrne having a set shot from the pocket but it’s spoiled over.

“We thought it was improtant we gave the group some direction build some standards and attack training,” he says.

“We’re really respectful of what West Coast will bring today but it’s good to do in unchanged.

“We put a lot of time and effort in the way that we defend and our offence has lifted off the back of that.”

ICYMI the Eagles WAFL side was in action last night, and despite having more chances, they failed to capitalise as East Perth stole the four points.

There’s no doubt West Coast has improved this year; it’s hard not to after a one-win season, but how far have they actually come?

Seven’s Ryan Daniels looks at the SEVEN clubs he believes are further away from a flag than the Eagles.

Both teams will go in as named.

A reminder that Tim Kelly is out while Josh Lindsay was dropped along with Tom Gross and Harvey Johnston, with Willem Duursma, veteran Jack Graham, half-back Tom McCarthy and forward Jack Hutchinson the inclusions.

Carlton are unchanged from their win over the Giants with Jacob Weitering still injured.

BLUES

B: O Florent W Derksen N Haynes

HB: L Cowan H Dean B Wilson

C: A Cerra S Walsh B Acres

HF: M Cottrell M McGovern B Ainsworth

F: B Kemp H McKay T Byrne

FOLL: M Pittonet P Cripps J Smith

I/C: W Hayward N Newman G Hewett J Ison F Evans

EMG: O Hollands Z Williams F Riley

EAGLES

B: L Duggan R Bazzo B Starcevich

HB: M Herbert T Young L Baker

C: W Duursma E Yeo B Allan

HF: T Cole J Shanahan R Maric

F: M Murdock J Waterman C Duff-Tytler

FOLL: B Williams H Reid E Hewett

I/C: J Graham T McCarthy B Hough H Davis J Hutchinson

EMG: J Lindsay T Gross J Williams

IN: W Duursma J Graham T McCarthy J Hutchinson

OUT: T Kelly (hamstring) T Gross H Johnston J Lindsay (all omitted)