RECAP: West Coast Eagles mauled in savage Western Bulldogs defeat
Fremantle fans will be cheering on West Coast to cause an almighty boilover in their clash against the Western Bulldogs.
An Eagles upset would lock in the Dockers for finals action, while a loss will thrust Freo into a virtual elimination final against the same opponent.
Stay across the latest action here!
We’re underway!
It’s Kelly, Hall and McCarthy in the middle, along with Matt Flynn.
And they execute the clearance to give Jobe Shanahan a look... but his pass to Liam Ryan is broken up.
Almost go time
West Coast’s players are out on the ground warming up - and they face all sorts of challenges in the middle of Marvel Stadium today.
Tim English, Marcus Bontempelli, Ed Richards and Tom Liberatore headline the powerful Dogs engine room - and the Eagles of course won’t have first-choice midfield options in Elliot Yeo and Harley Reid available. It’s a monster task.
Can history repeat?
Optimistic Eagles fans will think back to the penultimate round of 2023, when West Coast came to Marvel with just two wins for the year under their belt - and knocked off the Dogs by 7 points.
There’s just eight Eagles players from that game two years ago this week who are back out there again today: Cripps, Kelly, Cole, Williams, Long, Chesser, Hewett and Maric.
Baker the boss
Liam Baker is set to captain West Coast for the first time today, with a swag of players from the team’s leadership group missing in action.
Co-captains Liam Duggan (suspension) and Oscar Allen (knee) are both out, and vice-captain Jeremy McGovern has of course retired.
Baker is one of just three Eagles to have played every game this season (including today’s match), alongside Reuben Ginbey and Ryan Maric.
Meanwhile...
As we wait the start of this one at 2.40pm WA time, there’s a bit on elsewhere around the footy traps.
North Melbourne’s Harry Sheezel has just equalled the AFL/VFL disposals record of 54 in a game in the Roos’ win over Richmond, while Fremantle are minutes away from opening their AFLW campaign against the Power in Adelaide.
Newton’s day
These were the scenes pre-game as Jacob Newton got set to become Eagle No.304.
Team news
News from Marvel Stadium is there are no late changes, and it’s a debutant that earns the substitute’s role for West Coast.
Mid-season draft pick-up Jacob Newton will have to bide his time before seeing his first taste of AFL action.
The Dogs are also unchanged, with Ryley Sanders filling the sub role.
West Coast’s players are wearing T-shirts that read ‘Thank you to our Eagles family’ in a nod to their fans for sticking with them through a fourth consecutive horror campaign.
Welcome
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of West Coast’s final road clash of the year!
The Eagles are rank outsiders against a Bulldogs unit that simply must win to stay in the finals hunt. Bookmakers have set the margin line at a whopping 76.5 points - but that won’t stop both Eagles and Freo fans from daring to dream of a crazy upset today.
A West Coast win LOCKS the Dockers into finals.
