Josh Kennedy looked at his absolute best against Carlton, kicking 10 goals in his equal second best goal kicking performance. It’s tough to be critical of a player who has just kicked a bag, but some would point out that both the club and its full forward are rarely at their best against the really good teams. Their best football is fantastic, but consider the opposition when Kennedy has kicked 10 or more. In 2011, the Western Bulldogs were on the receiving end when Kennedy kicked his first bag of 10, while last year it was GWS who were helpless as Kennedy dominated with 11 goals. Tonight, it was Blues, a team looking destined for a season of pain. West Coast, too, has failed to beat a top-eight team in 2014 or in the early parts of 2015. They will get their chance against Fremantle next weekend, but lost yet another player to injury when Simon Tunbridge went down with a leg injury in the third quarter. 

West Coast supporters could have been forgiven for thinking they had stepped into a time machine during the first quarter. Here was Chris Judd tearing up the ground at Subiaco, breaking tackles and collecting 12 possessions in a quarter, much like he did a decade ago. This time playing for Carlton, possibly for the last time in Perth, Judd relished the wide open spaces of Domain Stadium while going head-to-head with Matt Priddis. But Matt Rosa was moved on to Judd from quarter-time and the move had an immediate effect. Judd picked up only five possessions during the second quarter as West Coast dominated, holding Carlton to the first scoreless quarter by either side in their 41 meetings. And Judd only managed two possessions in the second half.

It’s been the major talking point for West Coast supporters all week – how are the Eagles going to cope without two of their tall defenders for the rest of the year? The knee injuries to Eric Mackenzie and Mitch Brown forced West Coast to recall Will Schofield, despite the fact he was knocked out for East Perth in the WAFL last weekend and was recovering from injury himself. But they coped in the best way possible – by simply limiting Carlton’s forward-50 entries down to woeful 33 for the game, especially during the second and third quarters. When the Blues did get the ball forward, the recalled Levi Casboult looked dangerous and took a couple of great marks. But the man who was left out of last week’s team because of his poor kicking proved the decision to drop him was at least partly correct, by butchering the ball on far too many occasions.

After two games and one-and-a-half very ordinary performances, the debate about Mick Malthouse’s future is only likely to get louder. Though he is poised to break Jock McHale’s all-time coaching record this season, Malthouse’s contract is up at the end of the year and Carlton’s powerbrokers couldn’t possibly be happy with what they have seen on the field in the first two rounds. Malthouse wants an early end to the coaching debate, but he wouldn’t want the club to make a snap decision on the strength of the performance against West Coast. The return from injury in the coming weeks of Matthew Kreuzer, Kristian Jaksch and Andrew Walker should help, but Carlton’s much-vaunted midfield is going to have to lift if it’s not to be a long winter for both Malthouse and the club.

Against Carlton, Liam Duggan became the third Eagle to make his debut in 2015 after a string of impressive performances with East Perth. Last week, against Subiaco, he picked up 23 possessions and kicked a goal and coach Adam Simpson thinks the youngster has a big future as a member of West Coast’s midfield. Duggan was lively against Carlton after coming on late in the third quarter. He ran hard and had a couple of chances to kick his first goal, but let himself down with poor kicks on both occasions. That said, he showed enough in gathering five possessions during the last quarter to justify his inclusion as the sub.