NOT SINCE Hawthorn in 1961-65 has a team fallen from premier to wooden spooner in the space of four years.
That is the prospect now facing the West Coast Eagles, who sit last on the ladder, out of form and with their closest rival for bottom spot suddenly looking as their song describes them - strong and bold.
The Eagles team that was thrashed by Collingwood on Saturday night contained only five 2006 premiership players: Beau Waters, Adam Selwood, Andrew Embley, Quinten Lynch and Dean Cox.
Still on the list but currently injured are Darren Glass, Daniel Kerr, Ashley Hansen and Sam Butler, while Brett Jones is biding his time at Claremont.
The rest of the flag side have retired, been delisted or moved on, including Chris Judd to Carlton, Ben Cousins to Richmond, Mark Seaby to the Sydney Swans and David Wirrpanda to Dancing with the Stars.
Those that have replaced them are young and still learning: the Eagles had 14 players with less than 50 games experience in the team on Saturday night.
The West Coast sides of the mid-2000s were famous for their consistent spread of goalkickers.
They had solid if unspectacular forwards, but their midfield was a potent scoring weapon. In 2006, Embley kicked 31 goals, Judd 29 and Cousins 20.
This year, two Eagles forwards have been very impressive, and both are on track to kick 50-plus goals for the season.
Josh Kennedy - he of the strange but effective Fred Flintstone-style set shot run-up - leads the way with 36 goals to date. Mark LeCras is not far behind on 34.
But they’ve had almost no goalkicking support.
Between them Kennedy and LeCras have slotted nearly 45 per cent of West Coast’s total goals. The only other Eagle with more than 10 goals this season is Ben McKinley on 16.
In that regard, they rank equal last in the competition:
| Number of players to have kicked >10 goals in 2010 | |
|---|---|
| Collingwood | 10 |
| Geelong Cats, Carlton, Fremantle | 9 |
| St Kilda, Western Bulldogs, Essendon, North Melbourne | 7 |
| Port Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney Swans | 6 |
| Adelaide Crows, Hawthorn | 5 |
| Brisbane Lions | 4 |
| Richmond, West Coast Eagles | 3 |
The top sides on this list - the Magpies, Cats, Blues and Freo - all have a healthy smattering of midfielders regularly kicking goals.
On the other hand, West Coast’s top four possession getters this year - Matthew Priddis, Waters, Selwood and Embley - have kicked only 11 goals between them.
On Saturday night West Coast lost the inside 50 count to Collingwood 41-55 - a beating, but not to the same extent as the overall defeat.
More telling was the Eagles’ inability to convert once they got there, particularly with Kennedy being well held: it took them 5.86 inside 50s per goal, compared to Collingwood’s 2.75.
The last time two forwards in a wooden spoon winning team managed 50-plus goals in a season was George Young and Rex Hunt for St Kilda in 1977.
If they don’t get some support soon, Kennedy and LeCras could be joining that illustrious club in eight weeks’ time.
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
