As always, let’s start with a debrief on last week’s match; I think ‘heart-stopper’ would be an understatement. I’m fairly certain I actually died on Saturday night, everyone. The sound of the final siren is what revived me... although it took its sweet time to sound, that fourth quarter went on for about three days! Now eagles are typically strong birds, but that was just way too much for me to handle.
Alright, now that I’m done whinging about my soaring heart rate, let’s congratulate our mighty team on a stunning semi-final victory. Well done fellas! What a great effort, and now you’ve secured yourselves a preliminary final. We’re only two wins away from a flag, I think that’s totally achievable.
Now, the boys were amazing on Saturday night. Darren Glass, you are a goal-stopping machine. Daniel Kerr, what an impressive return. Dean Cox, fantastic as always. Honourable mentions to Andrew Embley, Josh Kennedy and Matt Priddis. And how about Scotty Selwood, keeping Judd to just 17 disposals? Amazing!
But do you know who else was incredible? The crowd! For anyone who didn’t make it to the game, let me tell you that the sound at Patersons Stadium was deafening. In all my years of being a mascot, I have never heard a crowd roar like that (except for maybe when I whip out some of my phenomenal dance moves). Great work getting behind the boys like that everyone, I have no doubt that your cheering and support helped them on their way to victory.
Now, this Saturday at 2.20pm (AEST) the ball will bounce down at the MCG and the West Coast Eagles will begin their showdown with the Geelong Cats in the hopes of making it to the 2011 Toyota AFL Grand Final (oh my, I just got shivers as I wrote that).
The Cats are in form, they have had a week off and they won’t be travelling for this week’s game. But let’s look at the facts here, because facts don’t lie:
• Remember round 16? Yep, that was the game when the Eagles smashed the Cats. We did it before, we can do it again!
• We have a 4-0 record against the Cats in finals, including the ’92 and ’94 grand finals.
• We’ve won nine out of our past 11 games now, including the win over Geelong, so we’re flying high with confidence!
• We’re better prepared than the Cats for this week’s MCG blockbuster after facing off against Collingwood at the home of football two weeks ago.
So there’s some cold hard truth for you all as we head in to our prelim. Victory is as good as ours people! Can you imagine: bottom of the ladder to a grand final! Our boys are hungry to keep this West Coast fairytale alive, and that’s why we’re going to win. So make sure you’re tuning in to witness history in the making. Look out Cats, you’re about to be swooped by the mighty West Coast Eagles.
Let me know what you guys think at facebook.com/RickTheRockEagle.
Love, Rick.
