The Eagles earlier had hung on to defeat Hawthorn by two points, and although Fremantle worked hard to get to within five points with less then ten minutes to play, West Coast held on strongly with big man Quentin Lynch marking strongly with minutes to play, to goal and seal the game.
Fremantle added captain Matthew Pavlich and gun ruckman Aaron Sandilands to their team, after the pair had carried the substitute’s jacket in their earlier loss to the Hawks.
West Coast jumped Fremantle in the first half, and were stronger at the ball, made fewer errors, and delivered cleanly to advantage.
Fremantle coach Mark Harvey was clearly annoyed with his team’s performance in the first half. He told Fox Sports: "We fumbled too much, and turned the ball over a lot more than the opposition.
"West Coast were a lot more physical than we were."
He said he was looking to his players to finish the game with more efficiency. They did that, and after goals from Kepler Bradley and Jack Anthony within a minute midway through the second half, it looked as though cleaner use of the ball, plus momentum would get them over the line.
But West Coast kept working hard, running strongly, tackling hard, and reducing Fremantle’s capacity to gain clean possessions.
The Eagles would have been delighted with their second pick in the 2010 NAB AFL National Draft, the 18-year-old Jack Darling, a tall, free-running utility. Although Darling was not a big possession winner, he showed he is an excellent decision-maker, and at 191 cm, with a strong body, he is sure to be a regular in the Eagles’ 2011 line-up.
Fremantle have unearthed another Michael Barlow in 24-year-old Tendai Mzungu, last year’s best and fairest winner for Perth in the WAFL. A Harry O’Brien lookalike, with a similar galloping running stride, Mzungu impressed in each match, gaining clean possessions, running hard, and making great decisions, finding teammates in better positions on many occasions.
Dream Team players will already have him penciled in to their opening lineups.
West Coast fans will be delighted with their team’s back-to-back victories.
Although it’s a pre-season competition, and both Fremantle and Hawthorn came to the contests with young teams, and were clearly experimenting, West Coast needed to start the season strongly after a poor 2010.
The veterans Dean Cox, Matt Priddis, and Darren Glass all looked in great shape, and Chris Masten looks to be fit and in great nick after an injury-laden 2010 season. Youngsters Lewis Broome and Ryan Neates, who teamed for a brilliant goal at the end of the first half have speed to burn, and can add real life to the Eagles’ front end.
West Coast 4.3 (27) 5.7 (37)
Fremantle 2.0 (12) 4.1 (25)
GOALS
West Coast: Nine-point goals: Nil Goals: Wilson, Priddis, Nicoski, Neates, Lynch
Fremantle: Nine-point goals: Nil Goals: Mellington, Griffin, Bradley, Anthony
BEST
West Coast: Priddis, Masten, Nicoski, Lynch, Darling
Fremantle: Johnson, Mzungu, McPharlin, Sandilands, Griffin, Bradley, Anthony
INJURIES
West Coast: Nil
Fremantle: Nil
Reports: Nil
Crowd: 25,776 at Paterson Stadium
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
