WHERE & WHEN: AAMI Stadium, 3:00pm (CST), Saturday, September 23
TV & RADIO: Channel 10. 3AW, ABC National, K-Rock, Triple M, 5AA, 6PR, NIRS
OUR COVERAGE: live scores, stats & audio, Game Day News Desk, match replay (24 hour delay)
HEAD TO HEAD: Played - 28, Adelaide - 13, West Coast - 15
LAST TIME: West Coast 26.9 (165) def. Adelaide 12.11 (83), Round 17, 2006 at Subiaco Oval. The Crows had won eight in-a-row leading up to this clash but were comprehensively thumped by the Eagles who were coming off a loss to Collingwood the previous week.
FINALS HEAD TO HEAD: Played - 3, Adelaide - 2, West Coast - 1
LAST TIME IN A FINAL: West Coast 14.9 (93) def. Adelaide 11.11 (77), 2005 Preliminary Final, Subiaco Oval
HEAD TO HEAD AT THIS VENUE: Played - 14, Adelaide - 10, West Coast - 4
LAST TIME AT THIS VENUE: West Coast 13.12 (90) def. Adelaide 13.10 (88), Round 2, 2006 at AAMI Stadium.
TAB SPORTSBET: Adelaide $2.20, West Coast $1.62
BETFAIR: Adelaide $2.36, West Coast $1.38
THE MEDICAL ROOM: Adelaide's injury issues are well-documented but there's a small chance that one or perhaps two of the club's sidelined stars may return for the preliminary final. Most likely are Andrew McLeod (foot) and Brett Burton (hamstring) who face fitness tests, though Ben Hart (achilles), who is also listed under 'Test' is less fancied. Skipper Mark Ricciuto returned to the training track this week after his bout of parvovirus but has already been rated as "highly unlikely" to play by coach Neil Craig. There will be tests also for Chris Knights (quad) and John Hinge (hamstring) while Luke Jericho (shoulder) and Trent Hentschel (knee) are not available. West Coast's main injury worry is David Wirrpanda who suffered a hamstring twinge early in the Eagles' semi-final win over the Western Bulldogs. Ashley Sampi (knee) faces a test while Mark Nicoski is available to play his first senior match since he damaged ankle ligaments in round 14.
HOW THEY GOT TO THE FINALS: West Coast's 17 wins and five losses for the home-and-away season earned the club the 2006 minor premiership and it finished one game clear of second-placed Adelaide (16-6). Pipped by the Swans in their qualifying final, the Eagles bounced back last week to crush the Bulldogs to earn the right to meet Adelaide in Saturday's preliminary final. The Crows enjoyed a week off last week for having dispensed with Fremantle in week one of the finals.
THE WHITEBOARD: With two wins over Adelaide already this season, West Coast will go into Saturday's clash full of confidence. In round two it was the Eagles by two points at AAMI Stadium, and they won't mind in the least that Mark Ricciuto, who top-scored for the Crows with five goals that day, will not be playing this time round, while Adelaide's leading goal-scorer in the round 17 return clash at Subiaco Oval, Brett Burton, is rated only an outside chance to play this week. As surely as the Crows' goal-scoring stocks have diminished, West Coast's have expanded, with Quinten Lynch in career-best form. The 'Big Unit' contributed just the one goal in round two, and four of West Coast's 26 in round 17, but his six straight against the Bulldogs suggest he's determined to make a point to the selectors who deemed him unworthy of a place in the Eagles' line-up for last year's preliminary final and grand final. The upshot is that Adelaide simply does not have the firepower to match West Coast in a shootout, so expect the Crows to tackle, tag, stifle and scrap as if their lives depend on it. Ben Rutten is more than capable of holding Lynch, but only if his supply is kept in check. If the West Coast midfield is allowed to take control, it’s good night nurse. Not only will they collectively keep supply pumping in to big Lynchy, but the likes of Chris Judd, Daniel Kerr and Ben Cousins are partial to reading their own names on the scoresheet. In round 17, Ashley Hansen, Steven Armstrong, Judd, Kerr and Cousins bagged 13 goals between them. Seven from this lot on Saturday may just be enough. If he wasn't required to attend to Lynch, Rutten could perhaps be planted in the goalsquare at the other end of the field as he was to good effect against the Western Bulldogs earlier this season, but otherwise, Neil Craig doesn't have too many aces up his sleeve. He'll be relying on two or three goals here and there from Scott Welsh, Ian Perrie, Matthew Bode and the exciting Jason Porplyzia, and for his blue collar types - Robert Shirley, Michael Doughty, Nathan van Berlo and Martin Mattner - to clamp down hard and hang on tight.
THE VERDICT: Adelaide at home mastered difficult conditions to defeat an opponent in top form two weeks ago, and they're more than capable of doing it again. The Crows are quite familiar with the game plan that Sydney employed to upset West Coast that same weekend. But there's something compelling about the Eagles right now, perhaps because of, rather than in spite of that one-point loss to the Swans. That defeat was a harsh wake-up call and they've managed to put it behind them to qualify for a preliminary final, even if it’s not at Subiaco as they'd hoped. The Eagles have the incentive, the form, and the personnel to go all the way in 2006 and, while it will be tight on Saturday, the Crows will not be able to stop them. West Coast by 23 points.
