Season 2011 marks our 25th year, and to help us celebrate, you were invited to have your say on the historic moments you believe have been the most significant to the West Coast Eagles.
All your votes have been tallied up and we are ready to countdown from moment #25. Stay tuned to westcoasteagles.com.au as we’ll be revealing one moment each week until we unveil the single most defining moment in our history at the end of the home and away campaign.
For 19 consecutive road trips, the West Coast Eagles had failed to bring the premiership points home on their return flight to Perth. So when the side travelled to Etihad Stadium in 2009 to tackle a top-four contender, expectations were not high among football critics and bookmakers.
“I just remember a few of my mates telling me that we were paying $10 for the win. No one really backed us, no one really got behind us,” remembers Nic Naitanui, one of the youngsters who had yet to experience victory away from home.
The Eagles were switched on from the very first bounce, trouncing the Bulldogs by booting 3.2 in the opening term compared to the hone side, who could only manage a meager eight behinds.
“When the Western Bulldogs kept missing goals that they would normally kick, I think that gave the guys confidence in thinking that they were a chance, in a game that nobody gave us any chance to win,” admits West Coast CEO Trevor Nisbett.
Even West Coast supporters were pinching themselves when the margin blew out to 43 points midway through the second term, but many at the ground knew it wouldn’t be long until the Western Bulldogs fired a shot back of their own.
"The Bulldogs were preparing to go into a finals series, so they were at a real high level in terms of performance. They were a top four side and we’d been struggling but there’d been a little bit of excitement building with the end of our season,” said senior coach John Worsfold.
Sitting out the final matches of the 2009 season through injury, four-time All-Australian ruckman Dean Cox remembers the scene in the coaches box during the game.
“I was actually barracking and cheering in the box and was told to be quiet,” the big man recalls.
The Bulldogs managed to pull the margin to within a goal at the three-quarter time-break, as supporters from both sides watched on nervously but with exhilaration with each gripping contest.
Thanks to a couple of heroic goals from Andrew Embley and then a clutch sealer from Mark LeCras, West Coast managed to hold on bravely for a memorable 5-point victory.
“Not only to perform and match it with them for a period, but when we got challenged by the Bulldogs late we were able to hold on and I think that’s the thing that people like to see,” senior coach John Worsfold fondly recalls.
“The way Andrew Embley played that game was, I suppose, a senior player stepping up when we had a lot of young kids out there and certainly leading the way,” admits Dean Cox.
“The best thing about that win was that we had a really young team and for a lot of the young guys, they had never won away from Subiaco Oval.” Says Andrew Embley, who collected the three votes on the day for his best-on-ground effort.
Click here to watch other West Coast players relive the epic victory against the Western Bulldogs
