West Coast Eagles lose to Carlton Blues and AFLW finals dream is all but over

West Coast’s finals dreams are all but over after a 20-point loss to Carlton on Friday night has them needing a massive upset on Saturday to stay inside the top eight.

The Eagles were chasing their first-ever finals appearance but needed to beat the Blues, given Adelaide and Fremantle were locked with them on six wins and will play each other on Sunday, while Sydney are raging hot favourites to beat 15th-placed Essendon on Saturday to achieve their seventh victory.

West Coast lost to the Swans last week to put their finals spot in jeopardy and now their destiny is no longer in their own hands.

Scores were level at the final change but Carlton’s power and talent stood out when the game was on the line. They stormed clear to kick four goals to one in the final term.

Retiring veteran Dana Hooker was chaired from the ground and then coach Daisy Pearce addressed her team in a tight circle on the field.

“It’s tough to be in a position where you’re disappointed because you didn’t win through to finals,” Pearce said.

“That’s where we want to be. You risk it emotionally when you go all in and I’m proud of the girls for doing that. They’re a bit disappointed but we sit and wait now. Hopefully there’s still a chance and a few results go our way.

“I acknowledged their disappointment. I’m proud of their efforts for fighting up until the end. That’s what we’ve come to expect of them. But we’ve got to sit and wait now. Don’t live in it for too long. Live in a bit of uncertainty now and wait and see what happens.”

The Eagles looked good early but couldn’t make the most of their chances. Then it became an arm wrestle.

Pressure soared and the match felt like a final given neither team could afford to lose.

The Eagles hit the front in the last quarter when Lucia Painter produced a stunning long bomb, but Carlton stayed composed.

A sloppy free kick gave Abbie McKay a set shot, she slammed the ball straight through the middle and Carlton led by one point.

Then came an absolute disaster. Tara Bohanna received a free kick on the wing, Georgie Cleever didn’t give the ball back cleanly and gave away a 50m penalty.

That handed Bohanna a set shot and her goal was a dagger to West Coast’s heart. Now they needed two goals to win, and they’d managed only three for the match.

When Erone Fitzpatrick kicked a goal moments later, the game was over and then Darcy Vescio rubbed it in with a brilliant goal on the siren.

Pearce said her team would learn a lot from the heartache.

“There’s a couple of lessons in there when you end up with a result like that,” she said.

“I thought our first quarter was really good in terms of how we built the game. We missed a few opportunities to put scoreboard pressure on. With our entries we could have put a bit more heat on them by entering a bit deeper.

“When we did that I thought we looked dangerous. To Carlton’s credit, they handled the ball a bit better in terms of being able to find an extra one and take 50m of territory off that. We were a bit more fumbly than they were.”

SCOREBOARD

Carlton 0.1 1.3 2.4 6.6 (42)

West Coast 1.0 2.3 2.4 3.4 (22)

Goals - Carlton: T Bohanna 2 K Sherar A McKay, E Fitzpatrick, D VescioWest Coast: L Wakfer, C Riggs L Painter.

Best - Carlton: E Fitzpatrick, T Bohanna, A McKay, M Hill, B Harrington. West Coast: E Roberts, C Thomas, B Lewis, E Swanson.