West Coast Eagles show spirit, but only after being hit by Greater Western Sydney’s orange tsunami

When you play GWS, even the 2022 version that was 2-7 entering Sunday, one of the keys is to start well enough to stifle the talent they still obviously have and get them to question the method. Unfortunately for West Coast in the midst of the season from hell, this game started with a Greene/Green ripple and quickly turned into an Orange Tsunami. Toby Greene (twice) and Tom Green had the first three goals of this game on the board within minutes and James Peatling had added a fourth soon after. By the time the Eagles got their bearings it was half time. They were 53 points in arrears, had conceded 14 first-half goals, and another game was gone. West Coast then played their best half of football for well over a month and squared the second half. Depending on whether you are glass half full or glass half empty observer, that was either a sign of progress or way too little, way too late. Adam Simpson did get three goals from youngster Isiah Winder, two from fringe forwards Jake Waterman and Hugh Dixon and their best performance in terms of scoring since their round four win over Collingwood. But they could not defend. The Giants kicked 21 goals as stand-in coach Mark McVeigh made a string of changes in his first game in charge and most paid dividends. Most significantly he shifted Stephen Coniglio back to the midfield and Coniglio rewarded him with 36 disposals. Youngsters Peatling (three) and Tanner Bruhn (two) booted five goals between them, and recalled veteran Matt De Boer bobbed up early as a pressure forward to kick two. Tim Kelly had 23 disposals to have more of the ball than any other Eagle, and youngster Callum Jamieson continues to show signs as a ruckman, but as has been the case for all of this cursed season for West Coast, every wind blowing their way brings some ill with it. Skipper Luke Shuey, back as a team playing predominantly as a forward, was subbed out of the game late, raising more questions about his durability. You get the feeling that Shuey is only one more significant soft-tissue setback from potential retirement at the end of the season. The little wins Simpson has declared the club has to celebrate the little wins as part of what is now clearly a rebuild. When West Coast managed to outscore the Giants by three points in the third term, it was their first win in a quarter for five weeks. They outscored the Giants four goals to three thanks to two majors from Winder – the second of which was a brilliant weave through traffic. There were also long bombs from Greg Clark - for his first goal in AFL football - and Liam Duggan, and they were able to make the most of a handful of forward-50 entries. Ironically the Giants had established a quarter-by-quarter premiership ladder in their formative years under Kevin Sheedy just to make sure his team could celebrate those little wins. Giant first impression Leon Cameron exited stage left after round nine and new stand-in coach Mark McVeigh wasted little time in making his presence felt, both in terms of the way he set the team up and in their method. Harry Himmelberg has been a forward for almost his entire career but started in defence against the Eagles. Himmelberg marked the shift with a massive bomb over the centre circle from a kick-in and also managed to keep a run of 20 games with a goal going by nailing a long-range second-quarter shot. Coniglio returned to the midfield from his previous role as a high half-forward and made the most of it with a prolific afternoon in the engine room. The Himmelberg shift enabled McVeigh to give Jake Riccardi a chance as a tall forward and fringe players Jacob Wehr, Jarrod Brander, Zach Sproule and Peatling got looks. All celebrated the chance with goals. Better in attack, more exposed in defence After copping hidings around the contest over a month heading into their showdowns with top-two teams Brisbane and Melbourne, the Eagles had made a point of contested possession. The result was a better showing. West Coast had held their own in the contest but had been unable to score and had not kicked more than eight goals in any of their last four games and had only kicked more than five once. They moved to shift the ball better against the Giants and managed 13 goals. But they could not defend their opponents’ ball movement in the first half and coughed up 14 goals despite having 24 forward-50 entries themselves. Their work around the contest slipped too and they were minus 20 in contested ball at the main break. They were better after that, won the third quarter by three points and the second half by a point, conceding just seven goals.