It was an inspired performance by West Coast to finish off round three, as they overcame a gallant Geelong side by 15 points in one of the games of the season thus far.
Despite putting up an admirable performance away from home, the Cats will have more on their minds besides the loss of four points, with injuries sustained to Gary Ablett, Cameron Guthrie and Nakia Cockatoo.
With both sides sitting at 1-1 after the first two rounds, it was always going to be a close contest at the new Optus Stadium.
As Geelong continue to settle into life with the “big three” of Ablett, Patrick Dangerfield and Joel Selwood, West Coast looked to take advantage of their lack of chemistry with a fast start in front of a 50,000 strong home crowd.
Returning West Coast star Nic Naitanui got proceedings underway, as an opportunistic soccer from the goal square would send the crowd into a frenzy early.
The Cats provided a quick response as defender Jed Bews sneaked forward and take a rare opportunity in front of goal.
In an enthralling start to the game, West Coast looked right up for the contest in the middle of the ground as Naitanui and the Eagles' midfield made light work of the Geelong champions early.
The Eagles dominance led to an onslaught by the home team, with goals to excitement machine Liam Ryan, Jack Redden and Mark LeCras putting the Cats on the back foot early as they struggled to keep up with the slick West Coast ball movement.
Sam Menegola and Esava Ratagoluea were the only shining lights for the Cats early, as they slumped to a 16-point deficit at the first change.
Things turned from bad to worse for Geelong in the second term, as a goalless quarter saw the Eagles further flex their muscles.
Everything the Eagles touched turned to gold, as West Coast attempted to prove themselves as a finals contender in 2018.
Naitanui continued his dominance in the ruck as the likes of Luke Shuey, Dom Sheed and Andrew Gaff gathered the football at will, setting up their teammates for ample scoring opportunities.
Despite their complete hold on the game, West Coast weren’t quite able to make Geelong pay on the scoreboard, managing to only to put on three goals for the quarter courtesy of Ryan, Shuey and Gaff.
In a lacklustre half of footy, the Cats found themselves 32 points behind at the main break with many questions to be asked regarding their effort and will around the contest.
Expected to respond, the champions at Geelong did just that as Ablett, Selwood and Dangerfield managed to wrestle back control of the game.
Draftee Lachlan Fogarty provided the spark for Geelong up forward early in the third quarter, converting a set shot opportunity and applying plenty of pressure on the West Coast defence.
Long goals to Zach Tuohy and Menegola got the Cats to back within striking distance, as the game plan that worked so well in the first half began to crack for the Eagles.
With the game on the line, Geelong power forward Tom Hawkins took over; his size and strength too much for the West Coast defence.
Two goals in the closing minutes of the quarter and a controversial touched decision saw Geelong regain the lead, with a pumped-up Chris Scott thrilled with his side's six-goal-to-zero quarter.
With a five-point margin separating the two sides at the final change, it was a last quarter for the ages at Optus Stadium as both sides experienced dramatic momentum swings.
Things would get much more challenging for the Cats early in the quarter as Ablett joined Cameron Guthrie and Nakia Cockatoo on the sidelines with a hamstring injury, reducing the Cats to just one rotation for the majority of the final term.
Their heavy losses wouldn’t deter the gallant Cats however, as a number of their young players stepped up to give them a 15-point buffer with Tim Kelly and Ratugolea putting through critical goals.
As the game slowly began to get out of West Coast’s reach, it would take a piece of coaching brilliance by Adam Simpson to wrestle back momentum as he pushed Elliot Yeo out of defence and into the midfield for the final 15 minutes.
The move would be met with immediate success, as Yeo managed to put a poor three quarters behind him and win a number of critical contests.
The dying minutes of the game werecompletely dominated by the home side as two clutch marks from Jack Darling up forward would see them steal the lead back, before Ryan, LeCras and Sheed put the game away.
A late goal by Tom Hawkins only trimmed the margin to 15 points, as West Coast enjoyed their first win at their new home ground.
The only worry out of the game for West Coast was a late injury to Liam Ryan, while Geelong look to be without Guthrie, Cockatoo and Ablett for a period of time.
West Coast will be set on carrying their momentum on from their stirring win, coming up against Gold Coast on Saturday night, while an undermanned Geelong will be hoping their absent stars won't result in a loss against the struggling St Kilda.
WEST COAST 4.6 7.9 7.11 14.11 (95)
GEELONG 2.2 2.7 8.10 11.14 (80)
GOALS
West Coast: Lecras 3, Ryan 3, Darling 2, Sheed 2, Redden, Naitanui, Shuey, Gaff
Geelong: Hawkins 3, Ratugolea 2, Menzel, Fogarty, Bews, Tuohy, Kelly, Menegola
BEST
West Coast: Sheed, Gaff, Shuey, Naitanui, Waterman, Ryan
Geelong: Menegola, Dangerfield, Hawkins, Ablett, Tuohy
INJURIES
West Coast: Ryan (ankle)
Geelong: C. Guthrie (ankle), Ablett (hamstring), Cockatoo (knee)
TALKING POINTS
1. NIC NAITANUI IS THE COMPETITION'S MOST INFLUENTIAL RUCKMAN
It is no secret West Coast severely missed the services of their premier ruckman who missed the 2017 season with a torn ACL.
Since returning to the side in 2018, Eagles fans have been further reminded of his influence as he gave his midfielders silver service in a masterful display of ruck work.
Playing only 58 per cent of the game, Naitanui managed 39 hit-outs, six tackles, nine disposals and a goal as he exploited Geelong’s lack of experience in the ruck.
Although not quite at 100 per cent, the signs are ominous moving forward as he continues to prove how important he is to this West Coast side.
2. GEELONG FINALLY GET SOMETHING OUT OF THEIR DEPTH PLAYERS
Although they weren’t able to leave Optus Stadium with the four points, Geelong will still be reasonably happy with what their fringe players were able to produce.
With lots of criticism surrounding the depth of this Geelong team, a number of young players stood up with Esava Ratugolea, Lachlan Fogarty, Brandan Parfitt, Jed Bews and Sam Menegola all having promising performances.
With Gary Ablett, Cameron Guthrie and Nakia Cockatoo all expected to spend time on the sidelines, Geelong simply must see continual growth from these players moving forward as they need to find a way to win without their stars being prevalent.
3. ELLIOT YEO MUST BE USED AS A PURE MIDFIELDER
After a breakout season in 2017, things looked to be continuing in a similar vein in 2018 as Yeo was finally experiencing more time in the midfield following the retirements of Matt Priddis and Sam Mitchell.
With the match-up of Yeo against the star-studded Cats midfield set to thrill, fans were met with disappointment on Sunday night as Adam Simpson surprisingly played his All-Australian star in defence for the majority of the game.
With just four touches in the first three quarters, Simpson would finally make the move as when Geelong looked to be getting on top.
A devastating burst by Yeo would swing the game in West Coast’s favour, proving to the coaching staff he is best used as a midfielder with his skill a nightmare match-up for opposition teams.
4. "FLYING RYAN" WILL BE A DRAWCARD FOR YEARS TO COME
With just three games of AFL football under his belt, it is already evident that Liam Ryan will be a major part of this West Coast team moving forward.
Possessing all the skills of an elite small forward, Ryan has been electrifying in his brief career at the top level.
With a gigantic leap, excellent goal sense and pure class with ball in hand, Ryan proved to be a match winner against the Cats with three goals.
In a team that going into the season was seen to lack star power and flair, that couldn’t be further from the truth with “Flying Ryan” in the forward 50.
Ryan has already proved his importance to the West Coast side, and will be sorely missed if his ankle injury proves to be serious.
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