Eagles blow Hawks away

West Coast   97 defeated Hawthorn   49

In brilliant conditions for football the West Coast Eagles have blown the Hawks away with a 48 point victory on Saturday afternoon at Subiaco.

The Eagles booted 4 goals to 1 in the final quarter through two majors from Phil Matera and singles from Ben Cousins and Adam Selwood to dash any hopes of a Hawthorn comeback.

In a big blow for the Hawks young gun Rick Ladson came off in the shadows of half time with a broken forearm.

For the Eagles Captain Ben Cousins and Brownlow medallist Chris Judd were brilliant in the midfield with 29 and 26 disposals respectively. Phil Matera was a livewire up forward for the Eagles bagging 3 goals.

For the Hawks Luke Hodge was inspirational through the midfield and off half back racking up 35 disposals as was Joel Smith who fought hard all day collecting 27 possessions. Mark Williams provided a target up forward booting 2 goals.

In beautiful conditions for football the first term started off full of missed opportunities for both sides with the Eagles booting 5 behinds to the Hawks 3. It wasn’t until the 15th minute mark of the term that the Eagles kicked the opening goal through Brent Staker.

Adam McDougall booted the next goal for the Eagles to bring their lead out to 14 points. Youngster Clinton Young steadied the ship for the Hawks with a magnificent snap shot on goal resulting in a major.

Goalsneak Matera booted his first of the afternoon in the shadows of quarter time to bring the lead out to 16 points at the break.

The Hawks come out firing in the second term booting the first two goals through Coleman medal leader Williams to cut the margin back to only 5 points.

It wasn’t long until a piece of individual brilliance from Mark Nicoski resulted in a major for the Eagles who then proceeded to kick the next 3 goals of the term to lead by 30 points at the long break.

The Hawks started the premiership quarter in the best possible style booting the opening goal through Nathan Lonie. The boys from Glenferrie then added the next major through Lance Franklin to cut the margin back to 20 points.

Big-man Dean Cox stemmed the tide for the Eagles with his second major of the afternoon. Danny Jacobs immediately replied booting his first for the afternoon and at the break the Hawks trailed by 21 points.

The Eagles started the last term in style with Matera booting a major inside the first minute. The Eagles then piled on the next three goals to stretch the margin out to 42 points.

Ben Dixon booted his first goal for the Hawks in an attempt to salvage some respect on the scoreboard.

The Eagles finished the game off on a low booting 7 behinds, but it was more than enough as the boys from the west ran out winners by 48 points.

Next week sees the Eagles travel to the MCG to take on the Western Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon whilst the Hawks go head to head with the Lions at the Gabba on Sunday afternoon.

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