MELBOURNE went down to a rampant West Coast Eagles by 77 points at Subiaco Oval on Sunday despite showing flashes of form during a tough afternoon.
The Eagles regained top spot on the ladder with the 19.23 (137) to 9.6 (60) win. Melbourne has fallen to 0-8 for the first time since 1974.
It was not a great day for Neale Daniher’s men, but bright starts to the third, and final quarters, and the good form of Travis Johnstone, was pleasing. Ryan Ferguson suffered a broken thumb, but Russell Robertson, Paul Wheatley and Clint Bizzell could all return next week.
Melbourne was swamped in the opening quarter, conceding 17 inside-50 entries to three and 13 scoring shots to one. Captain David Neitz scored Melbourne’s only goal, with West Coast’s inaccurate kicking – 5.8 for the term – leaving the door slightly ajar for the Demons.
Johnstone got Melbourne off to an ideal start to the second quarter, kicking a good goal as he was tackled, but its next major did not come until after the half-time siren. James McDonald marked as the siren sounded and kicked truly from just inside 50 to get the margin back to 41 points.
The Demons best patch of the game came after the main break. Ricky Petterd got the quarter's first goal at the five-minute mark, followed by two from Colin Silvia. At that point, Melbourne had kicked the last four goals of the game and the margin was just 25.
However, 15 minutes passed until Johnstone booted his second. The Eagles kicked five goals in that time.
The final quarter again began brightly for the Demons, with goals to Jeff White and Sylvia’s third, but it was a landslide after that, with the Eagles kicking six more goals.
Johnstone was Melbourne’s best, working tirelessly to finish with two goals and 24 possessions. Sylvia was dangerous up forward and McDonald worked hard to gather 25 touches. Brad Green also had 25, Daniel Ward 19 and Adem Yze 18, but the Demons had little else to write home about.
Cameron Bruce started on Chris Judd then moved into defence before finishing the game back on the ball. He had just 13 possessions and was on the receiving end of a high bump from Daniel Kerr while he was on the ground, which resulted in a report for the star Eagle.
Robertson will likely return next Sunday against the Kangaroos after kicking four goals, taking eight marks and collecting 17 possessions for Sandringham against Williamstown on Saturday.
Byron Pickett also kicked two goals and had 16 possessions for the Zebras. Defenders Bizzell and Wheatley will also push for selection after strong performances in the twos, especially considering the injury to Ferguson.
WEST COAST 5.8 8.14 13.18 19.23 (137)
MELBOURNE 1.0 3.3 7.4 9.6 (60)
GOALSWest Coast: Q Lynch 5 D Wirrpanda 3 M Morton 3 C Judd 3 A Hansen D Kerr B Staker T Stenglein S Hurn. Melbourne: C Sylvia 3 T Johnstone 2 D Neitz J McDonald R Petterd J White.
BESTWest Coast: C Judd Q Lynch A Hansen T Stenglein D Kerr B Staker.Melbourne: T Johnstone J McDonald C Sylvia B Green.
INJURIESMelbourne: Ryan Ferguson (broken thumb) West Coast: Nil.
Reports: Daniel Kerr (West Coast) reported in the first quarter by umpire Stephen McBurney and umpire Alan Zanich for forceful contact to the head of Cameron Bruce (Melbourne).
Umpires: S McBurney M Head C Hendrie.
Official crowd: 40,068 at Subiaco Oval, Perth.
