Analysis The 2018 premiership is the high point of WC's history

[Turboman1994]

It’s up there for me I’m usually pretty mellow and people tend to be surprised that I’m an eagles supporter given my rather laid back and pessimist view towards things. This year got on my nerves
1. FU Gill
2. FU walls
3. FU Melbourne media

Delicious vic tears

 

[Coasters7]

The 2 times Melb have won here we were below our best, had key players out and were within minutes of winning.

The real class gap was the Prelim.

There were quite a few opposition supporters in denial all year. Not saying I was certain we were going to win the whole thing early (heck.. I didn’t think we were going to win until about 20 seconds to go in the last game of the season), but I knew we were a decent chance all season. There were others that flat out refused to acknowledge we were contenders and brought up outdated excuses and looked at final results in isolation rather than bothering to analyse why we might have lost. The example that you used is perfect. Melbourne thinking they had it sown up because they beat us previously, neverminding the fact we were without our two best forwards (one contributing to us playing a man down for the majority of the game), or the fact that we still probably should have won that game anyway. The season was filled with little things that had us written off at every opportunity. You could argue that of all of our losses, the North game was probably the only one you could say we didn’t really have much of a shot in. The rest, Essendon.. Adelaide.. both Sydney games.. Melbourne, were still all very winnable games up until 3/4 time in some cases (last 5 minutes in others), yet we were written off after all of them.

Richmond and Collingwood on the other hand, and even Melbourne, weren’t given the same criticism after they were demolished.. merely a blip, and should continue on their merry way. No problem with that, as every team has their off days.. but when the evidence was mounting up that we were a fairly decent side, it was criminal we were never afforded the same leniency. Especially given we had more right to a “decent side” tag, based on previous years performance, than at least both Melbourne and Collingwood.

Only way we were ever going to win that argument was going all the way.. and it definitely shut quite a few people up.

 

[Hap Hapablap]

this season was probably the best "ahahahahaha i told you so campaigners" season ive ever witnessed by any team in the last 20 or so years. the face we had every type of problem thrown at us and came through it and shutting down the media and putting them into disarray is something i will cherish. im only old enough to remmeber the 2006 and 2018 grand finals (was 5 and 7 in the others) but i enjoyed this one far more than the win over the swans.

why

because every victorian hero in the media wanted us gone. and we told them to get ****ed. 2006 was a sydney dick riding fest but nothing came close to the anti eagle sentiment ran by the media all year

 

[FatPizza]

I was more nervous before the Prelim than the Grand Final. Due to all the media hype around Melbourne I was just aching for us to annihilate them. Was a great day and an amazing game to go to.

 

[Candiru]

this season was probably the best "ahahahahaha i told you so campaigners" season ive ever witnessed by any team in the last 20 or so years. the face we had every type of problem thrown at us and came through it and shutting down the media and putting them into disarray is something i will cherish. im only old enough to remmeber the 2006 and 2018 grand finals (was 5 and 7 in the others) but i enjoyed this one far more than the win over the swans.

why

because every victorian hero in the media wanted us gone. and we told them to get ******. 2006 was a sydney dick riding fest but nothing came close to the anti eagle sentiment ran by the media all year

I also think we were legit underdogs this year. And that adds to the satisfaction.

 

[kerr87]

https://www.theroar.com.au/afl/long...heir-story-and-seized-the-premiership-679037/

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
Great read!!

Best sports article I've ever read.

Even better that its about West Coast.

 

[Swooping Crow]

It’s up there for me I’m usually pretty mellow and people tend to be surprised that I’m an eagles supporter given my rather laid back and pessimist view towards things. This year got on my nerves
1. FU Gill
2. FU walls
3. FU Melbourne media

Delicious vic tears

So glad you defeated Collingwood. Wish we had your resilience and strength of character.

 

[mattyc75]

I also think we were legit underdogs this year. And that adds to the satisfaction.

Fair enough that we were underdogs to begin the season but as the year went on and we won in Melbourne, beat all the contenders ,won 10 in a row its just melbourne bias that we were underdogs on gf day

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[Bluey_McKenna]

Does anyone else wake up in the morning and randomly think ‘fck we won the flag!’

Amazing group.

 

[Cuzz09]

Does anyone else wake up in the morning and randomly think ‘fck we won the flag!’

Amazing group.

Yeah I do.

Then watch more highlights

 

[ioppolo]

I regularly think back to myself in those last few minutes. The emotional roller coaster that was.

I couldn't watch from the five minute point, I was in the hallway listening to commentary as if it were radio. I missed McGovern's mark live and also Liam Ryan's live. I turned around in time to see Ryan kick it to Sheed.

When Dom Sheed kicked that goal I was almost in disbelief. My mates were jumping and screaming but I hung behind the couch saying "oh my god, oh shit" several times and then gave everyone the 'calm down' gesture.

Play restarted and I remember yelling in excitement when Cripps found Kennedy thinking he'd slow it down. Then his pathetic attempt at a pass to Sheed had me on edge again. Then Darling happened. I remember getting ready to exhale when I saw him by himself, but of course he dropped it, and my exhale of cheering became an exhale of "WHAT THE ACTUAL FUXK" and I genuinely had flashbacks to his drop in 2015.

When Shuey marked Maynard's kick in all I could say was "this will take us to 25 seconds" on repeat, like a robot programmed for that specific purpose. Afterwards I sat about a metre from the tv and didn't say a thing, all I was thinking was "lock it in, lock it in".

When the siren went I ran out the front door and yelled out "FUXKIN WEST COAST" at the top of my lungs, and then collapsed into the huddle dance that my mates were doing in the loungeroom.

TL;dr, I was too much of a nervous wreck to appreciate the last few minutes, and let the street know how relieved I was when the siren sounded.

 

[Candiru]

Fair enough that we were underdogs to begin the season but as the year went on and we won in Melbourne, beat all the contenders ,won 10 in a row its just melbourne bias that we were underdogs on gf day

No one rated us at the start of the year. And we lost Naitanui, Gaff and Sheppard.

 

[Bluey_McKenna]

I regularly think back to myself in those last few minutes. The emotional roller coaster that was.

I couldn't watch from the five minute point, I was in the hallway listening to commentary as if it were radio. I missed McGovern's mark live and also Liam Ryan's live. I turned around in time to see Ryan kick it to Sheed.

When Dom Sheed kicked that goal I was almost in disbelief. My mates were jumping and screaming but I hung behind the couch saying "oh my god, oh shit" several times and then gave everyone the 'calm down' gesture.

Play restarted and I remember yelling in excitement when Cripps found Kennedy thinking he'd slow it down. Then his pathetic attempt at a pass to Sheed had me on edge again. Then Darling happened. I remember getting ready to exhale when I saw him by himself, but of course he dropped it, and my exhale of cheering became an exhale of "WHAT THE ACTUAL FUXK" and I genuinely had flashbacks to his drop in 2015.

When Shuey marked Maynard's kick in all I could say was "this will take us to 25 seconds" on repeat, like a robot programmed for that specific purpose. Afterwards I sat about a metre from the tv and didn't say a thing, all I was thinking was "lock it in, lock it in".

When the siren went I ran out the front door and yelled out "FUXKIN WEST COAST" at the top of my lungs, and then collapsed into the huddle dance that my mates were doing in the loungeroom.

TL;dr, I was too much of a nervous wreck to appreciate the last few minutes, and let the street know how relieved I was when the siren sounded.

Brilliant. Did similar when we beat Port. Scared the hell out of my infant daughter in the process

 

[RookiePick]

Brilliant. Did similar when we beat Port. Scared the hell out of my infant daughter in the process

Port elim final?

I was a gibbering loon through the end of that. Truly epic.

 

[ioppolo]

That EF has slipped from my memory after the events of 2018

 

[RookiePick]

That EF has slipped from my memory after the events of 2018

Nah it was an epic portent of our growing powers of GAGF errybody!

 

[Coasters7]

The premiership itself perhaps not the greatest out of the 4 but the lead up seasons to it would have to be the greatest period in our history surely. 2018 was a great season but made even greater by 2015-2017 to set the whole thing up.

2015 - stunned the competition (and probably ourselves in hindsight), would’ve been a steal had we nabbed that one, beaten by one of the best, if not the best, teams of this era.

2016 - thought we’d have a free ride to the big dance again, quickly found that wasn’t the case

2017 - similar to 16 in that we assumed we’d be around the mark again but lacked ruthlessness and mental toughness to stay in games/ not let opposition back in

2018 - used what we learnt over those seasons + a bit of new blood injected to refresh the place, and went all the way

With all that’s come before it makes 2018 all the more special. The ups and downs over the last 3 years that have lead to this point. Hard to put into words but just all the little moments over the years, Nics injury and the Port final to name a few. Just all added up to make this period the proudest period to be an Eagles supporter and firmly believe we can snag possibly one more over the next 5 years, injuries and improvement of other teams obviously the biggest factors.

Not getting ahead of ourselves here but we’ve put ourselves in a strong position to build something very special. We didn’t steal one like the Bulldogs or Tiges, (not saying they didn’t deserve it, just came from nowhere) that was our 2015 run. We’ve been there or there abouts for a few years now and I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t be disappointed if we didn’t at least make one more grannie before the next phase comes through. Very hard to win these things obviously but we’re in a nice position to go on with it a bit here. Not going to come out and say we’re guaranteed the next 2 flags but I will say that I’m very excited about what’s still to come.

 

[The wily weagle]

Not that it matters now, but you can imagine what would have happened if jack darlings dropped Mark in the goalsquare went down the other end for a goal and cost us a grand final?

He'd have been run out of Perth

 

[Total_Juddshanks]

Not that it matters now, but you can imagine what would have happened if jack darlings dropped Mark in the goalsquare went down the other end for a goal and cost us a grand final?

He'd have been run out of Perth

Yep, I genuinely think he would have retired/moved clubs.

I agree 2018 was the best year in the club's history.

Often when teams win one off, out of nowhere flags everything is going right off field. That wasn't the case for us, we had a slew of injuries and suspensions at exactly the wrong time to exactly the wrong people, and the team just shrugged them off and powered through them. We got great service from players who at the start of the year would probably have been outside our best 18, people like Vardy, Sheed, Redden, Cripps and R&R all had immense finals series.

The comebacks in the granny, from 5 goals down and then from 2 goals down in the last were pinch yourself stuff, it just doesn't happen in games like that.

My 10yo niece just started watching football and got on the eagles this year and I kind of feel bad for her because she hasn't yet figured out that 2018 is not a normal year in the life of a football fan- its the kind of season that comes around once in 25 years if you're lucky.

 

[flamingEMBERS]

Yep, I genuinely think he would have retired/moved clubs.

I agree 2018 was the best year in the club's history.

Often when teams win one off, out of nowhere flags everything is going right off field. That wasn't the case for us, we had a slew of injuries and suspensions at exactly the wrong time to exactly the wrong people, and the team just shrugged them off and powered through them. We got great service from players who at the start of the year would probably have been outside our best 18, people like Vardy, Sheed, Redden, Cripps and R&R all had immense finals series.

The comebacks in the granny, from 5 goals down and then from 2 goals down in the last were pinch yourself stuff, it just doesn't happen in games like that.

My 10yo niece just started watching football and got on the eagles this year and I kind of feel bad for her because she hasn't yet figured out that 2018 is not a normal year in the life of a football fan- its the kind of season that comes around once in 25 years if you're lucky.

That's where you're wrong! WCE will be back dancing on the big stage within 5 years.

 

[Broken_Chairs]

This uncanny calmness, which I hadn't felt all year, came over me in the lead up to the prelim. I just knew we were going to thrash Melbourne, I've never been so confident.

But knew the premiership was ours while watching Richmond get dismantled by Collingwood.

Realised this was it, this was our year, & was a vision of calmness and confidence all through the grand final (albeit had a rather tight sphincter during the last 5min).

 

[Cuzz09]

Also dont forget a couple of epic home and away tough/close wins v Port/Geelong/GWS.

If we don't fight those games out and get the 4 points then we dont finish top 2/barely finish top 4 and its basically season over (going off history/WA team travelling in September multiple times)

Percentage next year will be even more imlortant I reckon so we need to put teams away more often (not like StK game)

2018: epic season

 

[MIKE85]

I’m always a pessimist when it comes to footy. Was nervous as anything leading into the GF but had a strange feeling when we 29 points down that we’d come right back. I’m always the first to claim season over, game over, sack everyone etc, but this year was different. It was all about the numbers and the coincidences from previous premiership years. The fact we came back from exactly 29 points down against Port in round 20 left me with a weird feeling of hope and I had a feeling it’d all Work out.

Very easy to say in hindsight that we knew it was going to happen but something special was happening this year, it just had that feel about it.

 

[Avalor]

Watched it again last night for the umpteenth time. Gotta say the eagle chants during the game were loud and clear, far more so than anything Collingwood put out. Don't know how many of crowd were eagle fans, but they were immense. I think they all knew we could do it. The faith/force was strong.

 

[Rowan18]

I’m always a pessimist when it comes to footy. Was nervous as anything leading into the GF but had a strange feeling when we 29 points down that we’d come right back. I’m always the first to claim season over, game over, sack everyone etc, but this year was different. It was all about the numbers and the coincidences from previous premiership years. The fact we came back from exactly 29 points down against Port in round 20 left me with a weird feeling of hope and I had a feeling it’d all Work out.

Very easy to say in hindsight that we knew it was going to happen but something special was happening this year, it just had that feel about it.

I wasn't worried until collingwood kicked the fifth goal in the first quarter, at which point I felt sick to the guts and had flashbacks of 2015. I wasn't relieved until JK kicked his first, knowing that 3 goal deficit a quarter time was not too bad to come back from.

By half time I was strutting around saying collingwood has thrown their best at us and we'd roll over them but I was pretty tense at 3QT.

I was pulling my hair out in the 4th with all the set shot misses directly in front, but sheed made it all good.