West Coast have made their best start to an AFLW season as their Daisy Pearce revolution continued at Whitten Oval on Thursday night with an 11-point victory over the struggling Western Bulldogs.
Making matters even worse for the Dogs was the sight of champion Ellie Blackburn appearing to suffer a significant left ankle injury with just 26 seconds to go.
The five-time best-and-fairest had to be helped from the field by medical staff and given she seemed to be wiping tears from her face while limping off, it might indicate it’s a serious issue.
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After being held goalless last week, the hosts made a barnstorming start with the first two goals inside nine minutes to jump out to a 13-point lead, but after being jumped, the visitors settled and kicked the next four majors to lead by 10 points early in the final quarter.
West Coast absolutely dominated the middle two quarters, and heading into the final term they had a huge lead in tackles (71-56), despite also dominating the disposals (167-125), while enjoying a massive buffer in contested possessions (96-71) as well.
BULLDOGS BLOW IT
The Bulldogs failed to kick a goal from the nine-minute mark of the first period until the four-minute mark of the final quarter, when Blackburn got one back for them against the run of play to make it a four-point ball game.
And with 6:44 remaining, they had a golden chance to grab the lead when Isabelle Pritchard could’ve chipped it to Sarah Hartwig in the goal square. But she couldn’t get it past the West Coast defender and the Eagles were able to clear the danger.
It proved to be a costly skill error because West Coast debutant Octavia Di Donato shut the door shortly after when she snapped truly from 30m out, sparking wild celebrations.
DOGS FINALS HOPES IN JEOPARDY
The 5.2 (32) to 3.3 (21) result saw West Coast win two of their first three games for the first time and while Pearce has made an impressive start to her coaching career, the same cannot be said for fellow rookie coach Tamara Hyatt who has overseen an 0-3 start to the Bulldogs’ campaign, which is the third time in four seasons they have done that.
The Dogs can probably only afford to lose two more games if they want to make the finals.
DRENNAN, ROBERTS STAR
Alison Drennan was brilliant for West Coast, racking up 25 touches (17 contested), 11 tackles, eight clearances and a goal while youngster Ella Roberts was equally influential with 25 disposals (16), six tackles and a goal.
Jaide Britton also had a big say with 23 possessions (nine) and Blackburn was the Dogs’ best with 21 disposals (14), six clearances and a goal.
ELECTRIC ELLA
With the match on a knife’s edge late in the third quarter, Roberts stamped her class on the contest as she burst clear of the stoppage, ran to 45m out and bounced it through for a superb goal to put the Eagles up by 10 points.
GRIGG, MCFARLANE COMBINE
In the first quarter, the Bulldogs’ precocious No.6 draft pick Elaine Grigg set up one of the plays of the season so far when she attacked the contest ferociously in the middle of the ground, won the ball against one Eagle, danced around another opponent, booted it long into an open forward line and after winning the foot race, Brianna McFarlane spectacularly soccered it home from 35m out.
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