Defense wasn't the issue for the Eagles though, composure was. Too many panicked handballs and hacked kicks. They were fine from the set piece, but fell apart when Bulldogs ramped up the pressure.
Numbers don't lie Bulldogs were simply more effective with their disposals. Priddis, Masten and Shuey got their hands on it a lot but certainly burnt a lot of it as well.
McGovern was superb down back and was definitely BOG for West Coast.
I felt Lycett was solid, but is capable of doing better.
Sheed stunk last night, 17 disposals with only 47% effective, 5 clangers and zero tackles. He seems to be a sitting duck when tackled, the ball always got trapped to his body, needs to work on carrying it above the pack. I'd like to see him get more games, but don't be surprised if he's back with East Perth next weekend.
Don't know how in the hell Brett Goodes won that free kick when he kamikazed himself into two guys' legs. But they let Gaff off the hook 10 minutes later. Have they just completely abandoned the sliding rule?
Schofield apparently left the East Perth game this weekend after a head knock, so with that and his ankle, I doubt he'll be back next week. But hopefully Bennell will be so Gaff can move further up into the midfield. Wouldn't mind seeing Murray get a run up forward either, after kicking 4.2 for the Royals. If we're going to patch holes down back, and Darling is still on the shelf until round four at best, maybe the forward line could do well getting smaller. They've played tall for a while now, and it certainly hasn't been a roaring success.
