RECAP: West Coast Eagles suffer biggest-ever defeat to the Gold Coast Suns in Friday night loss
West Coast have slumped to their biggest-ever defeat at the hands of the Gold Coast after a horror second quarter.
They will also be counting the cost with Jamaine Jones subbed off with a broken nose while Jack Darling fought through a painful forearm injury.
However, Liam Duggan produced a herculean effort to be the best Eagle afield, while Oscar Allen became the only player in the competition to have kicked multiple goals in every game.
Catch up on all the action from the blog below.
The Gold Coast Suns get their biggest-ever win over the Eagles in a comprehensive performance.
A brilliant second term set them up, and while West Coast fought for a large chunk of the second half, it was never going to be enough.
The Suns also equalled their biggest-ever score against West Coast as they extended their win streak over them to three.
Liam Duggan finishes the night with a game-high 32 disposals to go with 662 metres gained while Matt Rowell’s love affair with Optus Stadium continued with 29 touches and 17 tackles, one more than Reuben Ginbey.
Crowd
West Coast fans have voted on the club’s situation with their feet, attracting a crowd of just 36,219 to their Friday night clash with Gold Coast.
With the Eagles’ season again falling apart amidst an injury crisis, some supporters clearly thought better of being seen, with the figure falling well below the club’s average attendance at the venue of 44,210, which includes the COVID-affected 2020 and 2021 seasons.
A crash in the Graham Farmer Freeway tunnel saw some punters stuck in traffic before the game, and the public transport network is under pressure on football Fridays as it tries to move fans to the stadium while getting peak-hour commuters home.
The lowest crowd the Eagles have attracted to Burswood came with the state still under COVID restrictions in 2020, when 19,092 fans came out to see them beat Carlton by 22 points, with the record-low football crowd the 6464 people who saw the Battle of the Bridge between Sydney and GWS in the same year.
It’s a dirty night for Jake Waterman.
He gets buried in a tackle before the ball his flushed into his face while he is trying to get up.
The Suns have well and truly locked the door on West Coast now but the home side have been better since the half-time break.
On a positive note top draft pick Reuben Ginbey has put in 16 tackles for the match, the most on the ground.
