The Swans lack of confidence with their ball handling and that was to gift the Eagles their second goal. Amon Buchanan, a player who can normally be relied on for sure hands, fumbled the ball in his defensive goal square opening the door for Chris Judd to soccer through the Eagles second goal.

West Coast were smashing the Swans in the midfield and credit must be given to the Swans defence who held up resolutely under immense pressure. Sydney could have been closer than the 16 points they found themselves in arrears at quarter time had they been more accurate in front of goal. West Coast may have dominated in the midfield and in the clearances but the Swans still had their chances but could only manage 1.4 for the quarter, with 2-3 of those misses coming from very gettable shots.

Sydney continued to hold on grimly in the face of the Eagles onslaught, West Coast threatening to blow the Swans away on a number of occasions while never able to put the game put of the Swan’s reach, despite having over 70 more disposals than the Swans in the first half.

West Coast’s ploy of placing a loose man in defence placed in the areas that Sydney full forward Barry Hall would normally lead into worked a treat, with Hall having limited opportunities and when he did was well covered by his opponent Darren Glass.

Sydney were forced to make a change on the troublesome Hansen, moving Ted Richards onto the Eagles young gun. The move worked with Hansen having a lesser impact, only for the Eagles to find a new avenue to goal in Quinten Lynch who was starting to get the better of Leo Barry, the hero of last year’s decider.

Sydney hit back after half time with their midfielders starting to win the ball. Now that the Swans were winning their fair share of the ball they could now control the tempo of the game which is when the Swans play their best football. Co-captain Brett Kirk started to win more of the ball, Brownlow Medallist Adam Goodes started to have an influence and up forward the enigmatic Nick Davis was starting to cause the Eagles defence a few headaches.

West Coast had extended their lead to 25-points by the 11-minute mark of the third quarter, which is when the Swans launched their comeback. Five minutes later, Lewis Roberts-Thomson now moved forward managed to sneak through a goal just as he was being run down.

Sydney had chances to put further dents into the Eagles lead but both Barry Hall and Ted Richards failed to successfully convert their shots on goal. Davis’ third goal late in the third quarter reduced the margin to 11-points at the final change and a thriller was on the cards. West Coast had injury concerns as well, with star Chris Judd appearing to injure his shoulder in the third quarter but luckily for the Eagles Judd managed to play out the game.

Sydney didn’t need to wait long for the vital first goal of the final quarter. Jarrad McVeigh won the opening clearance, McVeigh’s kick hitting Barry Hall on the chest who then quickly handpassed the ball to a running Adam Goodes who launched a long bomb through the goals from 50-metres out, and within 14-seconds of the quarter beginning the Swan were only five points down.

The match now became a desperate scrap, the Eagles not able to apply any killer blows, but thank to a couple of behinds managed to stretch the margin to seven points. Then at the 16-minute mark Sydney roared back into contention with Adam Schneider snapping through a goal. The margin was now only a point.

West Coast hit back minutes later when former Melbourne player Steven Armstrong kicked the margin back to seven points.

Ryan O’Keefe once again bought the margin back to a point when his shot from 45-metres out from goal, close to the boundary line somehow managed to evade heavy traffic in the goal square for the Swans eleventh goal of the day.

Players from both sides were now beginning to tire and with the premiership in the balance it was the time for individual brilliance to make a mark on the game. It was the time where a moment of magic or a mistake could decide the game and that moment of magic came from West Coast veteran Daniel Chick.

With Sydney’s O’Keefe about to clear the ball from defence late in the game, Chick came with a beautiful smother of O’Keefe’s kick, the ball spilling free for Adam Hunter who ran into goal, giving the Eagles back their seven point lead.

Nick Malceski, with what would prove to be the Swans last goal once again reduced the difference to a point and now with their tails up the Swans continued to press for the match-winning goal. The Swans best chance came when Ted Richards had the ball on half forward and looking for space to kick into. This is when Chick made an impact once again, tackling Richards just as he was kicking the ball, the resulting kick going out of bounds on the full and the free kick going the Eagles way, allowing the Eagles to hold on for the narrowest of victories.

West Coast’s Andrew Embley was award the Norm Smith Medal for the best player on the ground. Embley had 14 kicks, 12 handpasses, six marks and two goals in a superb display.

MATCH DETAILS
West Coast Eagles 12.13.85 defeated Sydney Swans 12.12.84
(West Coast led by 16-points at quarter time, 25-points at half time and 11-points at three quarter time

Goals
West Coast: Quinten Lynch 3, Andrew Embley 2, Ashley Hansen 2, Ben Cousins 2, Chris Judd, Steven Armstrong, Adam Hunter
Sydney: Michael O’Loughlin 3, Nick Davis 3, Ben Matthews, Lewis Roberts-Thomson, Adam Goodes, Adam Schneider, Ryan O’Keefe, Nick Malceski

Best players
West Coast: Andrew Embley, Daniel Kerr, Chris Judd, Quentin Lynch, Daniel Chick, Darren Glass, Dean Cox
Sydney: Ted Richards, Michael O’Loughlin, Tadgh Kennelly, Nick Davis, Jarrad McVeigh.