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Streak continues despite West Perth’s hot start

Monday, July 15, 2024 - 9:50 PM
Streak continues despite West Perth’s hot start
West Perth remain one of the best first quarter teams in the WAFL but their latest hot start has not prevented the club’s worst losing streak in 45 years.
Tyler Keitel ran hot to kick four goals in the opening 10 minutes against West Coast on Saturday while the Falcons led well into the second half.
But the issues that have been evident over the past 3½ months were laid bare again when the last-placed Eagles secured the win that left the Falcons in danger of securing this year’s wooden spoon.
West Coast kicked seven goals in the third term at Mineral Resources Park – the second-best quarter in their mostly unsuccessful history – before holding on to win by eight points, 17.12 (114) to 16.10 (106).
It was West Perth’s fourth single-figure loss in a season of considerable frustration.
The Falcons became the first WAFL team in three seasons to lose after kicking 100 points but the defeat was their seventh in a row and 10th in the past 11 matches.
The last time West Perth lost seven in a row was 1991 while the previous worst streak was in 1979 when they had 10 consecutive losses.
Keitel’s extraordinary run continued with his six-goal haul taking him to 45 for the year and a 13-goal lead in the hunt for the Bernie Naylor Medal.
The big forward appeared on track to beat his career-best 10 against the Eagles last year when he landed four majors in a spectacular start to the game.
He kicked truly from close range after receiving a neat pass from premiership captain Aaron Black, converted Zac Patterson’s handball from traffic, marked on a lead from Luke Meadows and completed an excellent transition with a lead to Conal Lynch streaming forward.
When Meadows landed a long bomb, West Perth had the first five goals of the game and appeared set for their first win in two months.
It was not to be.
West Perth midfielders Shane Nelson (36 disposals), Connor West (28), Meadows (26) and Kane Bevan (24) were prolific ball-winners but their ability to attain the football was not matched by their influence with it.
It was notable that Nelson and Bevan each had 11 clearances, and the other two 10 between them, but West Perth’s stoppage dominance was not translated onto the scoreboard.
West Perth had 49 clearances to just 26 but kicked just four goals from stoppages compared to the home team’s five.
And they found it difficult to combat the impact of AFL premiership players Dom Sheed and Jack Darling, and the class of Jai Culley, in a West Coast team bristling with considerable if inconsistent talent.
While Keitel had the foil of Jack DeMarte, whose four goals doubled his previous best return, West Coast had a spread of multiple goal-kickers who stretched West Perth’s undermanned defence.
Tall target Archer Reid kicked three, Culley and Darling were effective targets with two apiece while lively small forward Tyrell Dewar, wingman Coby Burgiel and leading scorer Shannon Lucassen also struck twice each.
 
WEST PERTH 5.2 8.6 11.8 16.10 106
WEST COAST 4.4 6.7 13.11 17.12 114
GOALS - WEST PERTH: Keitel 6; DeMarte 4; Black, West 2; Meadows, Patterson.
WEST COAST: Reid 3; Darling, Dewar, Burgiel, Culley, Lucassen 2; Barnett, Johnson, Hall, Baker.
BEST - WEST PERTH: Keitel, Nelson, West, Bevan, DeMarte, Meadows.
WEST COAST: Sheed, Culley, Reid, Sparks, Baker, Darling.
 

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