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After a dismal second quarter, when Keegan Knott (I'd love to have him in a blue and black jumper) tore our defence apart, including kicking one of the most freakish goals I've ever seen, I feared that we were rapidly going down the gurgler.
Things looked even worse when Hamish Brayshaw was done for the day late in the second quarter and Scott Jones didn't resume after the long interval.
However, the boys dug deep and I thought our second half (despite Sam van Diemen and Stan Wright spending extended time off the ground due to injury) was some of our best footy for the year.
It helped that the midfield sprung to life after the woes of the second quarter, while Corey Watts had the better of Tyler Keitel, who (thankfully) missed a few shots he'd normally convert.
Remarkably, it was the first Royal flush (clean sweep) of the Falcons since 1997, though there are only two head-to-head meetings these days compared to three in the good old days.
As for the upcoming game against West Coast, whom we would do well not to underestimate, there are bound to be a few enforced changes due to injury.
Hopefully, Nick Robertson got through last Saturday's reserves match unscathed and is selected for the Eagles game, setting himself up for a meeting with his "old mate" Jono Marsh the following Saturday.    

After losing Brayshaw in the second quarter,and then seeing Jonesy walking the boundary,while Medhat was bouncing around in the centre square,looking for all the world to be our apparent designated ruckman  before the siren was about to sound for the commencement of the 2nd half,I honestly thought we were in deep deep trouble.To go on to win that game,after we were 16 points down was a really gutsy effort,and the ferocious attack on the ball and their Joondalup falconi opponents,under the circumstances stamped the game as our best win of the year.although when I look at the firepower of the Peel and Shark teams forward lines compared to ours,I’m not sure we have the potency to go all the way,but fingers crossed hopefully I’m wrong.

Tipped you guys to be premiers at the start of the season RL and don’t have any reason to change my mind.As we all know finals are a different ball game and if you guys produce your early season form that’s exactly what finals footy is like. I think McQueen is smart operator and can get the team peaking at the right time.An apprehension of the side is where the goals will come from but I really can’t remember when a forward kicked a bag in finals.You guys have an even spread of goal kickers and in finals that’s gold.If you can stay clear on the injury front you should make the GF and give it a damn good shake.

TheFeds wrote:

Tipped you guys to be premiers at the start of the season RL and don’t have any reason to change my mind.As we all know finals are a different ball game and if you guys produce your early season form that’s exactly what finals footy is like. I think McQueen is smart operator and can get the team peaking at the right time.An apprehension of the side is where the goals will come from but I really can’t remember when a forward kicked a bag in finals.You guys have an even spread of goal kickers and in finals that’s gold.If you can stay clear on the injury front you should make the GF and give it a damn good shake.

I hope your right Mr Ness but as you well know,flags are not easy to win,and my gut feeling is we don’t have all the pieces required for our side to solve the premiership puzzle,and we’ll get a good guide to see where we’re at when we play the Sharks and Peel in our last 2 qualifying round games,in matches which are essentially mini finals,which will decide who finishes top 3.

 My old mate Macreedie is the swing man we’ve been looking for,and it would be nice if we had the luxury of playing him predominantly more forward more often,and a special mention  for our man mountain Jonesy today,who was absolutely magnificent.

The whole team were sensational in that last quarter, Lucky.
Remarkably, it was our fifth win by exactly three points this season.
East Fremantle controlled the game from midway through the second quarter and I just assumed that they'd do enough to keep their top-three hopes alive, particularly with Angus Schumacher gone for the day from midway through the second quarter.
However, Ross McQueen rolled the dice and, as you say, the move of swingman Harry Macreadie to centre-half-forward was match-winning.
Alas, we can't take a trick in terms of injuries, but fingers crossed that Schuey's injury isn't season-ending. 
Jonesy was sensational, along with Stan Wright. Mitch Crowden, Micky Randall and Liam Tedesco, who all thrived in the heavy conditions.
The ground was like a swimming pool and the reported tackle count (both teams had 130) would have to be a record, although I see from wafl.com.au that both Claremont and West Coast also had 100-plus tackles. 
 

Archie Duda Goal Machine wrote:

The whole team were sensational in that last quarter, Lucky.
Remarkably, it was our fifth win by exactly three points this season.
East Fremantle controlled the game from midway through the second quarter and I just assumed that they'd do enough to keep their top-three hopes alive, particularly with Angus Schumacher gone for the day from midway through the second quarter.
However, Ross McQueen rolled the dice and, as you say, the move of swingman Harry Macreadie to centre-half-forward was match-winning.
Alas, we can't take a trick in terms of injuries, but fingers crossed that Schuey's injury isn't season-ending. 
Jonesy was sensational, as was Stan Wright, apart from the free kick and 50m penalty that saw the Sharks kick their third and final goal in Q3.
The ground was like a swimming pool and the tackle count (EF 127, EP 125) would have to be a record, though I see from wafl.com.au that both Claremont and West Coast also had 100-plus tackles. 

 

Shades of ‘78 today Archie,although I’m still not confident about beating the blue and whites on a fast track,particularly with the injuries to Scott,Brayshaw and now Schumacher,but I suppose you’ve got to be in it to win it,so here’s hoping.

Hopefully we get more of the same weather in September to nullify the "fast deck" that might benefit the Sharks, should we meet them again, Lucky.
Win next week and we have a bye in the first week of the finals, giving a few of our worn bodies and niggly injuries to recover.
I believe that Tom Medhat will be right to return next week, but let's hope that Hamish Brayshaw has fully recovered to cover Angus Schumacher's likely absence.
Zach Raykos will hopefully have shaken his illness, while I've heard that Angus Scott might be right for the finals.
A bonus will be if Nick Robertson negotiated today's reserves games unscathed, as his experience will be invaluable if we manage to go deep into September.
Of course, Mitch Schofield is gone for the year, but wouldn't he be very handy because he's a genuine match-winner on his day?

Great gutsy,  all be it sodden,  victory by the boy's in Blue n Black yesterday at Lake Leedy....congrats on the 4 points and a top 2 finish.....been a tough season for you boy's, especially injury wise.

Going to be an interesting set of matches next week between EP and Peel. The colts are playing off for a spoon, and the league for a minor premiership......talk about a tale of two extremes. 

Freezin wrote:

Great gutsy,  all be it sodden,  victory by the boy's in Blue n Black yesterday at Lake Leedy....congrats on the 4 points and a top 2 finish.....been a tough season for you boy's, especially injury wise.

Going to be an interesting set of matches next week between EP and Peel. The colts are playing off for a spoon, and the league for a minor premiership......talk about a tale of two extremes. 

No surprise there Mr Freeze,by the contrasting fortunes between the senior side and the colts,who cannot be propped up by imports.We have for the most part of the season,played on average only 8 to 9 “homegrown players”and yesterday was I believe,only the first time we have had 11 lineup from our zones,and 6 were from our strong Coastal S.W zone which has over the years,been our only saving grace.