TOPIC:

I've felt for a long time probably since they defeated Richmond at Optus in convincing fashion they are the best side in the competition and to think they did it without 3 of their best players in Natanui, Gaff and Sheppard it speaks volumes about their drafting and trading over the years. Three players that benefited from those injuries and suspension Vardy, Sheed and Schofield were absolutely outstanding.

Well done outstanding effort. I'm still watching my recording. I expect Dom Sheed or Luke Shuey will win the Norm Smith.

Great game, well done both sides. Plenty of stand out games on both sides. From a West Coast pount of view Shuey, Sheed, Redden, Vardy, Barrass, Hutchings, Kennedy & Darling (despite his last minute goal line dropped mark) were huge.

Fantastic performance from the Eagles, and particularly my favourite player - Will Schofield.

A couple of observations:

- I thought the umpiring was very good, with WCE getting the rub of the green occasionally

- a comment from that silly old farkwit, McAvaney will long live in my memory - "I reckon the Eagles are in deep trouble now"................ at the 11 minute mark of the 1st quarter.

Schofield, McGovern & Hurn all excellent.

Umpires good in their thankless task. 17 - 13 in favour of the Pies suggests they probably had the rub of the green though.

What a fantastic game of footy......not a WCE fan, but great effort to keep believing in themselves and their structure after that blistering Collingwood start.....WCE kept chipping away.....great to see so many EF boys in the team for WCE......whilst none of them were dominant, great to see JK get the monkey off his back with some goals.......good effort by Collingwood, one of the best GF for a while.......enjoy your night 58.....

Enjoy the night I will freeze, although I won’t go over the top - can’t handle the hangover these days!
Great to see JK go well and also Schofield who was only bought in when Shepherd went out injured. Also good to see one of my favs in Vardy have a good game. To think he was considering giving the game away prior to being picked up by West Coast. Very pleased to see Mr Walls cop another hiding and that idiot at the Herald Sun that said the Eagles don’t deserve to play in a GF. Just goes to show that you don’t have to be a cockhead to be a Victorian, but it certainly helps!! Oh yeah, Fat Eddie’s face at the end of the game......PRICELESS!!!

The Eagles just kept chiseling away after quarter time.
Great effort after Collingwood kicked the first 5 goals of the game.
Darling had to respond after half time and he did,JK had a great game and the backline mids and rucks all did there job.
This is surely one of the great clubs of modern times.
Maybe Anchorman can sum it up better than me.

One of the best grand finals of the past 20 years. Great fightback by the Eagles after trailing by 5 goals late in the first quarter. Poise shown by Dom Sheed to thread through the winning goal from a difficult angle. Shuey a deserved Norm Smith medallist. Kudos to Jack Darling for overcoming his demons in the 2nd half, although I bet he was relieved to hear the final siren after muffing that mark in the goalsquare with a minute to go. Enjoy your celebrations 58 shark and other West Coast fans.

30plusyeardrought wrote: The Eagles just kept chiseling away after quarter time.
Great effort after Collingwood kicked the first 5 goals of the game.
Darling had to respond after half time and he did,JK had a great game and the backline mids and rucks all did there job.
This is surely one of the great clubs of modern times.
Maybe Anchorman can sum it up better than me.

Or maybe Sean could?
But yes, considering those that were on the bench not just today, but through the season, the club could be considered, arguably, one of the best AFL teams alongside Hawthorn.

jackspratt wrote: - a comment from that silly old farkwit, McAvaney will long live in my memory - "I reckon the Eagles are in deep trouble now"................ at the 11 minute mark of the 1st quarter.

And a print follow-up from news.com.au reporter Jai Bendall - who apparently either wasn't at the game, or was lurking in the dunnies (maybe looking for Alan Jones):

Runner Alex Woodward got tangled up with Magpies youngster Jaidyn Stephenson as Taylor Adams attempted to hit him with a wayward kick in the back half.

Woodward’s block prevented Stephenson from making a play on Adams’ pass and allowed Eagles midfielder Elliott Yeo to intercept the ball and convert on the run.

And later in the story, just to compound his nonsense:

Woodward’s block prevented Stephenson from making a play on Adams’ pass and allowed Eagles midfielder Elliott Yeo to intercept the ball. He nailed a running goal to put West Coast up by two points.

www.news.com.au/sport/afl/live-afl-grand...ff1ca7d89ac39c3dafed