Eagles beat Demons by 38 - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Eagles beat Demons by 38

13/03/2010 07:23:00 PM Comments (0)

West Coast rounded out their AFL pre-season campaign with a 38-point win over Melbourne in a practice match at Casey Fields on Saturday.

The Eagles led for most of the first half, fell behind briefly in the third term before slamming on the next seven goals to win 18.16 (124) to 12.14 (86).

The Demons had a winless pre-season campaign, a disappointing outcome for a side that has won the past two wooden spoons.

And the Demons injury toll increased when midfielder Colin Sylvia suffered a broken jaw in a clash with West Coast forward Josh Kennedy, putting him out of action for at least four matches.

Fellow forward Austin Wonaeamirri tweaked a hamstring while playing for Casey in a VFL practice match earlier in the day and will be unavailable for round one.

West Coast appears to have ample forward options heading into the new season.

West Coast, meanwhile, appear to have ample forward options heading into the new season, with Ashley Hansen putting his hand up for selection with three goals, as did the mercurial Mark LeCras.

Erstwhile defender Mitch Brown enjoyed a stint at the other end of the ground and booted two goals, while Nic Natanui, when not dazzling in the ruck, also pushed forward to snare two goals.

Kennedy also chimed in with nine marks and a goal. All this with Quinten Lynch resting back in Perth.

West Coast assistant coach Peter Sumich took charge for the day and said the match committee meeting ahead of the round one clash with the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba would throw up a few challenges.

"There's a hard decision to be made before round one, but Ash performed really well. All credit to him and he puts pressure on us to make the right decision."

Overall, Sumich said he was pleased with the match and particularly some of the ball movement through the middle, where Adam Selwood, Sam Butler and Andrew Embley were also very good for the Eagles.

"We're really pleased with that and how the game plan was executed. The boys were pretty tired by the end, but we're certainly very happy with the first three and a half quarters."

Brad Miller booted three goals for Melbourne and was his team's best forward, but the best news for the Demons was the fine display from veteran midfielder Cameron Bruce, who finished with two goals and 19 touches in his first game of any description for the year.

Coach Dean Bailey was disappointed with the loss and indeed the entire pre-season.

Melbourne and reigning premiers Geelong are the only teams not to have won so far this year.

"Today wasn't good enough. We hung in there for a half, dropped away in the third quarter and the final quarter was really disappointing.

"Our intensity and tackling was good but in modern footy, you can't afford to turn the ball over the way we did. When we did we got scored against," he said.

The large crowd at Melbourne's summer training base were keen to see the progress of Tom Scully and Jack Trengove, the first two selections at last year's national draft.

Trengove had 16 touches and Scully 13 and are on the verge of senior selection in round one, when the Demons take on Hawthorn at the MCG.

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