2011 West Coast Eagles season

Background

The Eagles' leadership group for 2011 was composed of the captain Darren Glass, vice-captain Beau Waters, as well as Andrew Embley, Shannon Hurn, Josh Kennedy, Mark LeCras, Matt Priddis, Adam Selwood, Scott Selwood and Beau Waters.

Playing list

Ashley Hansen, Matthew Spangher, Will Sullivan, Adam Cockie and Tony Notte were delisted. Tim Houlihan was delisted but was later re-listed by the Eagles in the 2011 Rookie draft.

West Coast traded Ben McKinley to in exchange for pick 86 in the 2010 National draft.

Draft selections

• National draft selections ::4 - Andrew Gaff (Oakleigh Chargers) ::26 - Jack Darling (West Perth) (priority) ::29 - Scott Lycett (Port Adelaide) ::62 - Jacob Brennan (East Fremantle) (F/S)
• Pre-season draft selections ::5 - Blayne Wilson (Peel Thunder)
• Rookie draft selections ::10 - Tim Houlihan (West Coast Eagles) (re-drafted) ::27 - Anton Hamp (Claremont) ::44 - Jeremy McGovern (Claremont)

West Coast also upgraded rookies Lewis Stevenson, Callum Wilson and Andrew Strijk to the senior list using selections 78, 84 and 93 respectively.

Statistics

Season summary

The first round of the 2011 NAB Cup was played using a round-robin format where the Eagles, and each played each other once in a series of games held at Patersons Stadium on 13 February. The Eagles won both of their games, progressing through to the NAB Cup quarter-finals where they defeated by 37 points to progress to a semi-final against ; however they lost their semi-final by 24 points and were eliminated from the NAB Cup.

After finishing with the wooden spoon in 2010, most commentators predicted the Eagles to finish in the bottom four. The team won their first two matches, against and by four points and 18 points respectively, and lost the next two, at home to by 13 points and away to by seven points. The team won the Western Derby by 33 points in round 8, their first since 2007. The Eagles won their round 9 match against the by 123 points, the Eagles' highest score and greatest winning margin against the Bulldogs, and the third-biggest winning margin in the club's history, with Josh Kennedy kicking 10 goals, the season-high for the competition. West Coast lost to in round 10 by 52 points before going on a five-match winning streak, their best since 2007. The team's round 16 win over was their first over the Cats since 2006.

Results

Ladder

Tribunal cases

Seven West Coast Eagles were cited by the Match Review Panel for eight separate offences during the 2011 season: Quinten Lynch was the only player suspended, receiving a one-match suspension after the round 14 game against for forceful front-on contact with Marc Murphy:

Awards

League awards

• John Worsfold was named Coach of the Year at the 2011 AFL Coaches' Association Awards.
• Dean Cox and Darren Glass were selected as ruckman and full-back respectively in the 2011 All-Australian team. Andrew Embley, Josh Kennedy and Matt Priddis were also named in the initial squad of 40 players, but were not selected in the final team.
• Nic Naitanui was nominated as a finalist for the 2011 AFL Mark of the Year.
• Luke Shuey (round two), Jack Darling (round six) and Andrew Gaff (round 19) were nominated for the 2011 AFL Rising Star award, with Shuey finishing second, Darling fifth and Gaff seventh overall.
• Matt Priddis polled the most club votes in the 2011 Brownlow Medal, receiving 19 votes to finish equal ninth.

Club awards

The 2011 West Coast Eagles Club Champion Awards were held on Friday, 7 October 2011, at Crown Perth. Darren Glass was named Club Champion and Best Finals Player, Brett Jones received the Best Clubman award and Luke Shuey was awarded Rookie of the Year. Josh Kennedy was leading goal-kicker, kicking 59 goals for the year. Mark LeCras (47 goals) and Mark Nicoski (41 goals) was next. Adam Selwood, Richard Godfrey and Glenn Stewart were inducted as life members of the club. The voting for the Club Champion Award went as follows:

: Glass and Priddis finished equal first on votes, but Glass was awarded Club Champion on countback, having played less games. : Embley and Nicoski both polled the same number of votes, but Embley finished higher, having played less games.

Notes

"Points" refers to carry-over points accrued following the sanction. For example, 154.69 points draw a one-match suspension, with 54.69 carry-over points (for every 100 points, a one-match suspension is given).

References

References

1. [http://www.westcoasteagles.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/7155/newsid/107300/default.aspx Eagles go for top 10 - WestCoastEagles.com.au]
2. "Spangher wants out of Eagles - AFL.com.au".
3. "AFL Team Lists – New and Delisted AFL players for season 2011 {{!}} Sports and Racing.com.au".
4. "Ashley Hansen delisted by West Coast {{!".
5. "Rookie Draft Wrap {{!}} AFL Blog - ContestedFooty".
6. "2011 Player Stats".
7. [https://web.archive.org/web/20101027092929/http://www.afl.com.au/nabcup/fixture/tabid/15297/default.aspx 2011 NAB Cup fixtures]
8. [http://thefinalsiren.com/2011/01/31/afl-ladder-prediction-2011/ AFL Ladder Prediction 2011] {{Webarchive. link. (6 August 2011 - The Final Siren. Written by Anthony Piccolo. Published 31 January 2011. Retrieved 20 July 2011.)
9. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110325092902/http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/109709/default.aspx The also-rans] - afl.com.au. Written by [[Leigh Matthews]]. Published 22 March 2011. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
10. [http://www.theroar.com.au/2011/03/18/an-uneven-season-or-more-of-the-same/ AFL 2011: odds for the teams to win title] - The Roar. Written by Andrew Leonard. Published 18 March 2011. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
11. [http://www.thebigtip.com.au/afl/just-how-good-are-eagles Just How Good Are The Eagles?] - Thebigtip. Written by Matt Marsden. Published 8 July 2011. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
12. [http://www.perthnow.com.au/sport/afl/west-coast-slaughters-woeful-bulldogs-by-a-staggering-123-points/story-e6frg1xu-1226060640929 West Coast slaughters [sic] woeful Bulldogs by a staggering 123 points] {{Webarchive. link. (25 June 2011 - PerthNow. Written by Michael Washbourne. Published 22 May 2011. Retrieved 20 July 2011.)
13. Coghlan, Scott. (9 July 2011). "West Coast Eagles topple falling Geelong". [[The Australian]].
14. "2011 Season Scores and Results". AFL Tables.
15. [http://footystats.freeservers.com/Archive/Tribunal2011.html Tribunal 2011] {{Webarchive. link. (24 August 2011 – Footystats. Retrieved 26 February 2012.)
16. [http://www.westcoasteagles.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/7155/newsid/124363/default.aspx Worsfold: a team effort] – westcoasteagles.com.au. Published 29 September 2011. Written by Gary Stocks. Published 12 October 2011.
17. [http://www.westcoasteagles.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/7155/newsid/123826/default.aspx Glass, Cox earn All Australian nod] – westcoasteagles.com.au. Published 20 September 2011. Written by Gary Stocks. Retrieved 12 October 2011.
18. "Nic Naitanui Pack Mark & Winning Goal after the siren (R8, 2013) - YouTube".
19. [https://web.archive.org/web/20111020151209/http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/122921/default.aspx Heppell, the first Don] – Published 7 September 2011. Written by Luke Holmesby. Retrieved 12 October 2011.
20. [http://www.theage.com.au/afl/brownlow-medal/brownlow-voting-20110926-1ku0v.html Brownlow voting] – theage.com.au. Published 27 September 2011. Retrieved 12 October 2011.
21. [http://www.westcoasteagles.com.au/2011%20stats/tabid/7184/default.aspx 2011 West Coast statistics - Official AFL website of the West Coast Eagles]. Retrieved 12 October 2011.
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