Round 8 – West Coast Eagles V Melbourne

Dees Make It Three In A Row

Liam Chambers

Dees dominance not reflected on scoreboard

The Demons have rediscovered that winning feeling after surviving a late challenged from Richmond in Round 7. Despite remaining winless so far in 2025, West Coast almost always raise their game at home, so Melbourne wouldn’t be leaving anything to chance in Perth.

Christian Petracca was first on the board when his snap from the pack sailed through the posts, giving the Dees an early advantage.

Five minutes later Jake Waterman returned the favour with a snap from a similar position but after a lengthy review, the ball was deemed to have been touched. It wasn’t a popular decision with the overwhelmingly biased home crowd, but a good result for Demon fans.

Bailey Fritsch got Melbourne’s second when he took a contested mark on the edge of the square and converted with the set shot.  The Dees were dominating in clearances but not making the most of their chances and leaving the door open for the Eagles. Luckily though West Coast had a similar problem; wasting the few scoring opportunities that presented.

Eagles up the pressure and reap the rewards

Jake Melksham once again reminded us why he is such a valuable player for Melbourne, initially with his cleanly taken mark just inside the arc, then with his quickly taken set shot from 52m out. Melksham’s judgement was perfect and his kick had just enough length and height to fall safely behind the goal line.

Max Gawn is having another stellar season but he has yet to score a goal. When he marked the ball 30m directly in front, it looked like he might break the 2025 scoring drought. Alas he hooked it to the left and it whistled past the outside of the upright. By the halfway mark of the quarter, Melbourne was only leading by three goals when the stats indicated that they should have had a more comfortable lead.

Then Jack Williams took a contested mark and converted the 35m set shot to score West Coast’s first goal. Two minutes later, Elijah Hewett found himself on the end of an Eagles hand pass chain. He ran on and chipped a 40m shot that just slid through the inside of the big post.

Continuing the age old tradition of former Demons scoring against their old club, Jayden Hunt kicked an impressive 40m curling goal from the boundary line. His shot drew the Eagles to within one point of Melbourne. Tyler Brockman put them five points ahead a minute later, with his 30m shot from the pocket.

When Archer Reid marked the ball next to the goal square, his set shot looked like a shoe in. Fortunately for Dees’ fans, Reid couldn’t get a good connection with his boot, and Melbourne went in at half time, trailing by a single goal.

Dees move up a gear

We travelled to Perth on a high, having won back to back games and with a view to getting our season back on track. On paper we were firm favourites, so why were we behind at the start of the second half? We couldn’t afford to be complacent and needed to kick early goals to get back in the driver’s seat.

Instead, the Eagles scored first when Jayden Hunt saw Jamie Cripps loitering inside 50 and sent the sherrin in his direction. Cripps ran on, hesitated, then finally took the kick, snapping it through the uprights. Melbourne now needed to ensure that West Coast didn’t seize on their new found momentum and extend the lead further.

Fortunately, the tables turned quickly when Max spotted Caleb Windsor unmarked on the wing and sent the ball in his direction. The young gun marked and ran on, shrugging off a tackle, before having a quick bounce, then launching from 53m to close the gap to six points.

The next goal came quickly, catching the Eagles off guard, as Ed Langdon took advantage of a hold on Max Gawn in the stoppage, running on to slam the ball into an open goal. After winning the clearance, the Dees were immediately up the ground, with Jack Viney launching a long kick inside 50. Bailey Fritsch took the contested mark and went back to kick his second of the match.

After the bounce, there was a mad scramble for the ball but it was West Coast who managed to break away, eventually getting the ball to Jake Waterman; the key forward running out to mark the sherrin. His conversion evened up the scoreline again.

Kade Chandler has kicked some great goals, but his individual effort in collecting the ground ball, then running around and beating three Eagles before snapping from the edge of the square was a glorious sight. The Demons were now in their element, grasping the momentum and driving forward.

Daniel Turner took a strong contested mark in the pocket and successfully executed the set shot, giving Melbourne a fourteen point advantage. Jack Viney took a nasty late knock after marking the ball and was awarded a 50m penalty. His shot from the top of the square gave the Dees a game high margin of twenty two points.

Kade Chandler was involved in the next goal when he initiated a transition up the wing, getting the ball to a Jake Melksham and Charlie Spargo combination. Jake Melksham’s vision in locating Kozzie Pickett with his centering kick, while going full pelt was excellent. Pickett’s kick was careful and clean and Melbourne was twenty eight points ahead.

Melbourne gets the job done.

Last week, the Dees let Richmond back into the game late in the final quarter and they would have been mindful of not repeating that error.

Daniel Turner helped ensure his side stayed well ahead when he snapped from 15m in front, having first sold Matt Flynn some candy as he ran around the Ruck.   Turner then showed that he is no one trick pony when he marked deep in the pocket, then converted the difficult set shot.

After the clearance, Elijah Hewett became an accidental hero for West Coast when he his right boot made contact with the sherrin as it dropped after a stoppage. The ball somehow found its way across the goal line. Another clearance and after much fumbling on both sides, Harry Sharp pounced on the loose ball, scooping it up, then speeding forward before chipping it from the top of the square.

West Coast wasn’t finished though. Jake Waterman was taken high on the edge of the square and had no difficulty with his around the corner set shot to claim his second goal.

With just over ten minutes to go and thirty four points separating the teams, the scenario was eerily similar to same time last week. Simon Goodwin wasn’t about to take Max Gawn off for a rest this time, and the big fella stayed put. Just as well, because after Jack Viney was fouled in the centre, Max took off, heading inside 50. Viney launched goalward and the Skipper ran out to mark. He went back and finally kicked his first goal of the season. There was much rejoicing.

The margin was back out to forty, but not for long.

Jake Waterman again marked in the pocket and again opted for the around the corner shot. Back to thirty four points. A mistake in defence allowed Jamie Cripps to nab his second and now the gap was twenty eight points.

Charlie Spargo clawed it back to thirty four with his tackle on Jayden Hunt resulting in a holding the ball free kick. Elijah Hewett returned serve when he beat Spargo to the mark and converted for his hat trick.

Ed Langdon doesn’t score many goals and multiple goals in a single game is rare, but his snap from 45m while under intense pressure was exceptional.

While some concerns still linger, we can’t be unhappy with three wins in a row. Next we play Hawthorn at the MCG and that’s a whole other kettle of fish. I’m confident though that we can rise to the occasion.

Go the Mighty Dees!!!