West Coast Eagles stun Gold Coast Suns to give Jarrad Schofield shot at full-time coaching role

Katy Perry isn’t here until the grand final, but it didn’t stop Jarrad Schofield from living in a Teenage Dream as the interim coach led a young West Coast outfit to a 10-point win over Gold Coast.

Featuring seven players 20 or younger, the Eagles snapped a nine-game losing streak with a 15.7 (97) to 13.9 (87) win at Optus Stadium on Friday night.

The upset victory all but assured West Coast would avoid claiming consecutive wooden spoons and enhanced Schofield’s claim to lead the Eagles full-time.

Returning co-captain Liam Duggan had the biggest say, kicking a late goal in a tense final term before winning the next clearance that resulted in a Jamie Cripps major to secure the win.

No one who watched the clash would call it a masterclass of football skill, but there were some contests that would leave the toughest of fans wincing.

The battle of the two No.1 draftees in West Coast’s Harley Reid (17 disposals, six tackles and four clearances) and Gold Coast’s Matt Rowell (30 disposals, 10 tackles and 11 clearances) was at the centre of an excellent midfield contest.

At times Tim Kelly (29 disposals and eight clearances) and Elliot Yeo (26 and five) had the home side on top, but Rowell alongside Noah Anderson (30 and six) and Sam Flanders (25 and three) would fight back.

In the ruck, Suns co-captain Jarrod Witts (52 hit-outs and five clearances) monstered Bailey Williams, but found it tougher to tackle the more robust Jack Williams (17 disposals and a goal) at the contest.

And in the coach’s box there were two former premiership teammates in Schofield and Damien Hardwick, who nearly two decades on from their greatest achievements as players were going blow for blow.

It started poorly for West Coast with Reid caught holding the ball at the first centre bounce which resulted in a quick goal to defender-turned-forward Mac Andrew who booted a career-high three goals.

Reid made up for the mistake quickly, providing the catalyst in two chains of play that resulted in goals to Oscar Allen (two goals) and Jack Darling within 90 seconds of each other.

All eyes soon turned to Suns spearhead Ben King (three goals), whose yips in front of goals continued before his day appeared to be over prematurely when he was taken from the ground after a clash of heads in a heavy contest midway through the term.

West Coast’s were on top in the middle, but their defence was being sliced apart by the Suns who took five marks inside 50 in the first term alone.

Andrew was the main man in the absence of King and could’ve had three goals by the first break if not for a boundary umpiring error that cost him late in the term.

Schofield faced one of his earliest coaching tests when he had to reshuffle the defence on the run when Harry Edwards was taken out of the game with concussion and King returned to the field.

Hardwick did his best to further stretch the under-sized defence by sending Jack Lukosius forward to join Andrew and King.

It left young Eagle Reuben Ginbey and Alex Witherden the unenviable task of fighting above their size alongside Jeremy McGovern.

Gold Coast threatened to run away with the game when Noah Anderson kicked the first goal of the third term to give the Suns a 23-point lead.

The Eagles rose to the challenge though and it was their youngsters who were leading the way.

Tyrell Dewar kicked two goals for the term, while forward-ruck Jack Williams showed his mobility with an incredible snap for a 198cm player.

It seemed like every one of them was getting involved and the senior players responded with Jake Waterman’s second goal restoring a lead for the home side midway through the third term.

As they did all night though, the Suns responded to the Eagles by counterattacking with a controversial Brayden Fiorini goal giving them a 15-point lead.

Waterman reduced it to single figures when his snap beat the siren to set up a thrilling final term before kicking the first after the break to bring the crowd to life.

They were soon silenced when an opportunity to retake the lead went begging as Darling missed a goal he would normally be expected to kick.

Gold Coast made them pay when they went coast-to-coast, ending in King’s third goal.

Seemingly hampered by the demons of so many losses away from home, the Suns looked to shut down the game as the Eagles went on the attack.

And they were made to pay by Duggan, who had the two biggest moments in the game to seal the Eagles’ fourth win of the season.

SCOREBOARD

WEST COAST 2.2, 6.2, 11.4, 15.7 (97)

GOLD COAST 3.3, 8.7, 12.7, 13.9 (87)

Goals – WEST COAST: J Waterman 4 O Allen 2 T Dewar 2 J Cripps J Darling L Duggan R Maric L Ryan Z Trew J Williams. GOLD COAST: M Andrew 3 B King 3 B Long 3 N Anderson B Fiorini W Graham J Witts

Best – WEST COAST: T Kelly E Yeo J Waterman L Duggan J McGovern R Ginbey. GOLD COAST: M Rowell N Anderson J Witts W Powell S Flanders B Long.

Injuries – WEST COAST: H Edwards (concussion).

Umpires: L Fisher J Howorth A Whetton N McGinness. Crowd: 38,671 at Optus Stadium.