West Coast Eagles take on Sydney Swans at Domain Stadium on Sunday at 2.40pm.
The West Coast and Sydney rivalry has always been an exciting one. They have a lot of history together, including coming head to head in two Grand Final showdowns in the past. Three players from Sydney’s 2006 grand final team still remain on their current list, and only one premiership player is still playing for West Coast.
Both teams are currently sitting in the top 4 and both have had impressive seasons so far however, West Coast haven’t beaten the Swans since round 16 in 2007.
Simmo says the Swans will be breathing fire this weekend: http://t.co/MmGcqdwODl #goeagles pic.twitter.com/RHVXP2IZ5W
— West Coast Eagles (@WestCoastEagles) July 23, 2015
Swans midfielder Josh P. Kennedy plays his 150th game this weekend so he will no doubt want to make it a good one.
Sydney’s Lance Franklin will potentially be a headache for the West Coast backline who will be without key defender Jeremy McGovern after he suffered a hamstring injury last week, which will see him sidelined for at least the next couple of rounds. West Coast were slapped hard with injuries at the start of the season but have managed to pull together and perform well in the absence of some of their top players.
Sydney will be without their forward Kurt Tippet due to a hand injury that will see him out for a few weeks. Franklin will be relied on even more than usual without Tippet. It will be a huge bonus for the Eagles if their defence can figure out how to take Buddy out of the game.
With Craig Bird and Ted Richards also big outs for Sydney, this seems like it could be the Eagles chance to finally beat the Swans. Not to mention West Coast’s home ground advantage. Last time these two teams met, Matt Priddis pumped out an impressive performance and I think he will be key though the midfield again on Sunday.
Eagles dropped their goal kicking form a tad last weekend against the Pies but if they can sort out their accuracy and effectiveness kicking into their forward 50, I think they are definitely capable of getting the win.
It’s going to be a very close game, I’m tipping West Coast Eagles by 4 points.
