The West Coast Eagles are an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

team based in Perth, Western Australia. Their 2011 season was their 25th season in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

(AFL), their tenth season under premiership coach John Worsfold, and the fourth season with Darren Glass as captain. In the previous season, West Coast finished last on the ladder to receive their first wooden spoon. West Coast began their 2011 season with a four-point win over on 27 March. At the conclusion of round ten, West Coast had won five of their nine games and lost four, but over the remainder of the season won 12 of their 13 games to finish fourth at the end of the regular season. In the finals series, the club lost their

qualifying final The Australian Football League finals series, more generally known as the AFL finals, and known from 1897 until 1989 as the Victorian Football League finals series or VFL finals, is a playoff tournament held at the end of each AFL season to deter ...

to by 20 points. They defeated in a home semi-final, but lost to , the eventual premiers in a preliminary final at the MCG the following week. At the conclusion of the season, Glass was awarded the Club Champion Award as the club's

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

, with Matt Priddis finishing runner-up. Josh Kennedy was the leading goal-kicker, kicking 59 goals throughout the season.

Background

The Eagles' leadership group for 2011 was composed of the captain Darren Glass, vice-captain Beau Waters, as well as

Andrew Embley Andrew Embley (born 27 June 1981) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is known for winning the Norm Smith Medal as the best player in the 2006 AFL Grand Final ...

Shannon Hurn Shannon William Hurn (born 4 September 1987) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). From South Australia, he excelled at both cricket and football at junior level, and at one ...

, Josh Kennedy,

Mark LeCras Mark LeCras (born 30 August 1986) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was predominantly used as a small forward, though he has occasionally played in the midfie ...

, Matt Priddis,

Adam Selwood Adam Murray Selwood (born 1 May 1984) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). Originally from Bendigo, Victoria, Selwood played under-18 football for the Bendigo Pion ...

, Scott Selwood and Beau Waters.

Playing list

Ashley Hansen Ashley Hansen (born 3 March 1983) is an Australian rules football coach and former player. He played for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL), and has been an assistant coach in the AFL since 2013. Playing career Wes ...

, Matthew Spangher,

Will Sullivan Will Sullivan (also known as "Journerdism") is a leading tech and journalism blogger, award-winning multimedia journalist and an educator. Early life and education Sullivan was born in Toledo, Ohio and attended the University of Toledo where he w ...

Adam Cockie Adam Cockie (born 18 April 1989) is a former professional Australian rules footballer. He played with the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL) from 2009 to 2010. Football career Cockie made his senior football debut for ...

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 The Australian Football League draft is the annual draft of unsigned players, especially new nominations, by Australian rules football teams that participate in the main competition of that sport, the Australian Football League (AFL). History W ...

selections ::4 -

Andrew Gaff Andrew Gaff (born 16 June 1992) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). He plays predominantly as a midfielder. Gaff was recruited from the Oakleigh Chargers wi ...

( Oakleigh Chargers) ::26 - Jack Darling ( West Perth) ( priority) ::29 - Scott Lycett (

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the ...

) ::62 -

Jacob Brennan Jacob Brennan (born 24 January 1990) is an Australian rules footballer who previously played for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). The son of Michael Brennan, Brennan was drafted at the 2010 National draft, unde ...

( East Fremantle) ( F/S) * Pre-season draft selections ::5 -

Blayne Wilson Blayne Wilson (born 26 January 1992) is an Australian rules footballer who previously played with the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). From Mandurah, Western Australia, he represented his state at the 2009 National Un ...

( Peel Thunder) *

Rookie draft A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

selections ::10 - Tim Houlihan ( West Coast Eagles) (re-drafted) ::27 - Anton Hamp (

Claremont Claremont may refer to: Places Australia *Claremont, Ipswich, a heritage-listed house in Queensland * Claremont, Tasmania, a suburb of Hobart * Claremont, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth ** Claremont Football Club, West Australian Footba ...

) ::44 -

Jeremy McGovern Jeremy McGovern (born 15 April 1992) is an Australian rules footballer who plays for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is a tall key-position player who has spent most of his career as a defender, although he occa ...

(

) West Coast also upgraded rookies Lewis Stevenson, Callum Wilson and

Andrew Strijk Andrew Strijk (born 18 October 1987) is an Australian rules footballer currently listed with the West Perth Football Club in the West Australian Football League (WAFL). He previously played with the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Footbal ...

to the senior list using selections 78, 84 and 93 respectively.

Statistics

Season summary

The first round of the

2011 NAB Cup The 2011 NAB Cup was the Australian Football League (AFL) pre-season competition played before the 2011 season. The games were played between 11 February and 11 March. The first match was between and in Adelaide at AAMI Stadium. This was th ...

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 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, 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 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

. The team's round 16 win over was their first over the Cats since

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

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 Marc Murphy may refer to: * Marc Murphy (footballer) * Marc Murphy (chef) Marc or MARC may refer to: People * Marc (given name), people with the first name * Marc (surname), people with the family name Acronyms * MARC standards, a data format us ...

Awards

League awards

* John Worsfold was named Coach of the Year at the 2011 AFL Coaches' Association Awards. *

Dean Cox Dean Michael Cox (born 1 August 1981) is a former Australian rules footballer and current assistant coach of the Sydney Swans who played for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). Originally from Dampier, Western Austr ...

and Darren Glass were selected as ruckman and full-back respectively in the

2011 All-Australian team The 2011 All-Australian team represents the best performed Australian Football League (AFL) players during the 2011 season. The team was announced on 19 September as a complete Australian rules football team of 22 players. The team is honorary an ...

, 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 Nicholas Mark Naitanui (; born 4 May 1990) is an Australian rules footballer who plays for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was born in Sydney to Fijian parents, and his family moved to Perth, Western Austral ...

was nominated as a finalist for the

2011 AFL Mark of the Year The Australian Football League celebrates the best mark of the season through the annual Mark of the Year competition. In 2011, this was officially known as the Hungry Jack's AFL Mark of the Year. Each round three marks were nominated an ...

. * Luke Shuey (round two), Jack Darling (round six) and

(round 19) were nominated for the

2011 AFL Rising Star The NAB AFL Rising Star award is given annually to a stand out young player in the Australian Football League. The 2011 award was won by Dyson Heppell of the Essendon Football Club, who received the Ron Evans Medal. Eligibility Every round, an ...

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.

(47 goals) and

Mark Nicoski Mark Nicoski (born 24 November 1983) is a former Australian rules footballer who previously played with the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). From Perth, Western Australia, Nicoski first played for in the West Australi ...

(41 goals) was next.

, Richard Godfrey and Glenn Stewart were inducted as life members of the club. The voting for the Club Champion Award went as follows:Glass takes home Club Champion
– westcoasteagles.com.au. Published 8 October 2011. Written by Nathan Schmook. Retrieved 12 October 2011. : 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

External links

2011 West Coast Eagles FixturesWest Coast Eagles Official AFL SiteOfficial Site of the Australian Football League
{{2011 AFL season West Coast Eagles seasons West Coast Eagles