AFL | 04/09 09:40 | 3 |
![]() ![]() |
92-59 | |
AFL | 04/03 05:20 | 2 |
![]() ![]() |
99-53 | |
AFL | 03/27 08:40 | 1 |
![]() ![]() |
166-102 | |
AFL | 10/03 04:30 | 1 |
![]() ![]() |
61-107 | |
AFL | 09/26 09:45 | 2 |
![]() ![]() |
80-55 | |
AFL | 09/11 10:20 | 14 |
![]() ![]() |
96-64 | |
AFL | 09/05 09:40 | 23 |
![]() ![]() |
125-30 | |
AFL | 08/30 03:10 | 22 |
![]() ![]() |
126-69 | |
AFL | 08/23 06:40 | 21 |
![]() ![]() |
162-85 | |
AFL | 08/16 06:40 | 20 |
![]() ![]() |
80-104 | |
AFL | 08/08 09:40 | 19 |
![]() ![]() |
74-88 | |
AFL | 08/01 09:20 | 18 |
![]() ![]() |
83-83 | |
AFL | 07/26 06:40 | 17 |
![]() ![]() |
103-51 | |
AFL | 07/18 06:35 | 16 |
![]() ![]() |
56-87 | |
AFL | 07/11 09:40 | 15 |
![]() ![]() |
147-91 | |
AFL | 07/04 09:40 | 14 |
![]() ![]() |
60-114 | |
AFL | 06/19 09:50 | 12 |
![]() ![]() |
70-90 | |
AFL | 06/13 06:35 | 11 |
![]() ![]() |
96-46 | |
AFL | 06/07 05:20 | 10 |
![]() ![]() |
85-75 | |
AFL | 05/31 06:40 | 9 |
![]() ![]() |
120-64 | |
AFL | 05/23 03:45 | 8 |
![]() ![]() |
78-131 | |
AFL | 05/16 09:40 | 7 |
![]() ![]() |
135-43 | |
AFL | 05/10 06:40 | 6 |
![]() ![]() |
68-78 | |
AFL | 05/02 09:40 | 5 |
![]() ![]() |
120-33 | |
AFL | 04/26 03:10 | 4 |
![]() ![]() |
65-118 | |
AFL | 04/19 06:40 | 3 |
![]() ![]() |
81-111 | |
AFL | 04/10 10:10 | 2 |
![]() ![]() |
131-62 | |
AFL | 04/04 08:20 | 1 |
![]() ![]() |
97-87 |
The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known as the Victorian Football League. The club plays its home games at Optus Stadium and has its headquarters at Lathlain Park. The West Australian Football Commission wholly owns the West Coast Eagles and the Fremantle Football Club, the AFL's other Western Australian team.
The West Coast Eagles are one of the most successful clubs in the AFL era (1990 onwards). They have won the equal second most premierships (four, along with Geelong and second to Hawthorn) of any club in that time and were the first non-Victorian team to compete in and win an AFL Grand Final, achieving the latter feat in 1992. The Eagles have since won premierships in 1994, 2006 and 2018. They are one of the most profitable and influential clubs in the league, and as of 2021 have more members than any other club with over 106,000.
West Coast also fields a women's team in the AFLW competition and a reserves team in the WAFL.
West Coast Eagles seasons | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | No. | P | W | D | L | % |
1987 | 8th | 22 | 11 | 0 | 11 | 97.87 |
1988 | 4th | 23 | 13 | 0 | 10 | 111.85 |
1989 | 11th | 22 | 7 | 0 | 15 | 86.69 |
1990 | 3rd | 26 | 17 | 1 | 8 | 118.44 |
1991 | 1st | 26 | 21 | 0 | 5 | 162.21 |
1992 | 4th | 25 | 18 | 1 | 6 | 125.91 |
1993 | 6th | 22 | 13 | 0 | 9 | 115.81 |
1994 | 1st | 25 | 19 | 0 | 6 | 132.19 |
1995 | 5th | 24 | 14 | 0 | 10 | 122.87 |
1996 | 4th | 24 | 16 | 0 | 8 | 125.20 |
1997 | 5th | 24 | 13 | 0 | 11 | 111.24 |
1998 | 7th | 23 | 12 | 0 | 11 | 109.42 |
1999 | 5th | 24 | 13 | 0 | 11 | 106.76 |
2000 | 13th | 22 | 7 | 1 | 14 | 92.37 |
2001 | 14th | 22 | 5 | 0 | 17 | 65.95 |
2002 | 8th | 23 | 11 | 0 | 12 | 97.96 |
2003 | 7th | 23 | 12 | 2 | 9 | 117.36 |
2004 | 7th | 23 | 13 | 0 | 10 | 103.76 |
2005 | 2nd | 25 | 19 | 0 | 6 | 123.96 |
2006 | 1st | 26 | 20 | 0 | 6 | 120.44 |
2007 | 3rd | 24 | 15 | 0 | 9 | 111.73 |
2008 | 15th | 22 | 4 | 0 | 18 | 65.88 |
2009 | 11th | 22 | 8 | 0 | 14 | 93.30 |
2010 | 16th | 22 | 4 | 0 | 18 | 77.09 |
2011 | 4th | 25 | 18 | 0 | 7 | 130.32 |
2012 | 5th | 24 | 16 | 0 | 8 | 124.18 |
2013 | 13th | 22 | 9 | 0 | 13 | 95.28 |
2014 | 9th | 22 | 11 | 0 | 11 | 116.86 |
2015 | 2nd | 25 | 18 | 1 | 6 | 148.20 |
2016 | 6th | 23 | 16 | 0 | 7 | 130.00 |
2017 | 8th | 24 | 13 | 0 | 11 | 105.71 |
2018 | 2nd | 25 | 19 | 0 | 6 | 121.40 |
2019 | 5th | 24 | 16 | 0 | 8 | 112.5 |
2020 | 5th | 18 | 12 | 0 | 6 | 117.04 |
2021 | 9th | 22 | 10 | 0 | 12 | 93.2 |
2022 | 17th | 22 | 2 | 0 | 20 | 59.8 |
2023 | 18th | 23 | 3 | 0 | 20 | 53.0 |
The West Coast Eagles were selected in 1986 as one of two expansion teams to enter the Victorian Football League (VFL) the following season, along with the Brisbane Bears. Ron Alexander was appointed as the team's inaugural coach in September 1986, with the inaugural squad, comprising a majority of players from the West Australian Football League (WAFL), unveiled in late October. The Eagles benefitted from a strong WAFL competition and very loose transfer restrictions relative to later expansion teams, with early success seen as a key factor to promoting the new national competition. Ross Glendinning, recruited from North Melbourne, was made the club's first captain as one of the few players with previous VFL experience. The team's first senior match in the VFL was played against Richmond at Subiaco Oval in late March 1987, with West Coast defeating Richmond by 14 points. Having won eleven games and lost eleven games for the season, the club finished eighth out of fourteen teams. At the end of the season, John Todd, the coach of Swan Districts in the WAFL, replaced Alexander as West Coast's coach. The club made the finals for the first time in 1988, but lost form the following season, winning only seven games to finish 11th on the ladder.
Todd was sacked at the end of the 1989 season, and was replaced by Mick Malthouse, who had previously coached Footscray. With the competition having rebranded itself as the Australian Football League (AFL) at the start of the 1990 season, West Coast finished third on the ladder at the conclusion of the home-and-away season, and progressed to the preliminary final before losing to Essendon, having been forced to play four consecutive finals in Melbourne.
John Worsfold replaced Steve Malaxos as captain for the 1991 season, and the club finished the season as minor premiers for the first time, losing only three games. In the finals series, West Coast progressed to the grand final, but were defeated by Hawthorn by 53 points. Peter Sumich kicked 111 goals during the season, becoming the first West Coast player to reach a century of goals, as well as the first-ever left-footer. In 1992, West Coast finished fourth on the ladder, but again progressed to the grand final, defeating Geelong by 28 points to become the first team based outside Victoria to win a premiership. Having slipped to third in 1993, the club finished as minor premiers the following season, and went on to again defeat Geelong in the grand final to win its second premiership in three years. In 1995, a second AFL team based in Western Australia, the Fremantle Football Club, with the two clubs' subsequent rivalry branded as the "Western Derby". West Coast made the finals in every year that remained in the 1990s, but failed to reach another grand final, with a fourth-place finish in 1996 their best result. Worsfold retired at the end of the 1998 season, and was replaced by his vice-captain, Guy McKenna, who served as captain until his retirement two seasons later.
Malthouse left West Coast at the end of the 1999 season to take up the senior coaching position with Collingwood, and was replaced by Ken Judge, who had been coach of Hawthorn. The 2000 and 2001 seasons were marked by a rapid decrease in form after the loss of several key senior players, culminating in a 14th-place in 2001, at the time the worst in the club's history. Round eighteen of the 2000 season marked the club's final match at the WACA Ground, which had been used concurrently with Subiaco Oval since the club's inception. Judge was sacked on 5 September 2001, just days after a 112-point loss to Port Adelaide, their 10th loss in 2001 by over 60 points. He was replaced by the club's former captain John Worsfold, who had been serving as assistant coach at Carlton.
The club made the finals in 2002, 2003, and 2004, but each time failed to progress past the elimination final. Ben Cousins was made sole captain of the club in 2002, having shared the role with Dean Kemp the previous season. During this time, the team was boosted by a number of high picks in the AFL draft gained as a result of the previous poor finishes. Chris Judd, who had been taken with pick three in the 2001 National draft, won the Brownlow Medal as the best player in the competition in 2004, becoming the first West Coast player to win the award. In 2005, the Eagles won 15 of their first 16 games, and were 20 points clear on top of the ladder at stages, but they eventually slipped to second behind Adelaide. They progressed to the grand final against Sydney, where they were defeated by four points. Chris Judd received the Norm Smith Medal.
For the second consecutive year, the Brownlow Medal was won by an Eagles player, with Ben Cousins and Daniel Kerr finishing first and second, respectively.
West Coast finished as minor premiers for a third time in 2006, with seventeen wins from 22 games. In the 2006 finals series, the club lost the qualifying final to Sydney by one point, but after defeating the Western Bulldogs and the Adelaide Crows in the semi- and preliminary final, respectively, again progressed to the grand final, where the Eagles defeated Sydney by a point in an exact reversal of the score in the qualifying final. The two grand finals in 2005 and 2006 were part of a series of close games between the two clubs that resulted in a total difference of thirteen points across six games, an AFL record.
The club finished third during the regular 2007 season, but after a series of late-season injuries lost both its games during the final series. During the past few seasons, the club had been impacted by a series of highly publicised off-field controversies involving allegations of recreational drug use, nightclub assaults, and links to outlawed motorcycle gangs. Michael Gardiner was traded after crashing his car while drunk, and Ben Cousins resigned the captaincy of the club prior to the 2006 season after being charged with evading a police breath test, with Chris Judd taking over as captain. Cousins was sacked at the end of the 2007 season after being arrested for possession of drugs, while Judd requested to be traded back to Victoria, and was traded to Carlton in exchange for a key forward, Josh Kennedy, and several draft picks. Darren Glass, the club's full-back since the retirement of Ashley McIntosh in 2003, was then appointed captain. These controversies were followed by a series of poor seasons on-field, culminating in the club's first wooden spoon, after winning only four games in 2010. The three-year period between 2008 and 2010 was the longest time in the club's history without a finals appearance.
Despite predictions of another bottom-four finish in 2011, West Coast won 16 games to finish in the top four, becoming the first team since the Brisbane Lions in 1998 and 1999 to reach a preliminary final after finishing last the previous season.
West Coast's strong form continued into 2012, losing the 2012 NAB Cup grand final to Adelaide and spending the early part of the season on top of the table. They eventually finished fifth and bowed out in the semi-finals to Collingwood. The Eagles went into 2013 as premiership favourites, although injuries and poor form saw the club finish in thirteenth position on the ladder, with the club losing its final three games by an average of 71 points. Coach John Worsfold resigned on 5 September 2013.
Former North Melbourne player Adam Simpson was announced as the team's new coach for the 2014 season. Darren Glass was initially renamed as captain, but retired from football after round 12. He was replaced by five acting co-captains for the remainder of the season – Shannon Hurn, Josh Kennedy, Eric Mackenzie, Matt Priddis, and Scott Selwood. West Coast had a strong preseason and won their opening three matches, although they eventually finished in ninth position. During the season the club were labelled as "flat track bullies" due to beating lower placed teams by large margins, yet failing to defeat teams above them on the ladder. Midfielder Matt Priddis became the third Eagles player to win a Brownlow medal, winning the 2014 medal at the end of the season.
On 7 December 2014, Shannon Hurn was appointed as sole captain for 2015 and beyond. At the start of the 2015 season, West Coast lost two of their opening three games and suffered injuries to key players. Despite this, they went on to lose only three more games for the rest of the home and away season, finishing behind local rivals Fremantle in second position. The Eagles went on to defeat Hawthorn and North Melbourne in the qualifying and preliminary finals by 32 and 25 points respectively to qualify for the 2015 Grand Final, their first since 2006, only to lose to Hawthorn by 46 points. The following season ended up being a disappointment, with the team failing to produce another top 4 finish in spite of a late form reversal. In their elimination final, the heavily favoured Eagles were defeated at home by the Western Bulldogs, who went on to claim the 2016 premiership.
In 2017, West Coast finished in eighth position on the table. A thrilling finish against Adelaide in the last game at Subiaco was enough to put them into their third consecutive finals series under Simpson. Their percentage of 105.7% edged out Melbourne, who finished with the same number of wins and an almost identical percentage of 105.2%. Remarkably, their elimination final away against Port Adelaide ended up a tie after regulation time and was sent to extra time. The Eagles controversially won after the siren courtesy of a Luke Shuey goal. The following week they were soundly defeated away by Greater Western Sydney, in front of the lowest finals crowd in over 100 years.
Few predicted West Coast would contend in season 2018, with most having them outside the 8. After losing the inaugural game at the new Optus Stadium against the Sydney Swans, West Coast went on to win 10 in a row to surge to top of the ladder, including defeating Hawthorn at Etihad and Richmond, the eventual minor premiers. However, injuries to star forwards Josh Kennedy and Jack Darling saw them struggle, losing 3 games in a row including to Sydney for a second this time at the SCG. Despite injuries, they managed to rebound and stabilise. The Eagles' form at the MCG had long been criticised, and round 17 against an in-form Collingwood who had won 7 of the previous matches was seen as a stern test. The match was fairly close throughout, until the Eagles got on top in the last ten minutes of the third quarter to win by a commanding 35 points. The victory was bittersweet, however, as the All-Australian ruckman Nic Naitanui went down with an ACL for the second time after his 2016 injury, putting him out for the rest of the season. In round 20 star midfielder Andrew Gaff was suspended for 8 weeks for a hit on Fremantle player Andrew Brayshaw. Following this many dismissed the Eagles, believing they were unable to win the flag. The following week there was a bright spot in a dark period, as Jeremy McGovern kicked a goal after the siren at Adelaide Oval to pinch the game from Port Adelaide, in similar circumstances to West Coast's win over Port in the 2017 elimination final.
The Eagles finished the 2018 home and away season second on the ladder with 16 wins and 6 losses – their best result since 2006 – earning the right to host the second qualifying final against third-placed Collingwood at Optus Stadium. Collingwood led for most of the close, hard-fought match, before the Eagles again pulled away in the last quarter to win by 16 points.
In the 2018 second preliminary final, the Eagles faced the fifth-placed Melbourne Demons, a team whose impressive end-of-season form had begun with a victory over the Eagles at Optus Stadium in round 22. What was touted as a close-fought match instead became a blowout. West Coast led 10.9.69 to 0.6.6 at half time, Melbourne becoming the first team since 1927 to fail to score a goal in a half of finals football. West Coast eventually won by 66 points, 121 to 55.
In the 2018 grand final, West Coast again played Collingwood, who had upset Richmond in the first preliminary final the week prior. In a match dubbed an all-time classic, Collingwood led by as much as 29 points in the first quarter, but the resilient Eagles managed to claw their way back into the contest, and with just over 2 minutes left, a brilliant play set up by a Jeremy McGovern intercept mark and a further sensational mark by first year player Liam Ryan saw Dom Sheed score a goal from a tight angle to put the Eagles 4 points in front. The Eagles went on to win 79 to 74, claiming their fourth premiership in front of 100,022 at the MCG. Luke Shuey won the Norm Smith Medal.
The Eagles started their 2019 premiership defence in indifferent fashion, suffering three heavy defeats in the first six weeks of the 2019 season. The reigning premiers recovered magnificently, winning 12 of their next fourteen matches, but missed out on a spot in the top four after an upset 38-point loss to Hawthorn in round 23. The Eagles finished fifth on the AFL ladder with a 15–7 win-loss record. They thrashed Essendon by 55 points in the first elimination final but their premiership defence was brought to a premature end the following week, losing to minor premiers Geelong by 20 points in the first semi-final.
The 2020 season began with a lacklustre win over Melbourne in Round 1 in March, after which followed a hiatus due to the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 virus. Games resumed in June, with West Coast playing their games in a Queensland hub environment, going 0–3 in June to begin Round 5 in 16th place. From there, West Coast recovered to sit in 5th place with a record of 12–5 at the end of Round 18. Despite being undefeated at their Perth home ground during the regular season, the Eagles bowed out in the first week of the finals after an upset one-point defeat to Collingwood in the first elimination final at Optus Stadium.
The 2021 season would prove to be the end of a successful era for the Eagles. West Coast struggled to find their best form throughout the year and would ultimately miss the finals for the first time since 2014, finishing ninth on the ladder with 10 wins and 12 losses. With crosstown rival Fremantle finishing 11th, it was the first season since 2009 that neither Western Australian team would feature in the finals series.
COVID and an extensive injury list saw many key players sidelined and West Coast's performance decline rapidly over the next two years. The 2022 season saw the Eagles finish 17th on the ladder with 2 wins and 20 losses, avoiding the wooden spoon by percentage. The 2023 season would be West Coast's worst season in history, losing five games by more than 100 points on the way to an 18th-placed finish with 3 wins and 20 losses, thus claiming the second wooden spoon in the club's history.