2011 West Coast Eagles season


The 2011 season was the West Coast Eagles' 25th season in the premier Australian rules football competition, the Australian Football League. The previous season, West Coast had finished 16th and last overall to receive their first wooden spoon. The club began the season by reaching the semi-finals of the league's pre-season knock-out competition, the NAB Cup. They began their season with a four-point win over on Sunday, 27 March. At the conclusion of round 10, 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 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, to finish fourth overall.
Darren Glass and John Worsfold were retained as captain and coach respectively from the previous season, with Beau Waters appointed as sole vice-captain. At the conclusion of the season Glass was awarded the Club Champion Award as the club's best and fairest, with Matt Priddis finishing runner-up. Josh J. Kennedy was the leading goal-kicker, kicking 59 goals throughout the season.

Squad

Leadership group

The Eagles' leadership group for 2011 is composed of the captain Darren Glass, vice-captain Beau Waters, as well as Andrew Embley, Shannon Hurn, Josh Kennedy, Mark LeCras, Matt Priddis, Adam Selwood, Scott Selwood and Beau Waters.

Pre-season

Delistings

, Matthew Spangher, Will Sullivan, Adam Cockie and Tony Notte were delisted. Tim Houlihan was delisted but was later re-listed by the Eagles in the 2011 Rookie Draft.

Trades

West Coast traded Ben McKinley to in exchange for pick 86 in the 2010 National Draft.

Draft selections

West Coast also upgraded rookies Lewis Stevenson, Callum Wilson and Andrew Strijk to the senior list using selections 78, 84 and 93 respectively.

NAB Cup

The first round of the 2011 NAB Cup 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.
RoundDateScoreOpponentOpponent's ScoreResultVenueAttendance
PoolSunday, 13 February 4:45pm0.5.1 0.4.5 Won by 2 pointsPatersons Stadium25,035
PoolSunday, 13 February 6:55pm0.5.7 0.4.1 Won by 12 pointsPatersons Stadium25,776
QFSunday, 27 February 4:40pm0.12.15 1.5.11 Won by 37 pointsPatersons Stadium12,625
SFSaturday, 5 March 5:40pm0.8.8 1.9.17 Lost by 24 pointsPatersons Stadium15,360

Season overview

After finishing with the wooden spoon in 2010, 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. The team's round 16 win over was their first over the Cats since 2006.

Fixtures

Home team's score listed in bold:
source:

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:
PlayerRoundCharge categorySubject of offence ResultVerdictPoints
Striking Guilty Reprimand
Rough conduct Guilty Reprimand
Striking Guilty Reprimand
Negligent contact with an umpire Guilty 0
Forceful front-on contact Guilty126.56
Striking Guilty Reprimand45.00
Tripping Guilty Reprimand93.75
Forceful front-on contact Guilty Reprimand93.75

Awards

League 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. Mark LeCras and Mark Nicoski was next. Adam Selwood, Richard Godfrey and Glenn Stewart were inducted as life members of the club. The voting for the Club Champion Award went as follows:

Season records and milestones

Team records

Source:

Player records

Source:

Milestones