Forget the Orange Tsunami. It was all about the Tongala Torpedo at Optus Stadium on Sunday.
West Coast’s Harley Reid has long threatened to join the upper echelon of the competition, but his monstering of a classy Greater Western Sydney might finally be the moment he has broken through.
Reid was simply a level above the other 45 players on the ground, producing the finest performance of his 49-game career to lead the Eagles to an upset 17-point victory.
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It was on the back of a second term which needed be seen to be believed.
Reid racked up 14 touches and kicked two goals as the Eagles kicked six majors to two on their way to an incredible 13.10 (88) to 10.11 (71) victory, ending a six-game losing streak.
The 21-year-old finished the evening with 33 disposals, 10 clearances, 10 score involvements, eight tackles, 788m gained and two goals to surely earn three Brownlow votes.
Harley Reid and Malakai Champion celebrate. Credit: Daniel Carson/AFL Photos
And if Reid was best-on-ground, then his coach in Andrew McQualter was best off it.
Amid questions about the direction of the battlers under his tenure, McQualter’s tactics were on point as he shut down the Giants’ prime ball users in Lachie Whitfield and Finn Callaghan.
Pre-season signing sensation Milan Murdock was backed to use his incredible endurance to run with half-back Whitfield and he didn’t let his coach down.
Murdock kept Whitfield to only 21 disposals, with the defender forced to resort to kick-ins to get his hands on the footy. The Eagle added two goals off his own boot, including the major that put the exclamation point on the victory as the final siren rang.
And defender Brady Hough continued his new role as a tagger, having done a great job on Kysaiah Pickett the week before to hold Callaghan to only 19 touches and five clearances.
It meant that even though Giants recruit Clayton Oliver (38 disposals and 12 clearances) was able to get his hands on the ball frequently in the contest, the runners he normally distributed too were largely ineffective.
And there were plenty of contributors. Bailey Williams (40 hit-outs, 16 touches, nine tackles and two goals) dominated his counterpart in Kieren Briggs, while down back Tylar Young was freed up to play his preferred role as an intercept defender.
The start was anything but promising for the Eagles. Their intent was clear early.
They brought plenty of pressure but the Giants were consistently first to the footy and they were a lot cleaner with only their goalkicking letting them down early.
On offence, West Coast tried to expose the Giants by persistently switching the play, but they did it too slowly and it allowed the Giants’ to flood back.
And when the Eagles eventually turned it over, the visitor’s slingshot out of defence with such pace that it left West Coast’s backline exposed.
The game was following a similar pattern to a fortnight ago when the Eagles lost to Richmond, but they made a tactical switch at the break.
Instead of looking to control the footy, West Coast began to move the ball with a bit more dare and it came on the back of several run-down tackles.
Goals from Reid and Jobe Shanahan gave the Eagles the lead for the first time midway through the second term.
And suddenly, the Giants were the ones who had the stagnant ball movement and were turning the ball over in the front half.
When Jake Waterman (three goals) snapped his first, an upset was well and truly on the cards.
It took an impressive running goal from debutant Harrison Oliver to halt the Eagles’ momentum, if only momentarily as Jack Hutchinson added his second to restore some breathing space.
By half-time West Coast had turned a 10-point deficit at the first break to a 14-point advantage.
It was all well and good to do it for a quarter, but the task at the feet of the young Eagles was could they keep it up in the second half.
A desperate Greater Western Sydney were happy to challenge the Eagles’ mental fortitude, with Max Gruzewski kicking consecutive goals to start the third term.
Harvey Johnston hit back for the Eagles from a free kick, but the Giants were on a mission and soon they not only regained the lead but began to again bully the contest.
The vigour in which the Eagles had played with had completely gone in the third and they were left to go into resistance mode.
A late goal to Williams lifted the belief within the stadium once again but the work was ahead of them in what would be a tense final term.
Joe Fonti gave the advantage once again to the Giants with his first career goal but the Eagles were as desperate as they’ve been all year.
Waterman defied his wayward goalkicking of recent weeks to kick back-to-back majors to once again put West Coast in front.
Williams capped off the best game of his career with a second to give the home side some breathing room, before Murdock booted his second on the final siren to seal arguably their best win under McQualter.
WEST COAST 1.2, 7.4, 9.6, 13.10 (88)
GWS 2.6, 4.8, 9.10, 10.11 (71)
Goals – WEST COAST: J Waterman 3 J Hutchinson 2 M Murdock 2 H Reid 2 B Williams 2 H Johnston J Shanahan. GWS: B Daniels 2 M Gruzewski 2 J Stringer 2 T Bedford J Fonti H Oliver H Thomas.
Best – WEST COAST: H Reid B Williams M Murdock B Hough T Kelly R Ginbey. GWS: C Oliver L Ash H Thomas H Himmelberg J Laverde J Fonti.
Umpires: D Johanson C DeBoy T Bryce H Birch. Crowd: 36,781 at Optus Stadium.
