{"id":255219,"date":"2025-11-01T10:15:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-01T10:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/255219\/"},"modified":"2025-11-01T10:15:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-01T10:15:17","slug":"west-coast-eagles-have-got-from-despair-to-elation-after-sydney-were-knocked-out-of-afl-finals-contention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/255219\/","title":{"rendered":"West Coast Eagles have got from despair to elation after Sydney were knocked out of AFL finals contention"},"content":{"rendered":"

West Coast are set to play AFLW finals for the first time after Sydney collapsed under the weight of expectation and wet weather and lost to Essendon by three points in Coffs Harbour.<\/p>\n

The Eagles\u2019 hopes of playing finals looked all but over when they lost their last two games of the season, including a 20-point defeat against Carlton on Friday night.<\/p>\n

Some players were in tears after the loss to the Blues and there was a widespread expectation that they wouldn\u2019t play again given Sydney only needed to beat an Essendon team that had lost eight games in a row to play finals.<\/p>\n

But that all changed as the Swans struggled to handle the wet conditions. The match was delayed by more than half an hour due to lightning and then Essendon played wet weather footy better.<\/p>\n

The Bombers led the inside-50 count 23-8 at half-time, restricted Sydney to only one rushed behind and kicked 1.2 themselves.<\/p>\n

\"SydneyCamera IconSydney lost to Essendon. Credit: Matt Roberts\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Sydney were the only team to score in the third term but they managed only one point. That put them under immense pressure in the final quarter and when Essendon kicked the first goal of the final term, the game looked over. The Swans reduced the deficit to three points with just under four minutes remaining but couldn\u2019t score again.<\/p>\n

Now the only way the Eagles can drop out of the eight is if there is a highly unlikely draw between Fremantle and Adelaide on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Coach Daisy Pearce took over a team that was stuck in the lower rungs of the ladder and rebuilt the program with youth who took games on. Ella Roberts became one of the stars of the league and West Coast became inspired.<\/p>\n

The result means retiring West Coast veteran Dana Hooker, who was chaired off on Friday night, will get to play finals for the Eagles and finish her career with a fairytale.<\/p>\n

\"DanaCamera IconDana Hooker will play finals. Credit: Jackson Flindell\/The West Australian<\/p>\n

Pearce said Hooker deserved everything that came her way.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s been incredible. I\u2019ve been watching and playing against Dana for the best part of 20 years,\u201d Pearce said.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was running around for Western Australia before AFLW started. She was a pro before the competition demanded you be and before women\u2019s footy demanded you be.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s always been an elite runner. She\u2019s tough and brave. The way she uses her body to be brave in a contest is something I remember playing against her. It\u2019s been a privilege to coach her.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"West Coast are set to play AFLW finals for the first time after Sydney collapsed under the weight…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255220,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,25912,64,63,55,639,11231,588,85,7067],"class_list":{"0":"post-255219","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-aflw","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-australian-football-league","13":"tag-australianfootballleague","14":"tag-essendon-bombers","15":"tag-sport","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-west-coast-eagles"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}