West Coast Eagles 2006 AFL Premiers
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The AFL's (Australian Football League) annual championship game in Australian football was contested at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in Melbourne, Australia on Saturday September 30, 2006 between the 2005 AFL Premiers and 4th seeded Sydney Swans and 1st seeded West Coast Eagles.
The two finalists were ironically the same two finalists which appeared in the previous year's Grand Final. The Sydney Swans defeated the West Coast Eagles by 4 points in last year's Grand Final in a thrilling match and this year's sequel was just as good as the original. The two teams going in to the game had an unbelievably minuscule total aggregate margin of 11 points in their last 4 match ups. The West Coast Eagles were the favorites to win into the game but many were anticipating a close game same anticipation and result of last year's Grand Final.
The West Coast Eagles dominated play in the 1st half with the Sydney Swans making costly errors, fumbles and also missed shots at goal. After trailing by 25 points at half time break the Swans fought back superbly in the 2nd half but just missed out on the championship by 1 point. The final scores were 85-84 with the West Coast Eagles becoming the 2006 AFL Premiers whilst the Sydney Swans were not able to defend their premiership.
The one point margin made the total aggregate margin of the two teams' last 5 match ups 12 points.
These were the final stats:
SYDNEY: 1.4, 4.6, 8.11, 12.12 (84)
WEST COAST: 4.2, 8.7, 10.10, 12.13 (85)
GOALS – Sydney: O'Loughlin 3, Davis 3, Mathews, Roberts-Thomson, Goodes, Schneider, O'Keefe, Malceski
West Coast: Lynch 3, Embley 2, Hansen 2, Cousins 2, Judd, Armstrong, Hunter
BEST – Sydney: Fosdike, Richards, Kennelly, O'Loughlin, McVeigh, Kirk, Goodes
West Coast: Embley, Chick, Judd, Glass, Lynch, Selwood, Braun
INJURIES – Sydney: Ablett (hamstring)
West Coast: Nil
CHANGES – Nil
REPORTS - Nil
UMPIRES - Vozzo, Allen, Goldspink
CROWD - 97,431 at the MCG
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