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Eagle Darling hits Bulldogs for six in AFL

3 minute read

West Coast have moved into the AFL's top four with a 61-point win over the Western Bulldogs in Perth.

JACK DARLING looks on during a West Coast Eagles AFL training session at Subiaco Oval in Perth, Australia.
JACK DARLING looks on during a West Coast Eagles AFL training session at Subiaco Oval in Perth, Australia. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

Jack Darling has terrorised the Western Bulldogs defence with a six-goal haul to lead West Coast to a 61-point AFL win at Optus Stadium.

The Bulldogs led by six points early in the second quarter of Sunday's clash but were duly blown off the park, with the Eagles kicking 10 of the next 12 goals to set up the 21.7 (133) to 10.12 (72) win in front of 53,195 fans.

Darling took four contested marks in his best performance of the season while Josh Kennedy, Liam Ryan and Jake Waterman kicked three goals apiece.

Andrew Gaff tallied 36 disposals and six clearances in a tireless midfield display, while Luke Shuey and Dom Sheed were also crucial.

Adding to a disappointing day for the Bulldogs was the late report of forward Aaron Naughton for an off-the-ball strike on Will Schofield, having collected the Eagle in the gut with an undisciplined swinging blow.

Eagles captain Shannon Hurn missed the last quarter with a tight hamstring, but the Eagles don't think it's serious.

West Coast's fifth win on the trot moves them into fourth spot with an 8-3 record, while the Bulldogs (4-7) are two wins and significant percentage outside the top eight.

Eagles coach Adam Simpson praised Darling's efforts.

"It's good when your ball goes into your forward line and it's two vs one and he can win it," Simpson said.

"I think we saw periods like that last year when he had that period where he was probably the best player in the comp for five or six weeks. We saw a glimpse of that tonight."

Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge was disappointed that his players let the margin blow out.

"We're not in that space at the moment where we are consistently able to sustain our own performance to the level we'd like and so we're not challenging sides for long enough at times," Beveridge said.

The goal review system attracted more controversy when Oscar Allen was awarded a third-quarter goal.

Replays focused on whether Zaine Cordy had touched the ball on the line.

But a later replay - moments before the restart - showed the ball might have been touched by Marcus Bontempelli off the boot.

It was similar to Saturday's case when Collingwood's Chris Mayne touched Michael Walters' kick off the boot - only for the score review system to focus only on the goal-line touch.

The Bulldogs looked the better team in the first quarter, but their wayward return of 2.7 (19) meant scores were level at the first break.

The real carnage happened in the third term as West Coast's key forwards tore the game wide open.

Darling booted two for the term, while Waterman kicked three in the space of three minutes to extend the margin to 49 points at the final change.

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