Welcome to the tenth and final episode of Rosco's Rivalries - thanks to Hungry Jack's.

Our inaugural club captain has been reliving some of our most classic rivalries in our club's history. 

We've left the best for last as we enter the 51st RAC Derby against arch rival Fremantle.

Read the article on four of our most famous clashes and watch the video as we prepare to go head to head with the Dockers this Sunday.

 

Round 7, 1995

The West Coast Eagles had a sense that there was no room for a second team in this town and when they played the first western derby at Subiaco, they marked they territory.

They did it physically, with skipper John Worsfold setting the tone with his trademark attack on both the ball and the opponent.

And as a collective there appeared to a committed approach to ensuring the new kids on the block understood that it was a long way to the top, the Eagles having won two of the previous three premierships.

In the new corporate facilities on the southern side of the ground, Prime Minister Paul Keating was entertained in a room named in honour of Worsfold. While they sipped cold beverages in that dining room, the man himself was determined to make an on-field statement.

A revered leader, Worsfold was “up” for the contest and the first opportunity he had to make his sentiments felt, he charged at the football – and young Fremantle forward Winston Abraham – and didn’t seem too fussed about which one he collected. Both seemed like a pretty good option.

That came after a brace of teammates had moments earlier made their intentions pretty clear, seconds after the opening bounce. The ball spilled out of the congestion towards West Perth Sandover medallist Neil Mildenhall, who no sooner gathered possession and three Eagles players descended on him with a ferocious gang tackle.

West Coast had made a pact to mark their turf and they were determined to do that in the most emphatic fashion possible.

After a tense opening, where there were some heavy physical clashes, diminutive East Perth rover Peter Miller kicked the first goal of the game. That served only to poke the bear and the Eagles kicked into life, inspired largely by the work of one man – explosive forward Brett Heady.

First of all, he took a mark about 35 metres after sublime service from Craig Turley; then he marked again, just inside 50  and squared the ball to teammate Tony Evans, who kicked the Eagles’ second. He kicked the third goal, too, this time getting on the end of some terrific rebound work out of defence by Glen Jakovich.

Another to David Hynes provided the Eagles with their fourth, a temporary interruption to the Heady show

If Heady had not done enough to set the tone for the contest in the opening half hour, there was still more to come from the spring-heeled West Coast half-forward.

Many highlights had come in the first term, including a spectacular leap on the shoulders of Turley, but he continued to prove difficult for the Dockers to counter. It was one of the great individual performances in club history which then ignited his teammates.

Heady, Chris Lewis, Chris Waterman and Paul Symmons were all lively inside the attacking arc and nudging half-time the game was slipping from Fremantle’s grasp as West Coast racked up a seven-goal advantage.

Round 1, 1999
The West Coast Eagles dominated the early derbies and when they turned for home with a 40-point three-quarter advantage it seemed derby #9 would be a routine victory.

They had control in every aspect of the game. The class of experienced, premiership-hardened stars like Dean Kemp, Guy McKenna, Drew Banfield and Ashley McIntosh had them in control of the game, while up forward Scott Cummings (four goals) and Phil Matera (three) were applying the finishing touches.

But Fremantle were not prepared to simply roll over and they dug deep.

Gritty displays from the likes of Craig Callaghan, Mark Gale, Jason Norrish and Adrian Fletcher saw the Dockers claw their way back into the contest.

Inch by inch, contest by contest, they clawed their way back and the distinct reality of their first win over their cross town rivals became  a serious prospect.

The Dockers kicked 5.9 to just 0.3 in the final term and clearly had their opportunities, but the Eagles prevailed, with Chad Rintoul, in his first game for the club after returning from Adelaide, among the experienced corps who saw off the crisis.

Round 18, 2011
The ground dimensions of Patersons Stadium read 175m x 122m. It looked more like the size of a postage stamp on this day.

With 36 committed players on the field of play at any one time, space was an illusion. Both West Coast and Fremantle played tight, contested football from the opening bounce until the final siren. Even after that, actually.

It resulted in one of the great games between the fierce cross-town rivals and perhaps the toughest of the 34 derbies to that point.

Rarely did players find themselves with time and space, making goals precious and opportunities to use the ball effectively like gold.

Perhaps, to some extent, that pressure contributed to the scoreboard inaccuracy that almost led to West Coast’s undoing in a match that had so much riding on it.

Fremantle started the better, West Coast fought back in the middle stages of the first term and approaching time on in the last quarter, appeared to have the game under control. With eight minutes remaining the Eagles led by 22 points which seemed like a match-winning break.

That advantage had been set up by experienced ruckman Dean Cox, who would win the Ross Glendinning Medal, young midfielder Luke Shuey, tenacious tagger Scott Selwood and a defensive unit that was led supremely by skipper Darren Glass.

In attack Josh Kennedy was a lively target, though he could have converted more opportunities than the three goals he posted, while Mark LeCras, forward and midfield, Quinten Lynch and Jack Darling also did their job.

In the dying second the game was on the line. As the ball was pumped towards the Fremantle attacking 50 it cannoned off a marking contest and was floating to about 45 metres from goal, when Matt Rosa intervened, hammered the ball over the line as he belted it away from the clutches of eager Dockers forwards.

Umpire Dean Margetts deemed it to be a deliberate action and with just two seconds remaining Fremantle had the footy and the chance to win the game with the final action of the day.

Hayden Ballantyne had the ball where the 50 metre arc dissected the boundary as he sized up the options . He launched a long bomb, which looked headed home, before a sizeable pack launched at the ball and it slithered off many hands into the goal post.

Initially, Ballantyne thought he had converted and celebrated joyously, only to have the wind taken from his sails when the goal umpire patted his chest, then the post, to indicate a behind and a one-point West Coast victory.

Round 6, 2018

The first western derby at Optus Stadium was always going to be a big occasion, in front of a big crowd.

The Eagles started strongly but did not get a return for effort as they continually pumped the ball inside the attacking 50 metre arc, but struggled to hit the scoreboard. The Dockers pushed numbers behind the ball and when it hit the deck, they ran the ball out methodically and scored on the counter attack.

The result was that despite dominating time in the forward half, the Eagles trailed by 20 points at the first change .

In the second term, West Coast received better value for effort, kicked five goals to one and started to get strong contributions from every area of the ground.

Hurn and Jeremy McGovern picked off the football consistently across half-back, dominating in the air, while Liam Duggan, Tom Cole and Brad Sheppard were adept when the ball hit the deck.

Through the midfield, Luke Shuey, Dom Sheed, Jack Redden, Andrew Gaff and Elliot Yeo were getting their share of the ball while Jack Darling and Josh Kennedy were providing strong targets inside the scoring zone.

Darling had a particularly productive second term, kicking three goals – one of them a brilliant crumb off a marking contest involving Kennedy.

There was a sense that Fremantle might have given it their best shot and that West Coast was ready to take control in front of the biggest crowd ever assembled for a game of football in WA.

But Fremantle continued to commit to the contest, hitting the front again in the third quarter before Scott Lycett took it upon himself to arrest the situation. He produced an inspired 10 minute burst, fired out a few penetrating handballs and did much to ensure his team surged again.

Yeo, who had responsibility for Fremantle skipper Nathan Fyfe, was also important during this period – as he was throughout – and helped the Eagles secure a precious victory.

Head-to-head
West Coast Eagles v Fremantle
Played: 50
Won: 30
Lost: 20
Highest score: 28.10 (160) - round 6, 2000
Lowest score: 6.12 (48) – round 19, 2012
Greatest winning margin: 117 points – round 6, 2000
Greatest losing margin: 75 points – round 18, 2010
Longest winning sequence: 9 games – round 7, 1995 to round 16, 1999; round 20, 2015 to current