‘Powering away!’ Tigers torn apart as Eagles extend lead amid star’s ‘incredible’ grab — LIVE

The West Coast Eagles are desperately searching for their first win of the 2024 season as they host an injury-hit Richmond in Perth on Sunday.

The Eagles (0-4, 50.5%) have overlooked veteran Andrew Gaff once again, with just Tyler Brockman coming into the line up.

The Tigers meantime (1-4, 83.1%) head into the contest without star mid Tim Taranto after he fractured his forearm in a training mishap.

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And they’ve been hit again with more injury woes, with young gun Judson Clarke tearing his ACL playing VFL on Saturday.

“It’s another horrific injury blow,” Fox Footy’s Jon Ralph reported.

“More terrible news for the Tigers.”

But Richmond do regain inspirational leader Liam Baker and young defender Hugo Ralphsmith for the Optus Stadium tussle.

Watch it live on Fox Footy (channel 504), streaming on Kayo or using Hubbl.

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Richmond young gun Mykelti Lefau got the visitors on the board after he put space on Eagles veteran Tom Barrass.

“(Barrass) played back shoulder and gave him a metre and he’s too quick off the mark, Lefau,” commentator Will Schofield said.

“That looked really dangerous for Richmond.

“West Coast need to be much better there.”

Maurice Rioli Jnr could have had Richmond’s second, after a brilliant coast-to-coast play. But when he kicked into Alex Witherden on the mark in the square, it left Shai Bolton to mop up and get the goal for the Tigers.

Three late Eagles goals clawed their deficit to just eight points at the first change.

Richmond’s injury woes were worsened as Jayden Short was substituted out of the game with a calf concern. Tyler Sonsie into the game.

Jake Waterman kicked West Coast’s fifth goal on the trot after Harley Reid exited stoppage like a steam train in an exhilarating sequence.

Additional goals to Jamie Cripps and Elliot Yeo built an unlikely 14-point lead for the Eagles halfway through the second term.

“The Eagles have all the momentum!” exclaimed Fox Footy caller Adam Papalia.

Jake Waterman streamed into goal for another West Coast major! 19-point lead. He later added a fourth first-half goal in a hugely impressive first half effort.

An improbable snapping goal by Jack Petruccelle pushed West Coast’s lead back to 18 points after a Maurice Rioli Jnr goal.

West Coast took a 19-point lead into half-time, with the Tigers needing to fix plenty of issues at the main change.

“There’s an air of optimism at Optus Stadium,” Fox Footy host Kath Loughnan said at half-time.

“West Coast fans are hoping they’re here to witness the club’s first win of the season.”

Former Eagle Will Schofield said it was off the back of something that hadn’t been an Eagles strong point.

“It’s been off the back of their stoppage work, which hasn’t necessarily been a strength of theirs this year,” he told Fox Footy.

Elliot Yeo was one of the prominent Eagles in the first half.

“He’s had eight clearances, 17 disposals, and he’s having a massive impact on the game with seven score involvements,” Schofield said.

“That’s what you want from your senior midfielders consistently. And we haven’t seen that, but we’ve seen that today.”

The first half was West Coast’s highest-scoring first half since 2021.

Yeo started the second half as he finished the first, scoring the first goal of the third quarter as the Eagles registered a game-high 27-point lead.

“The Eagles are powering away!” said Papalia as more goals for Waterman (five) and Cripps (two) pushed West Coast’s lead to a staggering 39 points.

Waterman’s sixth major of the afternoon made it a 45-point difference halfway through the third.

There’d be no more goals for the rest of the term, with West Coast taking a commanding 42-point into the final change. Can they finish the job?

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