West Coast Eagles

The West Coast Eagles Football Club is an Australian rules football club that is a member of the Australian Football League.

History

The club is based at Subiaco Oval in Perth, Western Australia and was formed in August 1986 when the AFL (then the Victorian Football League) decided to include teams from Perth and Brisbane for the 1987 season.

West Coast Eagles 1980s shield logo

The Eagles won their first official match, a pre-season game against Footscray (now Western Bulldogs) on March 3, 1987. They also won their first home-and-away match against Richmond in March 1987 before a crowd of 23,897 at Subiaco Oval.

They made their first Grand Final in 1991, losing to Hawthorn in the only Grand Final ever to be played at Waverley Park. The following year they became the first non-Victorian football club to win a Premiership, and won again in 1994, defeating Geelong on both occasions. Peter Matera and Dean Kemp won the Norm Smith Medal for best on ground in the grand final in 1992 and 1994 respectively.

In 1995, the Fremantle Football Club was formed, heightening competition for the West Australian audience and forming a fierce rivalry to become the Western Derby.

Chris Judd was the first West Coast player to receive Australian Rules Football's highest individual award, the Brownlow Medal, for being the best and fairest player in the AFL in 2004. He also won his first club Best and Fairest award in the same year. In 2005, the Brownlow medal was awarded to then-captain Ben Cousins.

The West Coast Eagles are currently coached by John Worsfold and were captained by mid-fielder Ben Cousins until 20 February 2006 when Cousins resigned due to problems with the law. It was later revealed that he had ran away from a booze bus; he was later charged with police obstruction and recieved a minor traffic fine. This is not the first time a West Coast player has had trouble with the law; Quinten Lynch was involved in a high speed pursuit and was later charged. Ashley Sampi was charged after a domestic dispute. Last of all Michael Gardiner was involved in a high speed crash involving parked cars. He was found to be driving with a blood alcohol level in excess of 0.08%, and was later charged.

The Eagles spent most of the 2005 season on top of the league table (ladder), but were beaten at home in the final round of the season by then-second-placed Adelaide, who replaced the Eagles at the top of the ladder. They defeated the Sydney Swans in a controversial qualifying final. The Eagles defeated Adelaide in the preliminary final, eventually losing the 2005 AFL Grand Final to Sydney by 4 points. Chris Judd, an Eagles fans favourite and a former Brownlow winner, was awarded the Norm Smith Medal for best on ground in the Grand Final.

Membership and attendance

In 2005, the Eagles had 42,406 members (seating capacity), a waiting list and an average homeground attendance of 39,750, making them the second most supported team in the AFL.

Year	Members	Finishing position	Average crowd
1998	37,496	7th	34,473
1999	36,212	5th	30,777
2000	38,868	13th	33,191
2001	38,649	14th	32,674
2002	34,880	8th	35,928
2003	36,234	7th	38,084
2004	40,792	7th	39,037
2005	42,406	2nd	40,243
2006	44,138*	-	40,506*

* (as of June 30, 2006) [1]

Current squad

As of July 2, 2006:{|valign="top"|
*  1 Michael S. Gardiner ¹
*  2 Andrew McDougall
*  3 Chris Judd (captain)
*  4 Daniel Kerr
*  5 Tyson Stenglein
*  6 Drew Banfield
*  7 Chad Fletcher
*  8 Beau Waters
*  9 Ben Cousins
* 10 Michael Braun
* 11 Travis Gaspar
* 12 Mitch Morton
* 13 Josh Wooden
* 14 Mark Seaby
* 15 Bradley Smith