West Coast continued their strong AFL pre-season form with a 31-point win in Mandurah over a well under-strength Carlton but it could have come at a cost with their reigning best and fairest winner injuring a knee.
Just seven days after beating the Indigenous All Stars in Perth, the Eagles won their opening pre-season cup clash 1.9.15 (78) to 2.4.5 (47) over the Blues at Rushton Park in Mandurah, but the story on Friday was a knee injury to Eric Mackenzie.
The 26-year-old has turned himself into one of the AFL’s best key defenders in recent years and, with 121 games under his belt, had a career-best season in 2014. He won West Coast’s best and fairest award but he suffered what could be a serious injury against Carlton.
Mackenzie was innocuously involved in a marking contest during the second quarter, but his knee appeared to buckle and he was only able to hobble from the field.
Early reports suggest it could be the worst result. He will undergo scans on Saturday.
Aside from that, the signs were good from the Eagles but it was against a Carlton team missing Marc Murphy (calf), Andrew Walker (knee) and Matthew Kreuzer (foot) through injury and Bryce Gibbs, Chris Judd, Robert Warnock, Lachie Henderson, Dale Thomas, Andrew Carrazzo and Michael Jamison were rested for the trip.
Coach Mick Malthouse also remained in Melbourne to be beside his wife as she underwent exploratory surgery.
West Coast made a fast start with a strong breeze at their back in the first quarter and never looked back.
Former Blue Josh Kennedy started with a goal and then a nine-point super goal and, when Jamie Bennell added another goal, the Eagles had the only 24 points of the game to that point before Tom Bell bagged a goal just before quarter-time.
Carlton had the breeze in the second quarter and managed to break even with two goals apiece, but the Eagles again kicked away with four goals to one in the third term.
They ended up cruising to the 31-point win despite final-quarter super goals for Carlton to Zach Tuohy and Cameron Wood.
Kennedy was impressive up forward for the Eagles with four goals, including a super goal, and Mark LeCras kicked two goals while reigning Brownlow Medallist Matt Priddis was outstanding with 24 possessions. Andrew Gaff had 27 disposals, Luke Shuey 23 and Brad Sheppard 23.
Carlton might have been under-strength but there were some good signs with Tom Bell racking up 19 possessions and Patrick Cripps 13 standing out, while Simon White looked good in a new role up front with 15 disposals, six marks and a goal.
