West Coast return home this week after suffering a defeat to the lowly placed Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium 111 – 89 last Sunday.

It was the Eagles third loss in a row, their fifth in the past six with the only win coming over Adelaide (75 – 69).

They find themselves three wins outside of the eight in eleventh spot on the ladder but with a run home that includes Essendon, Geelong and Collingwood in the next three weeks, the Eagles season for 2013 is all but over.

It hasn’t been a kind year in terms of injuries for the Eagles and after last week’s lost, it will be interesting to see the team list for this week and, how much last week’s lost – which officially ended their season, took out of their sails.

Whilst their opponents Gold Coast will not be playing finals football either this year, the young side, through some big wins in the second of the season, have built plenty of momentum in recent months.

After defeating Collingwood in round 17, their sixth win of the season (West Coast has seven), the Suns couldn’t repeat the dose when hosting Carlton last week (120 – 77).

These two sides have only met twice previously. The first encounter was a relative close 85 – 67 win to the Eagles and the most recent, in round 14 last year, a far more decisive Eagles victory 166 – 40.

Fair to say though a lot has changed for both teams this year since that last clash and whilst the Eagles at home may prove too good, the Suns should give this a shake and are in receipt of 15.5 points start.

Odds comparison by AFL Odds:

West Coast Eagles	1.45	1.45	1.41	1.42	1.45	1.46
Gold Coast Suns	2.75	2.85	2.90	2.85	2.75	2.77

Teams:

West Coast Eagles:

FF: 12 Sharrod Wellingham 29 Scott Lycett 27 Jack Darling
HF: 15 Jamie Cripps 17 Josh Kennedy 33 Josh Hill
C: 3 Andrew Gaff 11 Matt Priddis 18 Bradd Dalziell
HB: 26 Sam Butler 16 Eric Mackenzie 28 Ashley Smith
FB: 31 Will Schofield 23 Darren Glass 30 Blayne Wilson
FOLL: 20 Dean Cox, 10 Scott Selwood, 34 Mark Hutchings

INT: 43 Ashton Hams, 5 Brad Sheppard, 32 Andrew Embley, 19 Adam Carter
EMG: 40 Cale Morton, 1 Mitchell Brown, 44 Jamie Bennell

In: D.Glass, B.Sheppard, A.Embley
Out: M.Brown, C.Masten (ankle), C.Morton

Gold Coast Suns:

FF 30 Campbell Brown 23 Charlie Dixon 39 Timmy Sumner
HF 24 David Swallow 12 Sam Day 33 Aaron Hall
C 11 Harley Bennell 9 Gary Ablett 6 Alex Sexton
HB 36 Greg Broughton 16 Rory Thompson 8 Luke Russell
FB 18 Trent McKenzie 17 Steven May 48 Sebastian Tape
FOLL: 15 Daniel Gorringe, 25 Danny Stanley, 10 Dion Prestia

INT: 26 Matt Shaw, 5 Jarrod Harbrow, 40 Andrew Boston, 1 Jaeger O’Meara
EMG: 31 Jackson Allen, 44 Nathan Bock, 38 Joel Wilkinson

In: R.Thompson, D.Prestia, D.Swallow, D.Gorringe
Out: J.Brennan, M.Weller, J.Gillbee, T.Nicholls (knee)