Wayne Carey lashes out at Nathan Buckley over 'atrocious' West Coast claim
After the Eagles gave up a late goal to lose to Essendon, many AFL pundits have questioned their tactics with the top pick in the draft at stake.
The aftermath of West Coast's narrow loss to Essendon last weekend has sparked a feud between several former AFL stars, with Wayne Carey labelling suggestions that the Eagles deliberately mismanaged the final minutes of the match in order to preserve the top position in this year's AFL draft 'atrocious'. His comments come after a conversation between Nathan Buckley and Kane Cornes earlier in the week in which the pair were critical of the Eagles' decision not to drop an extra man into the backline following a late goal to take the lead against the Bombers last Saturday.
Essendon eked out a one-point victory over the Eagles courtesy of a Kyle Langford goal in the final two minutes, keeping their AFL finals aspirations alive in dramatic scenes at Marvel Stadium. The Bombers had been in front by 17 points before four straight goals to the Eagles, the last from Ryan Maric to hand them a five-point lead, threatened one of the upsets of the season.
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When analysing footage from the final quarter earlier in the week, Buckley and Cornes had questioned why the Eagles didn't put an extra man back after Maric's major. As a result their defenders were left to go one on one against the Essendon forward line, ultimately allowing Langford to get out the back for the game-winner.
Carey had also questioned West Coast's tactics in the aftermath of the loss, with Buckley revealing that he'd spoken to Eagles coach Adam Simpson - who admitted to him that the side hadn't practiced many late game scenarios amid a dire season likely to result in them finishing at the bottom of the ladder.
Buckley said on Monday that their decision not to drop an extra man back raised questions about their 'willingness' to win, a proposition that earned the backing of Cornes on Monday night's episode of Footy Classified, also earning the approval of host Craig Hutchison. However fellow panellist Caroline Wilson said the comments meant the trio were effectively accusing the Eagles of 'tanking' - with Carey taking to social media on Tueday night in agreement.
“Bucks and Cornes suggesting Simmo deliberately lost is atrocious,” Carey wrote on Twitter. “Bucks should understand?? Kane?? Just for shock factor!! YES... industry is a joke and both should know better.”
"You are making a huge allegation."
With the number one pick on the line, were West Coast doing everything to win in the final moments against Essendon?#9FootyClassified | Channel 9 📺 pic.twitter.com/UTXZIcPYPA— Footy on Nine (@FootyonNine) August 7, 2023
Adam Simpson defends late-game decisions against Bombers
Eagles players were devastated after the final siren, having missed an opportunity for a second straight win after defeating fellow cellar-dwellers North Melbourne the week before. Buckley said he'd spoke to Simpson in the aftermath of the game, also using footage from the game to identify where the Eagles had gone wrong tactically - trying to secure the ball at the midfield stoppage rather than flood the backline.
“I called Adam Simpson today and he told me they haven’t done a whole lot (of close-game training). He’s saying there (after Maric’s goal) ‘no plus-one’, so he’s happy to play man-on-man,” Buckley said.
“The wingers are out wide on the Essendon wingers. If you wanted a plus-one, it would’ve been (Oscar) Allen or (Jack) Darling or Maric himself would’ve found themselves back there.
“West Coast had their hands on that (ball in congestion). They flooded it with half-forwards, which was their style of trying to control this contest by flooding the contest. Didn’t win it, it went over the top, Jayden Hunt – an experienced player – let his man goalside, (consequently Elliot) Yeo needs to press up and then there’s an over-the-top goal.”
Speaking after the match, Simpson defended the decision not to send an extra man back, adding that for a side that has rarely been competitive in 2023, the club's focus would be what got them back in front in the first place. Maric's late goal was preceded by majors to Oscar Allen and Jack Darling, part of a five goal to two final quarter for the visitors.
“We went to the right things, in those situations, you often pre-empt before it happens,” Simpson said. “We had all those discussions.
"If we hit the front what should we do? If we lose the lead what should we do? So we did all those moves and we could have done some different things really late, maybe put an extra behind the play – they would’ve equalised it anyway.
“We could’ve manipulated a few different things, but I don’t think we’ll review the last play of the day as much as that cost us the game. We’ll look at more how we got back into the game and our younger players got to experience almost a really good victory but they’ll take a lot from it.”
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