West Coast Eagles hey, Be a shame if this one tanked. Pretty fascinating stuff. Like and share it in those weird club facebook forums. Thanks for watching. The Parlour: • WILLOWBANK GROVE - THE...
I remember that crash everyone still claims Ben was driving but Gardiner took the blame for him which led to him being traded and his career went downhill fast after that
I lived in Perth for 10 years. This comment summarises the Perth football culture. If you play for the eagles you can basically burn down Claremont and they’ll make you a statue outside Claremont Quarter.
Surprised you didn't mention this but after Ben Cousins' stint in rehab in 07, he returns to the Eagles team in Round 16 against Sydney, hadn't played a game all season and he comes on and is best on ground with 38 disposals. I can't think of many players that miss the first 15 rounds of the season and is still able to produce that level of performance in his first game back. Just another demonstration on what an incredible player and talent he was.
They were damn good.. but hell it's hard for them to be remembered when literally right after they fell off Geelong came out and obliterated the competition, they were stuck in that little period between the insane quality of Brisbane and Geelong. If only they got their act together they might have been a threat in 2007.. maybe.
yea that Geelong side in 2007 was utterly ridiculous, so many strong teams that year filled with champions that will never be forgot and Geelong blew them away, that 2001 draft will never be replicated.
@M you have made comment this thousands of times, you are never going to convince AFL fans that soccer is better in the country that invented AFL. i hope you took your meds today
@M You still around are you? 😆 But i do think Geelong '07 and '08 would have beaten the Eagles even with an uncompromised Cousins and a Judd without his groin issues. Even in 2005 Geelong smashed West Coast at Kardinia park, and in '06 the Eagles had that miraculous comeback against a Geelong side that was 3-6 at the time. Geelong lost three matches in 58 games from Rd 6 2007 until the clash against St.Kilda in 2009 when both were 13-0, a level of performance that was imperious. The Eagles have also yet to win at K.P since '06. Agree with Discoinfernal for sure, that three year gap between peak Lions and peak Geelong was a window for others to snag a flag.
Just discovered this channel and I am loving it! Nice to see an Aussie RU-vidr give the spotlight to Afl with great editing and voice over. Keep up the awesome work mate!
Your Videos are well edited and Inspiring to watch mate, you are a real talent at what you do, every detail you add is spot on! Thankyou for your hard work, keep it up, we all love to see more
Man your videos are so good. If you made videos about Gaelic football or even badminton I'd be hooked. Your storytelling is great everything about them is just pure quality. I'm moving to Australia in a few weeks and you're the reason I've gotten into the sport really.
This West Coast team should have won more premierships then they did, and yes I know that sounds stupid to say about a team that make two grand finals in a row, and won a premiership, but that's how great the West Coast Eagles where.
Worked with Ben at some union sites, you can see damage has been done. But he is very approachable. He didn’t do much work but his workmates didn’t mind hahaha. Worked with him for over a year and blokes would see him for the 1000th time in the coffee room and still act like a little kid. Ripper bloke that did the wrong thing. Still the best footy player I’ve ever seen. I’ll remember him as a legend, a hero of my childhood. We always remember people for the bad. But Ben gave me a lot more smiles that he did tears. It’s amazing to see his progress now. I just hope he sticks with it. It looks like he is. Great video lads
I've never been to Perth, but I always got feeling that if you were assessed you could get away with anything in Perth, and someone told me that I'm wrong.
I was only 10 when they won in 06 so my memories of that period aren’t the greatest, but this video is giving me such nostalgia seeing channel 10 TV coverage and all the players we forget about. Such a time capsule with quality research and information. Fantastic video.
Mate I'm a dockers fan and always loved cousins. he was not a robot and just like anyone else I new at that age getting in the shit haha I seen gardener at a festival chasing his jaw haha
With Ross Lyon coming back to St Kilda, it might be good to compare what the interpretation of his first exit at the time was, compared to what we know now. Love the vids mate!
Really good analysis of the situation at West Coast in the mid 2000s. The moral for the story for me is alright they won the flag in 2006 but that came at massive cost for club. Clubs that turn a blind eye to these cultural issues are really saving up for bigger issues to explode later down the track. Would be interesting to see how many clubs' issues had in the 2000s. I suspect it was not only West Coast.
When West Coast lost to Geelong at The Cattery in Round 7 of 2007, that's officially where the changing of the guard occurred. Up until that point West Coast had been virtually bullet proof. Throughout the next 15 years Geelong became that great team that West Coast could have become because they had the right kind of people running the club, and a great winning culture to go with it. West Coast were the exact opposite. Apart from a flash in the pan season when West Coast won the premiership in 2018, they have been a rabble almost ever since. Geelong have missed the finals just once during that period, and have put together a dominant period that will never be matched or beaten.
Not an AFL “fan” but my strongest memory of that grand final was the arrogance of the Eagles’ players when snatching their medals from and then completely ignoring the outstretched hands of the kids presenting them. Especially Cousins. Arrogant, ignorant and lacking class. They sure the reason that to this day, players of all codes have to give a cap to those kids. To ensure the players acknowledge them. Pathetic, really.
That's the amotional nature of meth: even when you're not directly under its influence, if you've used it for long enough, your empathy is whittled down to almost zilch.
@@benjibasenji7727Yep Meth users have no sympathy,no empathy, no anything. It destroys them, and everyone around them without them even realizing it.💯%
The Eagles of 2002-2007(1 flag)were a very good football team but, as many top flight footballers, coaches and administrators will tell you, it takes sacrifice and commitment at all levels to become a team of a generation. Think of: the Demons 55-64(6 flags), the Tiges 67-74(4 flags), 2017-20(3 flags), the Blues 79-87(4 flags), the Hawks 71-78(3 flags), 83-91(5 flags), 2008-15(4 flags), Brisbane Lions in the early 2000's(3 flags), the Cats 2007-11...2021(4 flags). Legacy teams stay good for a long time. The Hawks 2015 squad played finals until 2018. The Cats won a third flag since 2007 in 2011 and played finals in all but one year until finally clinching another flag this season. The AFL is a tough comp but it's even tougher to stay relevant for long periods and keep winning premierships. WCE were their own worst enemy. The coaches, administrators and local populous who lionised them allowed their players to behave poorly due to lack of oversight. It eroded the fabric of the footy club and cost them success. The league went soft on them too. The flow on of this AFL executive mismanagement is history. Great video pal.
disagree with the conclusion , AFL footy is truly dead nowadays but looking back this west coast team was one of the most pure scintillating footy I've ever seen. I find it quite easy to disregard a players personal lives from my opinion that Cousins and Kerr were two of the best midfielders to watch that I can recall. I think Ports breakthrough flag after 3 years of falling short would make a good video
Why does no one mention the medal presentation where the eagles plays completely ignored the kids giving them their medals, they just snatched them out them off the poor kids hands, what a team all class.
@@craigtibbetts2925 I heard some of those kids went on to become drug dealers later in life...and the truly sad thing is, even after all these years, when they go to hand them their drugs the Eagles players still just snatch em straight outta those poor kids hands. What a team. All class.
Great video man. I'm wondering if you'd ever consider making a video on the Tasmania Jackjumpers fairytale debut NBL season. Similar to the video about the Spurs 2014 championship.
A video idea would be to have a look at Collingwood from 2002 and just how good Nathan Buckley was. To win the norm in a losing GF. Would be awesome for you to cover.
@@jaggerskilbeck No it isn’t. To beg the question is to assume the truth of your conclusion within the premise of your argument. Stop being such a pre-Madonna.
@@thebristolbruiser You're talking about historical rhetoric, I'm using it in its contemporary vernacular form. But yes I'll try not to be a Prima Donna**
Mainy had a Kilo of cocaine in the laundry sink 2005-06 Eagles were real rockstars, lucky enough to witness the 2006 championship and the early 90s eagles championship and 2018
Fantastic video, they were a product of fame n money and young boys/men with not much guidance. They produced stunning football and changed the game in so many ways, unfortunately the sins of few have tainted the whole team. Now teams are held to much higher standards and scrutiny on and off the field by not just the media but anyone with a phone. I see a few comments about performance enhancing drugs being used because they used recreational drugs, my bet is they were not alone at all, given the testing regime I find this a little ridiculous. Read Ben's book it explains a lot obout his make up
Winning the Grandfinal against a Swans team of killers on fire... with at least 6 players off their chops.... PRICELESS. It is what it is and people need to be less precious about acknowledging facts about history. The Eagles added color to a greatest decade of football...the 90s.
All that dark shit aside. As a perthling, that was a fvxking epic period tho lol. And there was SO much gear induced behaviour in general that those boys running amok was kinda symbolic. Fvxk it
I know im wrong but for all the hype these Grand finals get they're so fkn boring because its the Swans and the Eagles, everyone who highly rates these games has never seen a country seniors home and away game
I'm a West Coast Eagles supporter. This video was very well made and fantastic to watch. I really enjoyed the 2004-2007 years because the Eagles were flying high and it was my high school years. So much nostalgia. Ben Cousins and Daniel Kerr were my two favourite players and it really makes me sad seeing what has happened to them post footy. No one is perfect. I really hope they turn their lives around. Keep up with the quality videos mate! 👊
@M i cant diss soccer. Its a sport for ppl who cant make it in a tough sport, cant take a real hit (but pretend to be "hit" n roll on the ground in agony.) 🤣😂🤣
As an Eagles fan this time period absolutely kills me. We could have been one of the greatest teams in history but the team was it's own worst enemy. Looking back it seems like nothing more than a complete waste. That 06 flag will always be tainted for me.
Im a swans supporter. i reckon that west coast team was one of the most talented ive ever seen. sydney never had half their talent. ive seen a lot of good teams but that wce ruck and midfield is the best ive seen. judd cousins cox and embley/kerr were unreal
Hey everyone, it has come to my attention that I showed a clip of Brent Staker instead of Tyson Stenglein. If you look up photos of each player in their prime I reckon they look exactly the same but Brent's eyes are rolled back into his head. Anyway it's been noticed and I'll never do it again. Apology video in a couple days
The level of detail you go into each time. The editing. The voice. The plot. The evidence everything fits into place… I wish you all the best keep this up bro ❤❤❤. Never knew that much about the Adelaide incident until you posted.. thank you!
it's a shame we still look at that team as "Damn Good" during that period. When they clearly didn't just abuse substances off-field, they were most certainly using game day. "Keeping the high" bloody oath they were, otherwise they would have crashed and burned game day. Somewhat ironic that Worsfold went to go save Essendon after it's drug saga, when the AFL knew damn well within that report that all he ever did was enable the West Coast players to abuse drugs, so much so as protecting them. The fact that these blokes got to keep playing football (A bloody luxury) instead of being criminally convicted for drug abuse and assaults amongst a number of other discretions says a lot about money and fame, if joe down the road behaved how they did he'd still be in jail as we speak. Great to shine a torch on them, but i think they truly need a lighthouse shining on them. They should never ever be celebrated for any reason.
This was really interesting. Thanks for making it. Well put together too. You look deeper than the surface level we are normally presented with. As a Collingwood supporter would love you to do something on the emergence of the Pies and their phenomenal run of close victories and how they went from 17th to almost pinch it this year. I reckon that would get a few hundred thousand views.
Great video mate. I lived in WA when I was about 9-10 I during the late 2000s and got to see the 07 premiership team live. Probably too young to gauge how good they really were but I remember it being an electric atmosphere at games. The WA community just seemed to love them, maybe I was just a kid but people seemed to say nothing bad about the team because they just kept winning. We moved to SA a few years later and I immediately saw a completely different side of the coin. I think some SA fans were still bitter about the 2006 prelim vs Crows (I still to this day think Ben Cousins took amphetamines at 1/2 time) but people truly hated the team and the culture. Just is unreal to rewatch all the footage of a team of generational talent and see all the stories that seemed to miss a lot of the WA publics ears.
Great video. I'm an Eagles fan but was only very young at the time so I have no memories of either grand finals in '05 and '06, nor any idea how much drama occurred outside of Cousins, being he was the most heavily publicised. It's quite interesting to know how much went on, and how the club got off free of punishment. Very well made and informative video, please make more!
Still find it absolutely unfair that 34 of the Essendon players faced suspension for 12 months for no fault of their own, but these West Coast players were protected in the name of winning. I still to this day can't believe it, one group were unknowingly given banned substances and the others were doing it as a hobby.
Drugs have been a problem in football since the 70s. As usual because it is West coast, it’s a travesty. Nobody talks about Ablett seniors cocaine habit in the 80s. There’s a lot more to mention. The AFL conducted drug tests in 2024 and over 100 players failed. I don’t condone it at all but it’s a tale old as time.
Awesome video man! Really enjoy the content. Though, I will say that as a non supporter of WC, I still fondly remember this juggernaut of a team at the time and there top tier midfield in any generation. It's fair to say the scandals have become the biggest talking point, but I dont think its overshadowed to point that everyone has forgotten about the on field brilliance. Keep up the amazing work!
They were a good team with a great midfield. Their forward line wasn’t terribly strong. They were good for that brand of footy in the early to mid 2000s but wouldn’t have matched Geelong in the second half of the decade.
Round 7 of 2007 at The Cattery was officially the day when Geelong took over the mantle from the Eagles as the AFL's benchmark team. The two clubs have gone in polar opposite directions since, and are still that way to this very day.
This type of behaviour has been going on in football for decades at the highest level, it gets attention from the media because people like reading this kind of publicity, it’s boring after a while.
Great video mate. This story is a sad one. Not unlike a parent spoiling their child….. you enable such behaviour, it will eventually manifest into something that is habitual and permanently destructive
As an Eagles supporter everything you have stated is true, with exception that if you are an Eagles player you can "get away with anything in Perth". Furtherest thing from true. If anything the spotlight is on them even more for the worse.
