The second half of West Coast’s clash with Essendon began in dramatic fashion, with Eagles forward Milan Murdoch kicking a goal before the first ball-up.
The central umpire held the ball aloft in the middle of Perth Stadium on Sunday night and was about to start the third quarter when a whistle came from off the ball.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Milan Murdoch kicks a goal before third quarter starts
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Murdoch laid flat on the ground when the broadcast cut to the drama, which started with a scuffle that also involved Archie Roberts.
In a tagging role on the Essendon ball-magnet, Murdoch got under the skin of Roberts and drew a free kick when Jaxon Prior came in to support Roberts.
Luke Hodge picked up on the fracas immediately.
“Murdoch and Roberts are going at it! Roberts has just given him one,” Hodge said.
“Murdoch’s given it to Roberts, Jaxon Prior went and pushed him and he (Murdoch) fell over.”
The clock still read a full 20:00 when Murdoch went back to take his kick, which he slotted from 50 metres out to kickstart a bumper third quarter.
“A goal before the game got underway in the second half!”
West Coast kicked the last three goals of the second quarter and then the first five goals of the third to bury the lowly Bombers, who are playing their first game since sacking coach Brad Scott on Tuesday.
Essendon won just one of their first 11 games this year, having also lost the last 13 games of 2025, making it one win from their past 24 before Sunday’s clash.
It was only last week that key leaders of the club had said their were all aligned on the their strategy. Six weeks ago, Bombers powerbrokers said they planned for Scott to be their next premiership coach.
But Bombers president Andrew Welsh said there still needed to be evidence of improvement.
“While long-term decisions have been clear and provide great hope for our future, we still need to show progress week to week, and we haven’t seen that this year,” Welsh said on Tuesday.
“These are genuinely difficult decisions, and we do not take them lightly but the cumulative nature of our losses and the key performance indicators set by the club at the start of the season are not trending in the right direction.”
