History of the West Coast Eagles

However, in Round 20, the Eagles snapped a 16-game losing streak in thrilling fashion, digging deep to cling on to a 5-point win over the Kangaroos, easing pressure of the club and coach Adam Simpson.

Though things seemed bleak for West Coast, they responded by pipping Western Bulldogs in a shock upset by 7 points, easing pressure on Simpson and the club again.

Following the dynamo Reid's display, Adelaide thumped West Coast by 99-points away before the Eagles returned to their Optus Stadium home against some supposedly easy-beats.

The Eagles then lost to Essendon by 30-points, and a 61-point defeat by Hawthorn and 54-points by Melbourne caused pressure to pile on coach Adam Simpson, just like last year.

Support for a Western Australian VFL team from the WAFL and public changed on 8 July after Western Australia won the 1986 Australian Football Championships, proving itself to be stronger than Victoria in the sport (in contrast, the state had performed poorly in State of Origin the previous year, so public support was buoyant following the dramatic turnaround).

The change in leadership, and the rise of a few younger players, led to a resurgence at the club winning sixteen games on the way to a third-place finish at the end of the home and away season.

On a brighter note, young Eagle Ben Cousins won the club's first AFL Rising Star award for the best rookie in the competition for 1996.

Also notable in 1999 was the first Eagle to top the AFL goalkicking, when Scott Cummings won the Coleman Medal with 95 goals but did not make the All Australian Team.

Worsfold seemingly walked into an impossible situation in his first senior coaching role: a team that was widely tipped to slump further to the bottom of the ladder.

The Eagles, however, recovered to be as much as five games clear, before a poor run home saw the club lose the final week and surrender the minor premiership to the Adelaide Crows.

Despite promises to turn it around in 2006, the season looked set to start badly, with Cousins stripped of his captaincy, former All-Australian ruckman Michael Gardiner relegated to play at Claremont in the WAFL for continued indiscretions including drinking the night before a practise match and Ashley Sampi having some domestic trouble.

Despite all this, the Eagles started the season in fairly good form, winning eleven of the opening twelve matches, including a couple of notable comebacks; particularly a club record recovery against Geelong from 54 points down in the third quarter.

The Eagles 2007 pre-season was the most turbulent in the club's history, with midfielder Daniel Kerr charged with assault for two separate incidents, and former captain (and 2005 Brownlow Medallist) Ben Cousins suspended from the club indefinitely after continued breaches of team rules, most notably not turning up to training, leading to massive amounts of speculative reporting in the media.

[23] In a blow to the club, premiership captain Chris Judd declared his intention to move back to his home city of Melbourne for the 2008 season, prompting much speculation over his final destination.

[24] Capping off an annus horribilis for the club, former Eagles champion Chris Mainwaring died on 1 October 2007, at his home, and his death was widely reported to be the result of drug-taking.

The view gained further resonance when Ben Cousins was sacked by the club on 17 October 2007 after being arrested for drug possession and other offences the previous day.

By most accounts, the Eagles' tumble to the bottom of the ladder was in part because club management undertook a root-and-branch housecleaning in the wake of the Cousins affair.

They did, however, bounce back in the following two rounds; narrowly losing to one of the premiership favourites Hawthorn at Aurora Stadium in Tasmania and comfortably beating Melbourne at home by 9 goals.

Round 7 saw the Eagles lose to a young Essendon outfit at Etihad Stadium by 16 points, after leading for majority of the match and Daniel Kerr picking up 28 disposals and a goal.

The round 8 derby proved somewhat of an easy challenge as the Eagles overcame their cross-town rivals Fremantle by 33 points, despite missing stars Daniel Kerr and Andrew Embley due to injuries in the warm-up.

West Coast began 2012 strongly, losing the 2012 NAB Cup grand final to Adelaide and winning their opening six games, although they fell away towards the end of the season, eventually finishing in fifth position.

[8][32] The Eagles went into 2013 as premiership favourites, although injuries and poor form saw them finish in thirteenth position on the ladder, with the team losing its final three games by an average of 71 points.

[35] He was replaced by five acting co-captains for the remainder of the season – Shannon Hurn, Josh Kennedy, Eric Mackenzie, Matt Priddis, and Scott Selwood.

[40] In contrast to 2014, West Coast endured an underwhelming 2015 NAB Challenge campaign, with key defender Eric Mackenzie suffering a season-ending injury during the opening game against Carlton in Mandurah.

Facing their first season out of the finals since 2014, the Eagles stunningly claimed eighth spot after defeating minor premiers (and eventual runners-up) Adelaide by 29 points in their farewell match at Subiaco Oval in Round 23.

The Eagles defeated Port Adelaide by two points in an epic extra-time elimination final after Luke Shuey kicked the winning goal after the siren.

After losing the inaugural game at the new Optus Stadium against the Sydney Swans, West Coast went on to consecutively win 10 to surge to top of the ladder, including defeating Hawthorn at Etihad and Richmond, the eventual minor premiers.

However, injuries to star forwards Josh Kennedy and Jack Darling saw them struggle, losing consecutively 3 games including to Sydney for a second time at the SCG.

Collingwood led for all but 5 minutes of the match, including by 29 points in the first quarter, but the resilient Eagles managed to claw their way back into the contest, however, and with just over 2 minutes to go, a brilliant play set up by a Jeremy McGovern intercept mark and a Liam Ryan speccy, saw Dom Sheed slot a goal from a tight angle to put the Eagles 4 points in front.

At the end of Round 13, the Eagles were well poised with an 8–5 record after a stirring comeback victory over reigning premiers Richmond, but would proceed to win just two of their last nine matches to close out the season.