The Perth-based West Coast Eagles have claimed a home ground advantage over the Collingwood Magpies in tomorrow afternoon’s clash at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne. Speaking to media at Tullamarine Airport this morning after arriving from WA, Eagles Coach Adam Simpson said they play at Etihad more often than the Pies so it made sense for them to claim the ascendancy.
According to Simpson, “We play at Etihad at least two or three times a year, whereas the Pies play here maybe once or twice a year. So I think our players will actually be more familiar with the surrounds than the Pies will be. Plus we’ll be travelling to the ground on a bus from the airport, while I assume the Pies players will be driving themselves individually. Considering how infrequently they play at Etihad, I reckon at least a few of them will get lost on their way to Docklands, and could arrive late and flustered before the game.”
Collingwood refused to weigh in on the sneaky jibe from the Eagles boss, and also refused to confirm that at training earlier in the week their coach Nathan Buckley handed out maps and instructions to his players on how to get to Docklands. A spokesman from the Pies simply said, “earlier in the week we took the players on an excursion to Etihad so they could see the stadium and discover a corner of our city that some of them had never been to.”
The Watsonia Bugle 