THE WEST Coast Eagles have beaten Essendon by a single goal at Subiaco Oval on Friday night in the last round of the NAB Challenge games.

West Coast won 15.10 (100) to 14.10 (94), but both teams would have been happy with what they saw on a night that started out fine but saw rain in the second half.

For West Coast, Ash Hansen was superb, kicking five in an encouraging return from yet another hamstring injury. Dean Cox was his usual brilliant self in the ruck with 23 disposals and 25 hitouts, Andrew Embley gathered 32 touches, Matt Spangher started poorly on Matthew Lloyd but got a lot better as the game went on, Quinten Lynch provided a good target forward with Hansen, Jaymie Graham improved while Josh Kennedy also started slowly but also made great strides. Chad Fletcher was quiet, but exploded with 14 disposals in the last term, although his disposal still let him down.

There was good news for Essendon with skipper Matthew Lloyd and fellow veteran Dustin Fletcher both playing their first games of the season. Both were involved inside the first two minutes, but had their tracksuits on after half time. Brett Stanton kicked four, gathering a superb 22 touches in the first half before finishing with 36, youngster Bachar Houli started in the centre square and had 17 at the long break, Alwyn Davey kicked two goals and worked well through the middle, Jobe Watson had 23 touches while Mark McVeigh was also in the Bombers’ best.

Early in the first term it was all Essendon, as West Coast struggled to get their hands on the ball. Lloyd's two kicks at goal – one from a free and one a mark – both resulted in behinds, and were split by an Alwyn Davey goal. Nathan Lovett-Murray and Brent Stanton each then booted a major and Essendon were up by 20 points without West Coast getting on the board.

But after 10 minutes West Coast kicked into action – Andrew Embley took a grab at 35 and converted, then provided a beautiful pass for Adam Hunter to mark and convert from 25 four minutes later. A minute after that, Ash Hansen floated into a pack from the side and grabbed a mark he had no right to expect, and after his conversion West Coast went to the first break a point to the good.

Mark LeCras kicked the first for West Coast in the second with a banana from the line, but Alwyn Davey setup up Essendon's next – a great chase in the middle spilled the ball free, then a pass to Stanton gave him his second. Davey then kicked the next himself, effortlessly sidestepping David Wirrpanda at the top of the 50 to boot it home.

The teams then traded majors in the run to the long break – an excellent contest from Hansen let it spill free at 35 for Hunter to goal, then Stanton kicked his third after some excellent work from Jobe Watson near the behind post led to a pass, before Brent Staker put a huge tackle on Scott Lucas and shook him up badly.

Good work in the middle from Cox saw Lynch kick his first before Watson took the crumbs from a pack and kicked truly from 35, and Essendon took a six-point lead to the break.

As they did in the first term, Essendon controlled the play for the first quarter of an hour in the third, with Angus Monfries slotting the first from a tight angle and then Hille smashing one home from 60 metres. Lynch then used his strength well to bullock free of a pack for his second, but McVeigh and Damien Peverill replied to get the margin out to a game-high 26.

But Ash Hansen then fired up for the hosts, kicking three of the next four with Embley providing the other, the third a ripper from the centre bounce, with Cox tapping it to Matt Priddis who fed it straight to Hansen. A Lucas major took the visitors to a six-point lead before Patrick Ryder took a huge mark over Embley to finish the term.

Hansen then kicked his fifth to start the last, before the teams traded goals to finish the match.

West Coast    3.4   6.6   11.8   15.10   (100)
Essendon    3.3   7.6   12.8   14.10   (94)

GOALS
West Coast: Hansen 5, Hunter 2, Lynch 2, Embley 2, Le Cras, Kennedy, Cox, Wirrpanda
Essendon: Stanton 4, Davey 2, Lucas 2, Lovett-Murray, Watson, Monfries, Hille, McVeigh, Peverill

BEST
West Coast: Embley, Hansen, Cox, Lynch, J Kennedy
Essendon: Stanton, Davey, Houli, McVeigh, Hille

Umpires: T Keating, L Farmer, C Hendrie

Crowd: 9,312 at Subiaco Oval, Perth

Injuries: None

Reports: None