page_title: History of the West Coast Eagles
section_title: End of an era: 2007
hierarchical_section_title: History of the West Coast Eagles / End of an era: 2007
caption_attribution_description: English: en:Ben Cousins at the 2006 AFL Grand Final parade in Melbourne, Australia.
context_page_description: The West Coast Eagles is an Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia, currently playing in the Australian Football League. The club was formed in 1986, and played its first season in the competition in 1987. Having lost the 1991 grand final to Hawthorn, the club won premierships in 1992 and 1994, becoming one of the most successful teams of the 1990s. West Coast won its third premiership in 2006, but declined afterwards, finishing last in 2010, before undergoing a rapid resurgence the following season to finish fourth in 2011. In 2015, the club reached a sixth Grand Final, again going down to Hawthorn. In 2018, West Coast defeated Collingwood to win its fourth Premiership, making it the most successful Non-Victorian team in the modern era.
context_section_description: 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. Despite this, the Eagles started the season in good form, winning their opening 6 matches, including another one-point victory over the Sydney Swans. However the Eagles of 2007 were nowhere near as dominant as those of 2005 or 2006. Instead, the Eagles spent much of the year in the bottom part of the top four, even slipping out of the top four at times. At the end of the season, the Eagles finished third on the ladder, drawing an away final at Port Adelaide in the opening week of the finals.
  The Eagles finals series was cruelled by injuries to key players, something that had been quite common in the latter half of the season, exacerbated by a hamstring injury to Ben Cousins when leading Port Adelaide in the first week. Ultimately West Coast crashed out of the finals in straight sets, losing to Port by three points in the opening week before losing to Collingwood by 19 points in a highly exciting final that went into extra time for only the second time since the extra time rule had been implemented.
  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.
  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. This became a major issue in the media, when it was revealed that Cousins had visited Mainwaring at his home the same night, just prior to his death. Cousins volunteered for a drug test following the event. This – on top of Cousins' banishment, Chris Judd's departure and a string of minor incidents (such as Michael Braun's Western Derby speech stunt and the Adam Selwood incident involving Des Headland, all in the Western Derby) – contributed to an impression that 2007 was a disaster for the Eagles, despite a relatively successful year on the field. 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.  On 19 November, the AFL Commission found Cousins guilty of "bringing the game into disrepute" and banned him from playing in the league for one year.
caption: Ben Cousins.
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