1. Opportunities to play at the MCG are rare, with the West Coast Eagles getting just one fixture at the ground this season. It’s a special venue, the premier sporting ground in the country and one of the best in the world. Some of the Victorian clubs are spoiled, playing there regularly, but the Eagles players relished the Friday night fixture against the Tigers and were genuinely excited to be there.
2. X by name and X by nature. Experienced defender Xavier Ellis showed his class with a polished performance at half-back. Recruited from Hawthorn 18 months ago, he has demonstrated in his short time at the club that if his body can hold up he is going to be a key player. His start to the season was delayed by soft tissue problems and after being a little rusty against Essendon he was pivotal against the Tigers. His raw statistics of 24 disposals and 10 marks were impressive enough, without factoring in an impressive number of spoils and his organisational skills down back.
3. Will Schofield had, for the best part of 100 games, built his reputation as a rebounding defender. But with Eric Mackenzie and Mitch Brown going down with knee injuries h has had to adjust to become a genuine lock-down tall defender. He has been one of the success stories of the season, playing that role alongside Jeremy McGovern. Schofield showed he still had some dash with a sizzling run out of defence in the final term. After gaining possession in defence, he took off on a run, feeding the ball to teammate Elliot Yeo in the middle of the ground, receiving it back and then hitting a scything pass to Jack Darling, who then kicked the only goal – and the sealer – in the last quarter.
4. Andrew Gaff has taken his game to another level this season. He has always possessed elite running skills, but now he has lifted it to an elite status. For the fifth week in succession he produced a 30-plus possession game and could again figure in Brownlow Medal votes. The indefatigable wingman is not only prepared to run to receive the ball but covers the kilometres to seemingly test his opponent’s resolve. He wins the ball both on the inside and receives it out wide and his deadly left foot has forwards queuing up to be on the end of a lace out pass.
5.The ball use by West Coast has risen a couple of notches under the direction of coach Adam Simpson and his assistants. Simpson identified early in his stint at the club that generally the skills across the squad lacked a little polish. So that was the focus in his two pre-seasons. On Friday night Richmond sent two spare players behind the ball for the first two centre bounces. The Eagles still hit targets inside 50 and scored the first two goals. Of course, it does help when Nic Naitanui is dunking the ball into the lap of the midfielders through his dominance at those stop plays.
