West Coast met Fremantle with spirit and pressure at the 55^th RAC Derby on Saturday night but ultimately fell short by 24 points. 

It was O’Neill’s first ever derby, and he finished with 11 tackles, the highest number of tackles in the match across both sides.

In trying conditions and before a big away crowd, the young gun compared the game to what he would imagine a final would be like.

“It was pretty hot at the start, we wanted to play physical footy”, O’Neill said. 

“I’ve played my fair share of footy in wet conditions, so I didn’t mind it. It was even most of the game around the contest.

“The crowd was loud. It didn’t quite feel like an average game, it was different from what I expected.”

Weighing in on his own performance, O’Neill took some confidence out of his first derby and with only one game remaining, he hopes to build on his football fundamentals on and off the field to hold him in good stead going into next year.

“I think it was a step forward, consistency is something I want to be working on,” O’Neill said.

“I’ve done some work with our sports psych as well and she’s been really good in my mindset around games and just focussing on not getting caught up in whether I haven’t touched the ball for a bit or don’t quite fit in the game.”

Being on the cusp of selection each week, O’Neill is looking to keep consistent throughout all four quarters and believes putting his hand up to play WAFL after the AFL season will help him work on his craft and put his best foot forward come pre-season.

West Coast’s season will conclude in Geelong on Saturday as the Eagles face the top of the ladder side at GMHBA Stadium.

It was a tough loss last time West Coast played at the cattery, getting beaten by 97-points.

Although that defeat didn’t leave great memories, O’Neill believes Saturday’s match is a good opportunity to face the premiership favourites and hopefully get some reward for effort in what could be a highly contested game.

“Geelong are a great side and a premiership favourite so it would be a good experience with a youngish group to play a well moulded team like they are on their home deck,” O’Neill said.

“We’re at opposite ends of the ladder, it’ll be a similar game to the weekend - very contested.

“If we come out with the right mindset, we’ll be able to give it a good crack.”