1. There is always hope going into a game but the Cats virtually extinguished any sense of an Eagles upset with an exceptional opening term. When their second quarter was even better, it was ugly. A half of sublime football from Geelong and the polar opposite from West Coast, as bad as it gets at this level. With little to no pressure around the ball the defence had no chance as the slick Cats put on a clinic to lead by a staggering 100 points by half-time.

2. After a half labelled as “embarrassing” by interim coach Jarrad Schofield the question was whether this group could find a way to compete. He urged his players to stand up and it came. The game was clearly done and dusted but the Eagles needed to salvage something from the afternoon and they did, ‘winning’ the second half. Some suggested that was because the Cats took the foot off the pedal, but watching it live that did not appear the case. The live ladder was flashing up on the scoreboard with every goal and they knew they had to maximise the opportunity to push into the top two.

3. To use a Mick Malthouse quote from the 90s a player’s birth certificate is ripped up as soon as they cross the line and step into an AFL battle. The Eagles conceded on average three years and 60 games of experience to their opponents, which did offer some comfort. Cast forward three years and with a commensurate degree of AFL exposure for Brady Hough, Harley Reid, Reuben Ginbey, Rhett Bazzo, Jack Williams, Tyrell Dewar, Jack Hutchinson, Ryan Maric and Clay Hall and it is not difficult to visualise vast improvement.

4. The positive to take away from a massively disappointing performance was the second half effort of players like Hutchinson, Dewar and Maric. Hutchinson, recruited two months ago as a hybrid forward, was thrown into the middle and helped his team to lift its impact around stoppage. He was arguably the Eagles best player and has some exciting attributes. Dewar showed dash and dare on a wing while Maric showed he had another string to his bow by slotting into defence to cover for the injured Hough.

5. The gulf between the Eagles and the competition benchmarks is stark, so there is much work to do. The club understands the importance and magnitude of the task to bridge the gap with some key decisions and changes required, starting with the appointment of its seventh senior coach. The trade and draft periods are also critical so they will be active as they seek to build depth and talent into the list to push higher. The pre-season preparations will also be big as they need to build strength and durability.