Hey, umps – what about me?

Eric MacKenzie was the original no-frills defender. A stack of good performances in his 147-game career for the Eagles and a mountain of internal appreciation, most notably when he beat 2014 Brownlow Medallist Matt Priddis to win the 2014 club championship award. But often his recognition outside the club was inadequate.

MacKenzie played his 61^st game in round four, 2012 when West Coast beat Hawthorn in a low-scoring thriller at Subiaco oval – most notable for two things (1) poor kicking for goal and (2) the dour defender’s first Brownlow Medal votes.

Between them the two sides kicked 10.37 (97). It was a combined 0.12 at quarter-time and 2.19 at halftime, when West Coast had kicked 0.12.

After Josh Hill managed to find the big sticks in the first minute of the third quarter it was positively contagious, with Josh Kennedy following two minutes later with another kick that found the mark.

But at the last change West Coast trailed by three points – 2.16 to 3.13.

Jack Darling kicked the first two goals of the final quarter and Daniel Kerr the third, and that was enough. Just.

It was 5.20 to 3.14 and the Eagles led by 18. Two Cyril Rioli goals and a couple of Hawthorn behinds cut it to four with six and a half minutes to play, but a Josh Hill behind was the only score thereafter.

Kerr’s 33 possessions and a goal earned him three Brownlow votes, while MacKenzie picked up two votes for a typical hard-nosed display in a West Coast defensive unit that, confronted with 56 Hawthorn forward 50 entries to the Eagles’ 45, held the visitors to five goals. It was 5.21 (51) to 5.16 (46).

The minus 16 differential in behinds over goals was a club record. But as they say in the classics, wait .. there’s more.

The following year, in round four again, the Eagles would equal this when they kicked 7.23 (65) against Carlton at Subiaco. Except this time they would lose to Carlton’s 12.17 (89).

At least it’s nothing like the all-time AFL record behinds to goals differential of minus 25, set in 1928 when Fitzroy kicked 2.27 (39) against Geelong at the old Corio Oval.

An 83-minute nightmare

If Adam Simpson was to suffer any recurring nightmares one might take him back to round four, 2014, when, in his fourth game at the helm, the Eagles played Geelong at Kardinia Park.

When the time clock showed 27min25sec in the first quarter it was Eagles 4.1 to the Cats 4.3. Anybody’s game.

But thereafter, in 83min 23sec of game time, the Eagles did not kick another goal.

They were held to 0.1 in the second quarter, 0.3 in the third and 0.3 in the last as Geelong won 16.11 (107) to 4.8 (32) to inflict Simpson’s first loss as Eagles coach.

Double ton for the Frenchman

Q: What did Mark LeCras have in common with Jordan Lewis, Brett Deledio, Ryan Griffen and Heath Grundy after round four, 2018 that he didn’t have in common with this opposition quartet before that moment?

A: They were all AFL 200-gamers who had been members of the 2004 All-Australian under-18 side.

LeCras joined Griffen, Lewis, Deledio and Grundy in this elite group when, in his final season in the AFL, he played his 200^th game as West Coast beat Gold Coast by 80 points at Optus Stadium.

He was the 20^th player to post a games double century for the club and at 31 years, 227 days on the day of his big milestone was the second-oldest member of this group. Only Chris Mainwaring has been older at the 200-game mark in club history. He remains in second position despite three further members joining the Eagles 200-club since his milestone.

LeCras shared the milestone stage with 150^th-gamer Nic Naitanui as Josh Kennedy (five goals) and Jamie Cripps (four goals) led the scoreboard assault and Elliot Yeo (three), Jeremy McGovern (two) and Chris Masten (one) shared the Brownlow votes.

Note: When the Eagles went on to win the flag in 2018, LeCras became the fifth premiership player from the 2004 All-Australian Under 18 side behind Lewis, Grundy and two other Western Australians.

Who were they? Eagles draftee and 12-gamer, who later played 59 games with Richmond and registered 12 games and a premiership with Sydney, Mitch Morton, and Collingwood 159-game premiership team member Alan Toovey.

A third medal for the skipper

Shannon Hurn became the Eagles’ second three-time winner of the Glendinning-Allan Medal when judged best afield in derby #49 in round four, 2018.

Hurn, who joined Chris Judd as the only Eagles player to win the derby medal three times, had 32 possessions as he led his side to a 13-point win in only the second round four derby.

West Coast led by 26 points at quarter time and hung on 10.9 (69) to 7.14 (56) despite being outscored in the each of the last three quarters.

Andrew Gaff (35), Jack Redden (33) and Elliot Yeo (30) also topped 30 possessions, while Josh Kennedy (5) and Jamie Cripps (4) led the goal-kicking.