Saturday, July 11, 2015. West Coast beat Adelaide by 56 points at Subiaco.

But there was no joy. No celebrations. Just a horribly empty feeling and a remorse that engulfed the AFL family.

It was Round 15. Eight days after the tragic death of Adelaide coach and former Eagles assistant coach Phil Walsh and one of the saddest days in football history.

Luke Shuey had 31 possessions and kicked two goals for three Brownlow Medal votes in his 100^th game. Andrew Gaff had 36 possessions and kicked three goals for two votes in his 99^th game, and Nic Naitanui 19 possessions and 39 hit-outs for one vote.

And yet football statistics could not have been further from their mind as they trudged off the ground thinking only of the man who had been on the Eagles coaching staff at the time of their AFL debut.

Naitanui in 2009, Shuey in 2010 and Gaff in 2011. All had been touched by Walsh, a renowned strategy and innovation whiz who had been John Worsfold’s right-hand man from 2009-13 in a career in which he played with Collingwood, Richmond and Brisbane and coached at Geelong, Port Adelaide, West Coast and Adelaide.

The game had been almost immaterial. After the Crows round 14 game against Geelong had been cancelled they travelled west to begin the long journey back to normality under caretaker coach Scott Camporeale.

All players and officials had shared a moment’s silence before the first bounce. West Coast kicked the first three goals and Adelaide six of the next seven to lead by 14 points at quarter-time, but West Coast piled on eight unanswered goals to a solitary Adelaide behind late in the second term.

The Crows were 40 points down. The fight was over. West Coast won 22.15 (147) to 14.7 (91).

Tears flowed as the teams gathered arm in arm in the middle of the ground and the crowd stood in memory of the fallen coaching genius, as had been the norm across the entire round of matches.

They trudged off as the need to play had passed and had been replaced by the return of the disbelief and incomprehensibility of what had happened.

The tragic Walsh passing and the emotional post-script is the headliner in the Round 15 ‘best of the best’ flashback series if only because of what it meant to so many.

On an entirely different scale there were two other sad football-specific moments in Eagles history that warrant a place in the round 15 flashback.

All the way back in 1989 the club suffered their worst loss by 142 points to Essendon and in 1996 Fitzroy, a foundation club of the VFL turned AFL, played against West Coast for the 15^th and final time.

Round 15, too, has seen a disproportionate number of personal milestones, the last appearance of five premiership players and some of the club’s greatest comeback wins that complete a reflective feast

Round 15 at a glance

The Eagles gave gone 19.12 in 31 round 15 matches, with two byes. They’ve enjoyed an 11-7 home record at Subiaco (8-6) and the WACA Ground (3-1) and have a 4-3 split in Victoria, having played at Docklands (2-1), MCG (2-1), Windy Hill (0-1). They were 1-1 at Football Park and are 0-1 at Adelaide Oval for a 1-2 record in SA, 1-0 at the Gabba for an unbeaten record in Queensland, and 2-0 in Hobart and Launceston for an unbeaten record in Tasmania. They’ve never played a round 15 match in NSW.

They’ve have their best round 15 records against Essendon (3-3), St Kilda (3-1) and North (2-1), are 2-2 against Adelaide, and have played two games against the Western Bulldogs (1-1), Port Adelaide (1-1) and Richmond (0-2). They are 1-0 against Geelong, Fitzroy, Brisbane, Carlton, Hawthorn and Sydney, and 0-1 against Fremantle.

A bad, bad day

It was not a memorable day but it is part of club history and a goldmine for trivia buffs. Round 15 1989 when West Coast copped an embarrassing hiding from Essendon at Windy Hill. Not only the club’s biggest loss but their lowest score and the only time in club history one player kicked all the team’s goals.

Chris Lewis had this dubious honour in the second quarter of a game in which the Eagles, at the bottom of the ladder with a 2-12 record, were beaten 1.12 (18) to 25.10 (160) by a Bombers outfit that sat fourth on the ladder at 10-4.

Darren Bewick (5) and Simon Madden (4) led the Essendon goal-kicking, while Tim Watson, with 31 possessions and a goal, took three Brownlow Medal votes.

Ugle’s day in the sun

Troy Ugle played 43 games for the Eagles from 1988-93 but only one final during a golden era for the club. He had a special moment in the sun in round 15, 1990 when he helped mastermind a brilliant comeback win over St Kilda at the WACA.

It was 1.2 to 9.3 at quarter time. Eagles down by 44. They cut it to 28 points at half-time and 19 points at three-quarter time before adding 8.2 to 2.1 in the last term to win 16.12 (108) to 14.6 (90) in Mick Malthouse’s 150^th game as an AFL coach.

Ugle kicked a career-best six goals in his 26^th game as Chris Mainwaring (27), David Hart (25) and Chris Lewis (20) topped the possession count and Karl Langdon, with 17 possessions and three goals, picked up three Brownlow Medal votes.

Seven for Heady

Brett Heady kicked an equal career-best seven goals as West Coast beat St Kilda by 44 points in round 15, 1991 at Subiaco. Craig Turley’s 28 possessions and two goals earned him three Brownlow Medal votes in a season in which he finished runner-up to Jim Stynes.

11 for Sumich

Peter Sumich had become the first Eagle to kick 10 or more goals in a game when he booted 13 in 1991. And in round 15, 1992 he did it again, bagging 11 to go with a career-best 25 possessions and three Brownlow Medal votes in a 75-point win over Essendon at the MCG. He kicked 11-8 to ensure an Eagles win in Mick Malthouse’s 200^th game as a coach and Peter Wilson’s 100^th AFL game. 

A ton for Kemp

Dean Kemp became the 10^th Eagle to reach 100 games in a 79-point WACA Ground win over St Kilda in round 15 1994. He topped the team possession list with 22 as Glen Jakovich, Jason Ball and David Hart took the Brownlow Medal votes.

The Langdon link?

What does Karl Langdon have in common with Academy Award-winning actor Heath Ledger, Australian cricket identities Tom Moody and Brendan Julian, former WA Governors Sir Wallace Kyle and Sir Francis Burt, media personality Andrew Denton and Olympic sprinter John Steffensen? Plus AFL footballers Simon Beasley, Bruce Duperouzel and Alex Rance, among others?

All are products of Guildford Grammar School.

But Langdon has them all covered on two fronts. He’s the only one to have captained the school in football, cricket and athletics, and the only one to play 100 AFL games for West Coast.

It was a case of 100 and out for the ever-colorful Langdon in round 15, 1995.

Having played in the 1986 Subiaco WAFL premiership side at 18 in just his fourth senior game, before joining the Eagles, he’d been a member of the club’s inaugural premiership side in 1992.

But it was a bitter-sweet moment. Having played 92 games in five years he suffered a knee injury in the grand final which sidelined him for all but one game in 1993 and proved to be the beginning of the end. Three games in 1994 and four in 1995 and he was done.

The one-time redhead-turned blonde half forward-turned media commentator reached his century 12 months after Dean Kemp in what was a glut of 100^th-gamers.

Don Pyke and Peter Wilson had followed in ’94 before Peter Matera, Brett Heady, Craig Turley and Glen Jakovich preceded Langdon, who was 17^th on the list.