Agggghhhh ... it was nice to be at home.
Like pulling on an old pair of comfy slippers, the West Coast Eagles rolled into Optus Stadium last night for the main training session leading into Saturday’s elimination final against Collingwood and it just felt … well, right.
Like everything in 2020 it was a little different and took a little to pull together.
The club needed to gain exemptions from the State Government to train at the country’s best stadium and also to get an extension to the curfew by which staff and players are bound under the terms of their home quarantine.
As such, we travelled to the pristine venue by bus and returned to Mineral Resources Park the same way, after a lively training session was completed.
The familiarity of the loop beneath the stadium, the buses pulling up out the front of the change rooms has been missed. Walking through the entry, team meeting and dressing rooms on the left, warm up room on the right, the appropriate sponsor banners and messaging on the walls.
The things we take for granted, are now more greatly appreciated.
The walk up the players’ race onto the field of play. The brilliant green turf, every blade neatly manicured. We hadn’t been to this place since August 23, winning our sixth game in succession – and eighth in a row in total – by beating GWS by two goals.
Last night the colosseum was empty, but it didn’t take much to imagine 35,000 screaming fans, the majority of them supporting the Eagles, enjoying another finals assault by the club.
It will be the biggest crowd assembled in Australia since this dreadful pandemic hit. We got a little reminder of what that atmosphere will be like – after playing our last five games in front of miniscule crowds in Queensland – when the video boards lit up and played a highlights reel of the season.
It went for only a couple of minutes, but it got the juices flowing.
You could sense in the players the excitement of being at a venue where the club has such a good record.
Skipper Luke Shuey, coming off a three-game absence with hamstring strains on both legs, had a spring in his step.
All of the players looking to resume in this match, looked confident. Jeremy McGovern, Jack Redden, Lewis Jetta and Mark Hutchings all looked good; Jamie Cripps, resuming after the birth of his first child, is also ready to go.
Given the tickets for this game sold out in record time, so is the crowd. And the players will enjoy their last opportunity to play in front of them on Saturday night in another winner-take-all final against Collingwood.
