The five-day government imposed lockdown, introduced after a COVID-19 scare last Sunday, expired at 6pm and minutes later the West Coast Eagles players began to filter into the club.

Like everyone else in any other place in the southern part of the State, before they pushed through the door they scanned the QR code at the entry, ensuring their mask was in place. 

The enthusiasm was not quite bubbling over like it was when training resumed after the Christmas break, but there was a genuine excitement about re-connecting.

Many of the conversations were serious, mostly about the raging fires in the north-east of the city and personal connections around those affected in the most devastating way; of the circumstances of the lock-down imposed when a security guard at a quarantine hotel in the CBD tested positive to the UK-strain of the virus that has so rudely interrupted normal transmission globally in the last 12 months.     

A lot has transpired in the week or so since the squad was together and like the rest of society each individual has been impacted.

But then it gets back to footy, mates connecting with a common cause, like-minded individuals pushing each other to the pinnacle of their physical capabilities.

Running around a local park solo, or even in pairs, it just isn’t quite the same. So getting back into the groove, greeting each other with a knuckle bump and a wise crack, things were back to the normal footy club environment.

A briefing from coach Adam Simpson around the protocols to be met for at least the next week, observing the need to wear masks inside the club’s Mineral Resources Park facility, that they could train as a full squad and drop the masks for their ‘strenuous activity’ – there were a few things to tick off before they got down to the nuts and bolts of training.

Having had a week or so away from the track the players enjoyed the opportunity to tick the legs over, move the ball from one end of the ground to the other.

This skill-focused session was slick and impressive and clearly the players looked fresh.

From veteran Shannon Hurn, to rookie Zane Trew, premiership ruckman Nathan Vardy who is keen to reinvigorate his output after an injury-ruined 2020, young forwards Oscar Allen and Bailey Williams, they were all excited to be there.

It’s what they do. And tonight signalled the start of the run towards the pre-season matches, which are just a month away.

If players on the periphery haven’t already started to visualise an opportunity, they will be looking to push hard from this moment forward.