A balmy, still night with the odd brief shower under the illuminous glare of the floodlit Optus Stadium was the backdrop for the West Coast Eagles main session in preparation for an Easter Saturday battle with Port Adelaide.
The Power are hot, undefeated after two rounds, and the Eagles are well aware of the magnitude of Saturday night’s challenge.
There’s always a little additional electricity in a session at Australia’s premier sporting venue – and it is not all to do with the state-of-the-art lighting.
The players were up and about and most eyes from the Eagles inner sanctum were concentrated on one figure for much of its duration, that of captain Luke Shuey.
The smooth-moving midfielder missed the first two rounds when the Eagles split results against Gold Coast and the Western Bulldogs and he looked in good fettle. If he pulls up well from that hit out and gets through the captain’s run, he will be automatically recalled for this one.
The ball pinged around the empty stadium, a mix of skill drills and match simulation, with the session appearing to achieve all that the coaching staff and players were chasing.
Emerging forwards Jake Waterman and Bailey Williams did what they needed to progress their imminent return, midfield bull Elliot Yeo mimicked superstar swimmer Ian Thorpe and followed the white line of the boundary line as he continued to build on his running capacity.
In the middle of the action, Nic Naitanui and Tim Kelly connected in training as they have on game day, while Xavier O’Neill also shone with some of his stoppage work.
Unfortunately for Zac Langdon, who spent the majority of the match against the Bulldogs with a bandage around his head, holding gauze to his nose to stem the blood flow from a collision in the forward half, he copped a ball in the hooter early in the session.
He was preparing to take a ball in front of his face when it slipped through his fingers. It’s a bit like dropping a hammer on your toe and you just know that when someone accidentally steps on your feet they are going to squish that digit.
With a day of today, final preparations and team selection will occur tomorrow.
