1. At times in the second half, in particular, it seemed like for everything positive that was produced by the Eagles it was followed by a disposal or decision-making howler. Turnovers occurred consistently and initially St Kilda did not take full toll, but given enough opportunities, they eventually would and that happened when they rattled on eight consecutive goals across the third and fourth quarters.
2. Even when the Eagles established a 33-point advantage in the middle stages of the third quarter, they were struggling through the midfield where St Kilda generally held sway. Jack Steele, Zac Jones, Brad Hill and Brad Crouch had the better of the battle when the ball hit the deck and their pressure was relentless. They also did a good job in the ruck where Rowan Marshal and Jake Carlisle cancelled out any perceived advantage enjoyed by Nic Naitanui and Oscar Allen.
3. When the Eagles went inside the 50 metre arc they looked dangerous, but they simply could not get it in their often enough. In the end the inside 50 count was 34 to 52, with only 13 entries in the second half. The three tall forwards, Josh Kennedy, Oscar Allen and Jack Darling each finished with two apiece while the eye-catching performance of the day came from small forward Jack Petruccelle who kicked four goals.
4. When conceding the possession count as badly as West Coast did in this game it was imperative to use it wisely. The Eagles were down by 79 possessions in total and were only 61 percent efficient by foot (to St Kilda’s 70) and 63% by hand (opposed to St Kilda’s 74). Another telling statistic was the tackle count read 52-69 in St Kilda’s favour.
5. Defensive stalwarts Brad Sheppard and Shannon Hurn deserved to celebrate major milestones in style. Unfortunately that didn’t happen, with the durable Hurn, playing a record-equalling 290th game for the club, succumbing to a calf issue in the first 10 minutes and being subbed out of the game. Sheppard became the 23rd Eagle to play 200 games and he will not remember it fondly either.
