1. Tim Kelly is in rare form. In the absence of both Elliot Yeo and Luke Shuey the midfield group, particularly in the last three weeks, has been exceptional and none have been better than Kelly. Indeed, other than the game against Geelong, when only a couple of players maintained standards, Kelly’s outstanding form extends back to the RAC Derby when he won the Glendinning-Allan Medal. Yesterday he had 31 possessions, 18 of them contested, and racked up 11 clearances.

2. The performances of the three-pronged West Coast tall forwards justifiably received many plaudits, particularly game-breaker Jack Darling. Between them, Darling, Josh Kennedy and Oscar Allen kicked 11 goals – with Darling bagging five, all of them in the second term. But a couple of players who are a little unobtrusive did a power of work and were highly influential. Jamie Cripps and Jake Waterman worked hard up down the ground, with Cripps collecting 25 disposals, taking 10 marks, gaining a remarkable 638 metres and sending his team inside 50 on eight occasions. Waterman had 17 possessions and took 12 marks, three of them inside the forward 50. They also scored three goals between them.

3. The return of key defensive pillars Tom Barrass and Jeremy McGovern was most welcome. Young developing defender Harry Edwards and Oscar Allen did a good job in their absence, but Barrass and McGovern took no time to impose themselves in the air, both taking three intercept marks among the seven and 10 they pulled down respectively. McGovern also had 26 possessions and that pair, in conjunction with Alex Witherden and Brad Sheppard were important in containing the Crows.

4. Nic Naitanui might still have had ‘phone gate’ on his mind when he confronted Adelaide ruckman Rory O’Brien. When the clubs were in a hub last year, O’Brien’s notes on his opponent were made public when he accidentally tweeted them. Naitanui played an inspired game against the Crows yesterday, backing up from his influential performance 12 months ago, to be a key influence on this game. Of his 13 disposals, 10 were contested, took four marks and he sent the ball inside 50 five times. That was aside from his core role of 31 hit outs which so often gave the Eagles midfield first use of the ball.

5. There was some pre-game debate about ‘how big’ the Eagles team appeared on paper, but it proved a difficult asset for the Crows to counter. Not only did they win the uncontested mark count 109 to 65, but also took more grabs inside the 50 metre arc – 18 to 13, many of those contested. The mobility and the capacity of the ‘talls’ to win possession at ground level was an important factor – one particular passage springing to mind when Oscar Allen marked between half-forward and wing. He handballed to Josh Kennedy, who gathered, took a bounce and then perfectly executed a left foot pass across the goal face to the advantage of Jack Petruccelle. The lively Petruccelle enjoyed the role reversal and duly capitalised from about 20 metres.