Some things to note:
- Welcome back Lenny Hayes. He was simply outstanding, putting his body on the line and attacked the ball with real intensity. Arguably his best game since his comeback, and was our best midfielder by far.
- Nick Riewoldt once again worked tirelessly all night, presenting countless times and finally kicking straight for a change.
- Our pressure was excellent in the first term. West Coast had as much, if not more of the ball than us in the first term, but our pressure rendered them ineffective.
- Gram played his best game in quite some time, providing the run and carry in place of Sam Fisher who played more of a KP role tonight.
- Fiora tried hard all night, has cemented a spot in our best 22.
- We contested hard in the final term, but we were on the back foot, allowing the Eagles to be 3 goals in front at one stage. The damage had been done in the third term, and the eagles are too good a side to surrender a lead.
- Voss, M Clarke, Raph, Blake and Fergs were all very ordinary. Cannot guarantee that Raph and Fergs will be at St Kilda next year (I recall saying inanimate carbon rod > Raph after he made a blunder in the final term
![Razz :P](./images/smilies/icon_razz.gif)
- Gehrig was soundly beaten by Glass, who is a very good player. Shouldn't have dropped that mark directly in front of goal in the third term. You don't let these opportunities slip away in such a high stakes game, and when these opportunities are few and far between.
- Their mids got the better of ours. Cousins was able to play on his own terms, plus Priddis tore it up as well. Dean Cox smashed us in the ruck ans was very dominant around the ground. He was effectively another midfielder. Dal and Joey struggled to impose themselves on the game, plus Ball was as ineffective as Judd.
- Gilbo just needs to work on his kicking (i.e. Gram of 2006), then he'll be a top notch player. That tackle on Judd was awesome.
Overall, we played pretty well for the night. We werent disgraced at all, however the Eagles are too good a side to be let back into the game, like we did in the third term. We still have a chance to make the eight, we now need Essendon, Adelaide and Brisbane to all lose once. This is a realistic scenario, however we just need to focus on defeating the Tigers, and hope results go our way.