West Coast Eagles premiership forward Mark LeCras has revealed a surprising tidbit from his AFL career, claiming he didn't think his footballing future was at West Coast following a 2006 season during which he was afforded minimal opportunity.
LeCras joined ex-teammate Will Schofieldย on the Backchat podcastย to discuss numerous intriguing and significant moments in his AFL career, including missing out on West Coast's 2006 flag in his second season; kicking 12 majors against Essendon in 2010; and achieving premiership triumph in the final year of his career in 2018.
A definitive club icon, LeCras played 219 games throughout his storied Eagles tenure, boasting a goals-per-game average of 2.0 after being drafted in 2004.
The then-18-year-old was initially given the impression he'd be starting his AFL career in Adelaide but ultimately became an Eagle, meaning he was able to remain in his home state of Western Australia after growing up and playing football in small-town Cervantes.
"I thought I was going to Adelaide at Pick 24 [judging by] the information we had, we'd sort of had discussions," said LeCras.
"They ended up picking [Nathan] van Berlo, who was my teammate (at West Perth)."
The Crows had a second opportunity to select LeCras with the No. 28 choice but passed in favour of Chad Gibson, who would not play a single AFL game.
In 2005, LeCras' debut season, the Eagles boasted a dominant side, one that eventually progressed to the game's biggest occasion but fell short on a day remembered for Leo Barry's flag-saving grab.
After managing a pair of senior appearances in 2005, LeCras' sophomore campaign was only marginally more fruitful, playing four games in another successful Eagles season.
Interestingly, LeCras revealed his inkling that due to a lack of opportunity among a talented senior squad, his AFL future beyond 2006 was most likely not at the Eagles.
However, an unlikely run of goalscoring form landed LeCras a valuable spot in West Coast's side on the eve of the 2006 finals series.
"I played a game for West Perth, I had, like, 35 touches and kicked 7.5 ... and I didn't get a game the next week," LeCras started.
"I was genuinely thinking 'I'm not going to have a future at West Coast', my deal's up, I had no contract for the next year, I was thinking 'I can't break into the side, I don't know if they want me, I'm going to have to start looking elsewhere'.
"The following week I played (again for West Perth), I had 30 [disposals] and I kicked 8.2, and I think I was [named] emergency (for the Eagles) after that.
"I played [for West Coast] the next week and kicked 5.4 against Richmond ... I was red hot and it was the worst thing that happened to me, because I played the first final the next week and All-Australian defender Craig Bolton comes straight to me, and I think I touched the ball twice.
"I had two touches and after that [and] I pretty much knew I wasn't going to play (for the remainder of the final series)."
LeCras stated that while disappointed to miss out on flag glory the first time around, the situation represented crucial learning in the context of his professional career.
"It was just a good lesson for me, playing on a good defender like that in a big game and realising how much work I needed to do [to be a part of it next time]," he added.
LeCras' career-best season arguably came in 2010, as he won the club's best and fairest award and earned an All-Australian nod off the back of a 3.0 goals-per-game average, including his 12-goal outing against the Bombers at Docklands, during a year the Eagles wound up with the wooden spoon in hand.
The Eagles, at the conclusion of an arduous rebuild, returned to the grand final scene in 2015 but fell short to a devastating and superior Hawthorn side.
Quizzed on the key differences between West Coast's 2015 and 2018 grand final brigades, LeCras emphasised confidence and the ability to stem the opposition's momentum.
"[The 2015 side was] just built on confidence. Our best was unbelievable, but we weren't at the stage where, if things went wrong, we could really pick up on what was happening, it was just a bit of a snowball effect.
"Whereas by the time we got to 2018, [there] was more maturity amongst the group where everyone knew their role, we were really good, but if things were breaking down around you, you would have someone else who would pick up [straight away]."
Come the big dance in 2018 and after Collingwood's fast start against West Coast, LeCras is reminded of a dreading look he gave to teammate Josh Kennedy, however, the Eagles steadied the ship and the veterans were finally rewarded with a premiership medallion.
"I remember looking at (Kennedy), I think, when they kicked their fifth [goal], just [thinking] 'it's happening again'," Lecras detailed
"He looked at me [with] the same look I got when we played Hawthorn and it was like 'ah, s***', and then we sort of got back in it with those couple of goals late, and the attitude completely changed.
"Like I said, we'd matured that much as a group, going in at quarter-time it was like, three goals [the difference] ... that's nothing."
As we know, the rest is history, as Dom Sheed sunk the Magpies with a boundary-line heartbreaker, sending Eagles fans into a state of pandemonium.
The entirety of LeCras' conversation with Schofield on Backchatย can be found HERE.
