The West Coast Eagles are finally on the board in season 2024, leaving just North Melbourne and Hawthorn as the only winless clubs this season. The Eagles were impressive against Richmond, walking out as 39-point victors over an injury-plagued Tigers outfit.
Adem Yze's men started the game on fire, kicking the first four goals of the game before the Eagles kicked the final three of the first term, bringing the margin to only eight points.
From quarter time onwards it was all the Eagles as the undermanned Tigers side struggled to keep up in the midfield and West Coast's forward half.
Eagles coach Adam Simpson was pleased after the victory, praising the team effort rather than singling out any individuals. He was also very sympathetic to the Tigers, having been left facing a similar injury crisis himself in past years.
"The players played the game the right way, albeit Richmond are pretty banged up as well. We've been in that position before where it's just been hard going trying to expose some younger players who perhaps aren't quite ready because of the injury toll, so we've got a bit of perspective as well," said Simpson.
Elliot Yeo was a standout for the Eagles in midfield, finishing with 27 touches and two goals. The entire midfield for West Coast played phenomenally, blitzing Richmond with their speed and efficiency going forward.
As is the usual for Eagles games, Harley Reid was once again a talking point.
"We got jumped in the first 10-15 minutes, but I thought our mids really stood up, and Yeoy (Elliot Yeo) had that look in his eyes which I see a lot," Simpson said.
"I think the mids in general really stood up, but Harley had a good day. Hopefully, he gets that Rising Star nomination. We've just got to try to manage him as best we can. He's a great kid and he works really hard and wants to get better.
"Dealing with the attention is something we're trying to help him with at the moment too. He's so humble with how he goes about things, it's just going to be a challenge isn't it."
In the forward half, Jake Waterman was the hero for his side. After suffering a serious illness last season the forward has bounced back tremendously, booting a career-high six goals against the undermanned Tigers backline.
"He (Waterman) took some really good marks for us," Simpson added.
"He got on the end of it, pretty proud of what he came back from."
Simpson remains adamant that the club is a work in progress, focusing on getting the smaller things right and not getting ahead of themselves.
"We haven't deviated too much about what we're trying to chase. We want to be better in the contest, more supply, pressure to be at a good level. The ball movement stuff we haven't really touched on too much until we get these other things right then we'll get to that," said Simpson.
"There's a lot of work to do, we're not delusional. We've got Fremantle in six days, but today was a step forward for the club which was important as well.
"It feels different this year, doesn't it. It feels like we're chasing different things, we've got a different profile. We finished the year okay last year and whilst we haven't won this year, we're working on some small things to continue to grow on.
"It's a good reward for a bit of work but it's just another step in hopefully the right direction."
The Eagles will look to Saturday where they take on the Dockers in the Western Derby.
