It was the highly imitable Ross Lyon who once proclaimed: “There’s no confidence shop.”
“You can’t head down to Hay Street and buy confidence can you?” he said once, after the Dockers took a sore one from Geelong.
But in the aftermath of one of the more perplexing Western Derby results in a decade, it appears perhaps Eagles coach Adam Simpson did wander down the mall and find one after all, nestled between Culture Kings and the Pottery Barn.
Such flippancy is unfair on West Coast, and the hard work they did behind the scenes before their 37-point win over their fiercest rivals.
Confidence, of course, is prescription only, and for Simpson’s side, part of that prescription consisted of taking apart a banged-up Richmond side a week before the derby.
It was just what the doctor ordered — and with Jake Waterman and Jack Darling getting their hands on the footy, it gave the Eagles’ forward line something it hadn’t had in a while.
You couldn’t quite call it swagger, but a little muscle memory was triggered: “Hey, we’re still ok at this!”
The Reid effect
With Elliot Yeo finding a way to reverse the aging process, and Tim Kelly getting plenty of the ball in the middle, West Coast – impossibly – seem a different animal to that which has been dissected for much of the past three years.
How much of this spark can be attributed to the arrival of Harley Reid?
His first six games have shown why the club was so keen to get him across, rather than “splitting the pick” as many thought they should.
Reid, just gone 19, approaches AFL footy in what you imagine is the same way he approached the under-nines – every time he gets the ball he’s looking to take somebody on.
For his teammates, seeing that kind of audacity has to be infectious.
Suddenly the storm clouds over Lathlain have parted a little.
It reminded me of listening to former Arsenal striker Ian Wright talking about the difference the arrival of Dutch great Dennis Bergkamp made when he landed in London in 1995.
All of a sudden, the place was excited again.
The difference is Bergkamp arrived from Inter Milan at 26, and Arsenal already knew he could play.
Reid came from Tongala, and not even the most optimistic of observers would have predicted this kind of impact this early in his career.
Brand awareness
For Fremantle, meanwhile, it seems their confidence has evaporated after winning their first three games handily.
Their forward line, never a raging inferno on its best days, has lost its spark completely, failing to crack 70 points in its last four games.
Those kind of scores demand a lot of a back line, and on Saturday night against the Eagles, the levee finally broke.
Leave a Reply