By his own admission, West Coast backman Will Schofield was outmatched when he lined up against Jordan De Goey in Saturday's AFL grand final.
Yet the veteran Eagle stood tall, and his shutdown role on the Collingwood superstar was pivotal as the Eagles claimed their fourth premiership.
De Goey's tally of 13 disposals, five marks and three goals means he was still among the Magpies' most influential players.
But much of his damage was done during stints in the midfield after being well-held by the crafty Schofield, who was dropped for the Eagles' qualifying final but recalled to replace the injured Brad Sheppard for their two remaining finals.
"He got away from us a bit in the midfield there ... it's a backman's worst nightmare when you see the player you've kept to not much in the forward line go to the midfield and bloody midfielders let him off the leash," Schofield joked.
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"To be honest he's a better player and a better athlete than me so I had to go about it a bit of a different way.
"He jumps higher, runs quicker, probably further as well.
"All I had to do was stop him. He's going in (under pressure) to win the game for his team so I think I had the easier job in the end."
Schofield wasn't the only West Coast backman to navigate a difficult match-up.
Young key defender Tom Barrass had the job on 211cm giant Mason Cox, who starred in the preliminary final against Richmond.
Barrass had by far the better of Cox early on, restricting him to just one touch to halftime.
The big American lifted late to finish with two goals from seven marks.
"I thought I did reasonably well today and Mason also got on top at times," Barrass said.
"I think you've got to get your positioning right and once the ball's there to be attacked, you've got to just go at it as hard as you can."
