Prized West Coast recruit Sam Mitchell put in another sizzling display to help lift the Eagles to a 25-point win over Melbourne in Thursday night's AFL pre-season match at Domain Stadium.
Less than two weeks after putting Fremantle to the sword with a 28-possession effort, Mitchell was at it again in the 0.14.11 (95) to 1.9.7 (70) win over the Demons in front of 5337 fans.
West Coast appeared set for an easy win after opening up a 33-point lead late in the third quarter, but they were forced to hold on grimly in the last after the Demons closed the gap to 11 points.
Mitchell tallied 39 disposals and seven clearances for the match to ensure West Coast gained crucial midfield ascendancy, while last year's Coleman Medallist Josh Kennedy booted five goals.
Mitchell's pin-point handballs were vital, with the four-time premiership midfielder releasing his teammates time and again.
The Demons were also well served by a former Hawk, with Jordan Lewis tallying 29 disposals in a promising display.
Demons ruckman Jake Spencer has given coach Simon Goodwin plenty to think about after nailing three goals.
Goodwin is considering playing Max Gawn and Spencer together in the home-and-away season, and Spencer's performance up forward against the Eagles would have helped his cause.
Demons forward Jack Watts, overlooked for the first two pre-season games due to lacklustre training displays, tallied 15 disposals.
West Coast's ruck puzzle still seems to be up in the air.
Jonathan Giles (thumb) and Scott Lycett (knee) are yet to play this year, but both could feature this weekend for WAFL side East Perth.
Nathan Vardy and Drew Petrie were handed the ruck duties against Melbourne.
Vardy was prominent early, but faded as the match wore on and didn't tally many hit-outs.
"We were really pleased with the prep. It was a good game for us. No injuries," Eagles coach Adam Simpson said after the match.
"Everyone looked a bit buggered by the end there, but we got our minutes in. We got to work on the way we wanted to play under pretty good pressure."
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin said his team's sloppy skills cost them dearly.
"I couldn't fault our intensity, but probably our skill level on the night let us down," Goodwin said.
"I thought the Eagles executed better than what we did. I think they had 20 shots on goal from turnover, so that's a pretty big number."
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