Jamie Cripps was among the players to pay an on-field tribute to Adam Selwood as West Coast posted an emotional 28-point AFL win over St Kilda at Optus Stadium.
The death of 2006 premiership Eagle Selwood at the age of 41 on Saturday sent shock waves through West Coast, and a minute’s silence was held before Sunday’s match in front of 42,860 fans.
West Coast players, fuelled by the emotion of the previous 24 hours, unleashed their best pressure display of the season to lead from the outset on the way to the 16.12 (108) to 12.8 (80) win, despite five goals from Jack Higgins.
The result marked West Coast’s first victory of the season, snapping an 11-match losing run that stretched back to last year.
It also gave Andrew McQualter his first win as West Coast coach.
The victory came against Ross Lyon, who coached McQualter at St Kilda for the bulk of the tagger’s 94-game playing career.
For St Kilda, the loss leaves them with a 4-6 record and huge question marks about their finals credentials.
Brady Hough was influential for West Coast with 24 disposals and the first goal of his AFL career, while Harley Reid (15 disposals, two goals, four clearances) took a mark-of-the-year contender when he sat on skipper Oscar Allen to reel in a ripper grab.
Rowan Marshall (27 disposals, 40 hitouts, one goal) stood tall in the ruck for St Kilda, while Higgins kicked 5.1 in an exceptional display.
“I know it’s great to win a game of footy, but we’ve lost a legend of the club,” West Coast captain Oscar Allen told Fox Sports.
“We’re heartbroken. I just want to send all love and support to the Selwood family.
“Mental health is such a massive thing in society at the moment.
“I struggled with my own mental battles this year, and I’ve been so fortunate to have such a great support crew behind me.”
West Coast made a strong start to the match, with contested marks in attack to Jake Waterman and Matt Flynn leading to early goals.
Cripps paid tribute to Selwood by tapping his black arm band after sidestepping an opponent to kick a clever snap.
Two goals to St Kilda big man Mason Wood ensured the margin was only 12 points at quarter-time.
Alarm bells were ringing for St Kilda when Reid nailed two 50m bombs to extend the margin to 25 points by the 18-minute mark of the second term.
West Coast twice had the chance to extend the gap beyond 30 points, but Liam Duggan sprayed his close-range shot on the run, and Waterman’s launch from 50m just fell short.
St Kilda made the home side pay, with Higgins kicking a goal following a horror Ryan Maric turnover in defence to reduce the gap to 19 points at halftime.
Reid had two goals, 10 disposals, three clearances and 277m gained by the break, but Marshall was proving a handful for West Coast, with the star ruck pivotal in St Kilda’s 25-16 clearance advantage.
West Coast won the clearance battle in the third quarter, lifting their pressure to a new level to put the heat on St Kilda.
The lead ballooned to 34 points midway through the term when Allen kicked his second goal, and the Eagles still held a 70-42 edge heading into the final quarter.
Higgins kicked two goals in the last term to close the margin to 17 points with nine minutes remaining.
But a settling goal from Bailey Williams followed by two majors in the space of a minute to Liam Ryan ensured West Coast would snare the win.
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