Heroic final goal never in doubt

AN EMOTIONAL Sharrod Wellingham says he watched premiership hero Dom Sheed kick two pre-game set shots from the same spot as his icecool match-winner.

Sheed delivered one of the most clutch set shots in Grand Final history when he drilled the 35m drop punt from the boundary line.

Despite the tough angle, Champion Data says players have tracked at a 40 per cent accuracy from the same position this season.

The dead-straight sixpointer was a heartbreaker for the Magpies who led the game for almost 95 minutes.

Wellingham, who won the 2010 premiership at Collingwood before switching to West Coast, said he had full faith the left-footer would thread the eye of the needle for the third time that day.

“To be honest, I watched him sink two goals from that exact same spot before the match, in the pre-game (warm-up),” Wellingham said.

“I’m not joking. So when he took the mark and walked back I said ‘this is going through, this is definitely going through’ because I had seen him put the other two through from right there.”

Sheed’s performance was one of the best of his 78-game career, earning the 23-year-old third place with four votes in the Norm Smith Medal.

And it was against Collingwood, the club that traded the Dom Sheed pick (No. 11) to West Coast as part of a swap for pick No. 6 (Matthew Scharenberg) in 2013.

Wellingham fought back tears in the West Coast rooms after the game, saying he felt mixed emotions on the day because of his ties with both clubs. He played 92 matches at Collingwood and 79 for the Eagles.

But, ultimately, he said he was hoping West Coast would prevail on Saturday because of the pain it experienced getting belted by Hawthorn in the 2015 Grand Final.

“It was an emotional day and I was very emotional postgame,” Wellingham said.

“All week I have had everyone ask me that, who I was going for, and to be honest, I wanted the guys who I was out there with in 2015. I wanted them to experience what I was fortunate enough to have (in 2010).

“Some of them were my closest mates, who I hold dearest to my heart and I wanted them to get that (premiership), so that is the reason why I was going for the Eagles.

“But it was hard to barrack against the Pies, I just wanted the Eagles to win more.”