No stopping Gaff as Eagles take off
DUSTIN Martin takes to the field strutting around like a muscled-up streetfighter.
Fellow Brownlow Medallist Nathan Fyfe could be mistaken as a model on the Milan fashion catwalks.
Andrew Gaff most closely resembles a high school prefect.
But yet again yesterday at Etihad Stadium he does what he has perfected over seven and a half seasons – quietly tearing an opponent apart with death by a thousand cuts.
Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson minimised the influence of most of West Coast’s stars – Jeremy McGovern was quiet and Jack Darling kept goalless by Ben Stratton.
He just couldn’t stop Gaff, and as a result West Coast have won nine straight games for the first time since 1991 after a 15-point win.
Gaff’s desire to win a premiership likely will keep him at West Coast as his manager Paul Connors flies to Perth in coming weeks to chat to his client.
Yet St Kilda CEO Matt Finnis made clear on Saturday just how much the Saints would love to get their clutches on hard-running eastern suburbs junior Gaff.
What kind of crazy offer would they have to put to him to lure him east – something starting with a one and running to seven figures?
Saturday’s stat sheet was comprehensive: 35 possessions at 80 per cent efficiency, 12 marks, seven clearances, five tackles and a goal.
One upon a time this game would have been an Etihad Stadium shootout. Saturday we got a tight arm wrestle with plenty of momentum turns, but a dour struggle rather than a glorious celebration of football.
Like Richmond the day before, the premiership contender still found a way home in a game with a strong lastterm surge.
They were given an armchair ride by Nic Naitanui’s 34 hit-outs, the freakish Eagle’s pack mark and goal huge to start the last-term push.
Josh Kennedy scrounged three goals, while Willie Rioli mixed the sublime with the ridiculous.
Rioli will face MRO heat for his knee drop on Blake Hardwick and his bum-tap on “Razor” Ray Chamberlain.
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