1. No Nic Nat, no worries
West Coast beat three-time reigning premiers Hawthorn last Friday night but slid in premiership betting from $20 to $40 after Nic Naitanui’s knee injury. There probably isn’t a more structurally important player to any side in the competition, and the Eagles were seemingly sunk. But someone forgot to tell journeyman Jonathan Giles that. The former Port, GWS and Essendon player delivered the match of his life against Adelaide, and showed their is life after Nic Nat in 2016 for the Eagles. Playing just his third game for the season, Giles had 10 possessions, including eight contested touches to half time to go with 16 hitouts, three marks and a goal. His physicality rattled Adelaide’s rucks and gave West Coast a huge stoppage edge. The Eagles have now beaten GWS, Hawthorn and Adelaide in consecutive weeks and hit September as a genuine danger.

Adel v WC: Full match coverage and stats

2. Nervous Crows blow it
Rarely have two hours mattered quite so much for a side sitting second on the table heading into a final home and away match. Win and the Crows would have assumed top position overnight and all but guaranteed themselves a top-two finish. But lose and Adelaide could drop out of the top four, and they played like a club burdened by that expectation. Adelaide couldn’t match the Eagles' physicality early and they struggled as West Coast applied the web usually reserved for Domain Stadium. The Crows skills were also off and they made a staggering number of unforced errors by foot. Their defenders were the main offenders and opposition clubs will take note heading into the finals. The Crows' dream of a direct Adelaide Oval route to the Grand Final is all but dead and they suddenly look vulnerable in September.

• Forecast the road to the flag with the AFL Ladder and Finals Predictor 

3. Why didn’t Don tag Gaff?
Andrew Gaff’s dominance in this clash was something to marvel at. The super-skilled Eagle torched Adelaide with his speed, clean skills and hard run. But the question being asked far and wide was why didn’t Don Pyke man-up the outside midfielder? Gaff had 32 disposals to three-quarter time and a staggering 23 of them were uncontested, as the Crows refused to pay him any respect.  He finished with a career-best 41. Adelaide’s midfield was well beaten on the night and Rory Sloane’s controversial suspension for his hit on Brad Ebert may prove a pivotal moment in their season. The Crows' midfield looked thin without him. 

4. Barrass a backline beauty
Tom Barrass is old head on 20-year-old shoulders. The defender enhanced his growing reputation with another stellar performance in a finals-like tempo against the Crows. What the backman lacks in style, he makes up for in sheer ferocity at the contest and he beat Taylor Walker and Josh Jenkins hands down at various times on Friday night. Barrass finished with 10 marks, and played a crucial role in denying Adelaide’s normally lethal forward line any fluid movements with his chop-out marking. Surely a NAB Rising Star nomination beckons.

5. Did the testing week tell on Eddie?
Eddie Betts was all class during the week with the way he handled the ugly banana throwing incident against Port Adelaide. But the torrent of media attention the incident generated may have taken something out of Betts. The much loved goalsneak obliged with virtually all the media requests and took a powerful stance against racism. But with just six days between matches Eddie wasn’t his usual flamboyant self against the Eagles and had little impact on the match. He wasn’t friendless either. Adelaide's much vaunted forward line simply didn’t fire against the inspired Eagles. Taylor Walker and Josh Jenkins also had very quiet nights. Betts, Walker, Jenkins and Tom Lynch had just two goals between them.