ONE OF Adam Simpson's secret weapons at West Coast this season has been "a spitter", who lines up as a seventh defender at centre bounces but works forward quickly as an aggressive attacking threat.
That man was Mark LeCras on Saturday in the Eagles' 53-point win over St Kilda but the Saints were prepared for him, deploying their best stopper, Mav Weller, to do a shut-down job on the dangerous Eagle.
It was unusual to see LeCras lining up in the defensive half at Etihad Stadium, given his history as a classy goalsneak who once kicked 12 goals on the same ground, and who has kicked 63 goals in a season, or plays as a dangerous midfielder when he is at full fitness.
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But the ploy could offer some insight into what has made the Eagles such a dynamic team in 2015, winning six games after eight rounds, including five in a row following Saturday's result.
"West Coast always start every centre bounce with a seventh defender coming off the back," Saints coach Alan Richardson explained on Saturday.
"He spits forward and creates a bit of chaos and gives a bit of cover for his experienced midfield group.
"On the back of that it allows them to be really aggressive in there."
The Eagles' aggression in the midfield was underpinned by ruckman Nic Naitanui (15 hit-outs to advantage) and Luke Shuey, who had a game-high nine clearances and always looked to attack.
Brownlow medallist Matt Priddis was also influential with seven clearances and a game-high five centre clearances.
While LeCras' role gave the Eagles a structure that allowed the midfielders to attack, Weller did his job in the head-to-head battle, keeping LeCras to seven possessions and one goal in the first three quarters.
"Today was a bit of a different role, I played a bit forward and got on the end of a couple," Weller told AFL.com.au.
"We knew they were going to use a spitter off the back and LeCras is a dangerous player so we had to give him close attention.
"It was a bit of cat and mouse and they changed it around and tried to get it on their terms."
Weller, who kicked two goals and finished with 22 possessions, said a crucial part of his match up was keeping LeCras accountable by working into dangerous positions himself when he could.
At the other end of the ground, Richardson tried to make sure the Saints got drive from a spare man in Dylan Roberton or Leigh Montagna, who racked up 22 possessions in the first half.
"If they were going to play a seventh defender off the back half, it's important that we see it through and he doesn't do damage," Weller said.
"Then we've got someone like Dylan Roberton who can go with either foot, so we wanted him to give us a bot of drive out of our backline.
"Those sorts of things are a good learning experience for our young group."
