AMID THE joyous scenes in West Coast's rooms after a preliminary final rout of Melbourne, it's a safe bet that tagger Mark Hutchings was the only Eagle thinking about his homework.
But after keeping a leash on Demons co-captain Jack Viney, the Eagles' run-with specialist was already mentally preparing himself for the huge job on Collingwood jet Steele Sidebottom in the Grand Final.
"He's a classy player. I've got to do my homework but I'll be ready," Hutchings told AFL.com.au.
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Sidebottom was a gamebreaker in the Magpies' jaw-dropping ambush of Richmond on Friday night, doing as he pleased on a wing and racking up 41 touches.
It is extremely unlikely the All Australian will receive as much space in the Grand Final, especially with Hutchings on his heels.
The pair have already crossed paths twice this year.
In round 17, Hutchings clamped the Pies' most dangerous midfielder, holding him to an equal season-low 18 touches as the Eagles silenced their critics at the MCG.
They played a game of cat and mouse in the qualifying final, with Sidebottom starting across half-forward to throw the Eagles' plans out of whack.
He was Collingwood's best on the night at Optus Stadium, but West Coast would have taken his 27 disposals, and Hutchings is setting himself for the task again.
"There will be that talk," Hutchings said.
"I'll wait again until Wednesday or Thursday, because it could change, but he's been playing really well in finals."
Eagles coach Adam Simpson kept his cards close to his chest after the 66-point demolition of the Dees when asked if Hutchings would be told to lock onto Sidebottom, but admitted he would get a job on a key Pie.
Simpson revealed the Eagles wanted to take down Melbourne's talisman Viney at Optus Stadium after two inspirational finals performances coming back from a foot injury.
Hutchings held the Dees' co-captain to just three disposals by quarter-time, and nine by the long break.
Viney lifted to finish with 21 touches – 17 contested possessions – and 11 clearances but it was too little, too late against the rampaging Eagles.
"He's the spiritual leader of the club, I think, and he had 29 or 30 possessions last week. He was pretty good," Simpson said post-match.
"It wasn't a no-brainer, you could pick one of three or four, but he was the one who probably looked the freshest, we thought.
"Hutch has got a pretty clear role as well, and to do that early was really important for us and we're proud of him as well."
Hutchings, who had been preparing to take Clayton Oliver, described West Coast's pulsating 10-goal-to-nil first half against Melbourne as the best football the Eagles have played all season.
"You never envisage that, you always envisage tough football and doing it the hard way," he said.
"It was still hard out there, but we were just getting reward for effort, so that was really nice.
"We were clean, we were tough around the footy.
"It's the loudest it's been ever at the stadium, a lot like the 'G, just like a wall of sound around you.
"When you're going well the crowd is always going to behind you, so a great job by them and it was a pleasure we could put on something like that for them."
The 27-year-old is relishing another crack at a Grand Final, believing the 12 Eagles set for a shot at redemption after the 2015 shocker against Hawthorn were more mature and would handle the occasion.
"You're always better for those things," Hutchings said.
"It's a completely new year. We'll just look back on the evidence that we've produced this year and take confidence from that and just bring that effort.
"That's all we need to do, and we can be proud of how far we've come so far and we just need to go one more."
