THREE goals in two-and-a-half minutes would normally cause a stir, but West Coast forward Quinten Lynch was playing down his match-winning feat.
Lynch's efforts late in Friday night's NAB Challenge game gave West Coast a welcome 10-point victory over Adelaide – an important result after a poor round-one performance against Collingwood.
Another loss looked likely at three-quarter time as Adelaide held the momentum and a 14-point lead. However, midfielder Daniel Kerr, like Lynch, had other ideas to see the Eagles storm home in Alice Springs.
"I got on the end of a couple late in the last quarter – it was nice to kick a few goals, knock a bit of rust out at the start of the year," Lynch, who finished with four goals, said from Subiaco Oval on Saturday.
"It was just good to have a win. That winning feeling's a good feeling so we take a lot out of that, for the young blokes that were out there too.
"We can build on that and keep working to round one."
Three weeks have passed since West Coast's NAB Cup opener against the Pies, and a number of players were able to return for Friday night's clash.
Mitch Brown impressed playing mostly in defence, Sam Butler and Mark LeCras got through their returns unscathed and Adam Selwood, Ash Hansen and Tyson Stenglein had their first hit-outs of the pre-season.
"We probably had a more senior side out on the paddock last night, so that always helps to steady the ship a bit," Lynch said.
"The skill level was better and we're starting to work through our game plan a bit better, so we'll just keep working on it.
"Collingwood seems a fair while ago now."
Chris Masten's two-goal performance from the midfield was impressive but the contribution of the versatile Brown, who hadn't played since rupturing an anterior cruciate ligament last pre-season, struck stronger chords.
"He's going well. He's had 12 months out of the game, but he was good last night getting his touch back," Lynch said.
"He's a powerful athlete so it's exciting for the footy club to have him back out there running around. It's important for us to have him out there."
A lot has changed since Brown's last match for West Coast and Lynch expects the rolling zone both teams used in this one to become even more common.
"I suppose the old 80m zone came into it a little bit, and both teams worked through that and that's what footy's going to be like this year," he said.
"I think every side's going to try it now. It'll make footy quite interesting, whether it's going to be attractive – some will say no, some will say it'll make it more interesting.
"It's going to be something everyone's going to have to combat."
Dream Team watch – Quinten Lynch is rated a $375,300 forward in Toyota AFL Dream Team 2009.