Mitchell hits ground running at Eagles

Sam Mitchell has made an immediate impact in his first outing in West Coast colours, playing a leading hand in his new side’s AFL pre-season 55-point thumping of Fremantle.Mitchell made his presence felt from the opening bounce of the Eagles’ 16.11 (107) to 8.4 (52) victory, finishing with a game-high 28 possessions.He already appears to have some chemistry with Matt Priddis (27 touches), Luke Shuey (26) and Andrew Gaff (24) with the quartet starring at Wonthella Oval in Geraldton on Saturday.The former Hawthorn premiership star and Brownlow medallist had the first disposal and the first clearance of the game and led all comers with 10 touches in the opening term.By halftime he had racked up 16 possessions as the Eagles raced to a 45-point lead.Drew Petrie also debuted for the Eagles, collecting 11 touches and sharing ruck duties with Nathan Vardy.West Coast continually chipped the ball to short lead-up targets as the disposal count finished a lop-sided 414 to 214 in favour of the Eagles.They went forward 25 times to the Dockers’ 11 in the first half and led 10.5 to 3.2 at the main break.Coleman medallist Josh Kennedy had three of his four goals by then, making life difficult for prized Fremantle recruit and Western Bulldogs premiership defender Joel Hamling.Hamling wasn’t the only one wearing Dockers colours for the first time to have a tough day – Cam McKarthy and Shane Kersten had seven possessions apiece, while Bradley Hill worked his way into the game and kicked two goals.Hayden Ballantyne also booted two while Michael Walters looked the most dangerous of the Dockers forwards but wasted his opportunities.It didn’t help Fremantle that their best ball winner, Lachie Neale, wasn’t playing.New captain Nat Fyfe had the biggest impact for the Dockers with 11 touches in the first half and 22 for the game.

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