The early season whispers of a juggernaut rising in the west came to fruition during the Pre-season Cup. The West Island Eagles cutting a swath through all that came before them, even the once mighty, and previously undefeated in all AFL Québec matches, Ottawa Swans.

In stark contrast, the Montréal Demons had been hampered by injuries, and as such elected to abstain from the cup in preparation for a round one launch and debut. The Eagles headed into the match heavy favourites, but the aspect of an unknown Demons line-up added just enough of a twist to suggest it wouldn’t be all one-way traffic for the Eagles nest.

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There were more than a few raised eyebrows as the early running was all the way of the Demons, Jeff Lavoie and Kyle Graham executing coach Nathan Jacob’s plan to perfection to hold sway through the centre.

The Eagles weren’t to be outdone, rallying and trading goals with their upstart counterparts. Eagle Stéphane Labelle showed more than a touch of class adding two goals for the quarter, teammate Sean Smallwood chipping in for a single, while for the Demons Graham and McNabb broke through with a major each.

The Demons suffered a major blow shortly before quarter-time, on-ball titan Jeff Lavoie limping from the field with an injury that would see the Québec City native take no further part in the match. The siren sounded shortly after to bring about the first break, a wasteful Demons outfit trailing by four points 2.3 (15) to 3.1 (19).

The Eagles steadied early in the second, ruckman Eliot Kempster flexing his muscle to give first use of the ball to his running brigade. Ronan Shaughnessy stepped up to join the fracas and the Eagles nest swooped into action piling on scoreboard pressure with goals to Alex Langevin, Nick Robidoux and a second highlight reel goal to Sean Smallwood who was proving a huge headache for the Demon’s defence.

But just as the game look set to break open, the Demons fought back. Luke Anderson switched in to the ruck giving McNabb space to run free which he did with devastating effect. Tara Cools-Lartigue began to swing the 50-50 contests in her favour with sublime use of the handball and Tamara Daniel disregarded the fact she was outnumbered two to one on most occasions to hold down the Demon fort down back. Luke Anderson tucked up hard on the boundary line with almost no daylight between the posts snapped a right-foot shot on goal, and with a mind of its own the ball bounced in the goal square before making a 90-degree turn and dribbling through for a major, sparking a Demons revival. The silky smooth Carlos Casado added another and Chris Miccheletti got in on the action with his first to have the Demons back to within two points at the main change. Demons 5.5 (35) to Eagles 6.1 (37).

The arm-wrestle continued into the third term, Matthew Payne beginning to make an impact after being well held for the first half. The Eagles running game was proving difficult to counter, the West Island team again looking on the brink of bursting the game wide open.

The Demons' luck was about to take another turn for the worse, midfield livewire Chris Miccheletti going down with an ankle injury. A moment of confusion reigned as two Demon teammates carried Miccheletti from the field, play allowed to continue in the background giving the Eagles the edge over their undermanned opponent.

By the time the squads were even again, the team from the west had pulled a further six points in front. The Demons added a late goal from an opportunistic left foot snap from Anderson to again draw back to within nine points, but the Montréal team’s grasp was slipping from an Eagles squad looking set to take flight.  

The Demon’s Kyle Graham had been the game’s standout player up until the last quarter, but it was Nick Robidoux, allegedly seen selling tickets at three-quarter-time to his own personal football clinic, that stole the limelight in the final term.

The Eagles opened their wings in the last and hit top gear running all over a tired and injury plagued Demons’ squad. Robidoux put in a stellar performance up front, slamming home four last quarter goals to finish with five for the afternoon, Langevin adding his second in an equally impressive display as the Eagles sailed home by 40 points. Demons 6.8 (44) to Eagles 13.6 (84).