It was an early start as players, coaches and staff congregated at Perth Airport before 6am to board various flights to the State's Mid-West. While the likes of Paddy Brophy, Kurt Mutimer, Tarir Bayok, Josh Rotham, Luke Partington and Tom Gorter ventured to Port Hedland, Karratha and Newman, the majority of the club's squad touched down in Geraldton just after 7.45am.
Almost immediately after checking into the team's hotel, local heroes Josh Kennedy and Jamie Cripps jumped in a car and made a 50km journey to their home town of Northampton. Cripps and Kennedy, who were joined by Mark LeCras, dropped into Northampton District Senior High School and made an appearance at their primary school, St Mary's.
Back in Geraldton, senior coach Adam Simpson joined Andrew Gaff, Brad Sheppard, Jackson Nelson and Lewis Jetta at Allendale Primary School. After answering some tricky questions from students and the press, Gaff met with the Mayor of Geraldton, Shane Van Styn, and posed for a photo with two local police officers.
Meanwhile, boom recruit Sam Mitchell, All Australian defender Jeremy McGovern and midfielder Dom Sheed stopped by to visit the residents of Hillcrest Lodge. The boys arrived just in time to help one special resident, Marjorie Bentley, celebrate her 90th birthday.
Eagles captain and Foodbank amabassador Shannon Hurn also took some time out of his busy day to venture out to Foodbank Geraldton. After a quick press conference with local and national media outlets, Hurn and Chris Masten signed autographs for volunteers and local children at the charitable organisation's new facility.
The club capped off day one with a not so quick visit to Queens Super IGA. Brownlow medallist Matt Priddis and 2016 draftee Daniel Venables caught up with staff before signing autographs of local fans for more than an hour.
