Watching from the sidelines during a tough stretch for the team wasn’t easy for Dom Sheed, but the important midfielder passed his first test with flying colours on return against Richmond.
An emerging leader within the West Coast squad, Sheed was forced out for a month due to a throat issue following an innocuous training incident after the round three RAC Derby.
But the 28-year-old kept his fitness base at a high level and picked up where he left off at the MCG on Saturday, collecting 29 disposals with nine clearances and 361 metres gained.
“Felt good. The thing about my throat was I was able to keep on training and keep my training loads up. I just wasn't able to get contact there for the last month,” Sheed said.
“I felt connected to the boys. It was hard watching him for the sitting on the sidelines for a month, but it was good to be back out there, finally.
“There's not much you can do apart from give it time and heal. The risk was if I went out and played again and copped another knock, then I'd need surgery potentially and that that's obviously very dangerous.
“It just needed those extra few weeks just to recover and running out now there's always going to be an element of risk, but it feels really good and I got the tick off from the surgeon to keep playing, which was nice.”
The Eagles were left lamenting a drop-off in the third quarter against the Tigers, who surged clear after Jack Darling’s goal put West Coast up by a point nearing time-on.
Dion Prestia kicked three goals in a row to inspire the Tigers to a 46-point victory.
“Once again, it was just a little patch in the third quarter which let us down,” Sheed said.
“We've got a lot of young players who are still learning and it could be a concentration thing. We messed up a few structures and stuff like that.
“But it wasn't just the younger players, it was the leaders, including myself, I was part of the problem.
“We just need to stick together, work on our deficiencies and hopefully we can get four quarters on Friday night.”
The Eagles host Gold Coast at Optus Stadium in round nine and are wary of the Suns following their near-miss against flag fancy Melbourne.
“I think they're very good in the contest. So that's going to be the main thing,” Sheed said.
“That's our focus week-in, week-out is to win the contest and get the ball in our front half.
“But they've had a few good wins and they're up and about at the moment, I think they lost on the weekend, but lost by less than a kick to arguably the best team in the competition.
“It's going to be tough, but it's a Friday night game so the boys will get up for that and hopefully our fans can come out support us and, fingers crossed, we can do everything right and get four points.”
