Elite athletes are competitive beasts. No matter what the circumstances, going half throttle is not in their DNA.

And that was exemplified in a West Coast Eagles intra-club practice match tonight.

For the most part it seemed the ‘home’ team (wearing the blue strip) was peppered with the bulk of the senior players. Some swapped and changed, but generally the class was in blue.

And the likes of captain Luke Shuey, swingman Liam Duggan, hard-running wingman Andrew Gaff and the explosive Liam Ryan controlled the game.

Shuey was on managed minutes. He had an extensive pre-game warm-up, finished about mid-way through the evening and was clearly best on ground, before taking an early cut. All of his signature moves were on show, dancing this way, dodging that and then pulling the trigger on a bullet to a teammate.

Duggan started in the middle and had plenty of early ball before shifting into defence and doing more of the same.

Gaff accumulated as much ball as he wished and never wasted a disposal while Ryan showed his trademark tricks and athleticism.

Up forward for the blue team, Jack Darling and Oscar Allen dominated while the best of the emerging crop were Josh Rotham and Jarrod Brander, though Brander spoiled his impact by failing to convert a couple of opportunities in front of goal.

Dom Sheed did what Dom Sheed does and worked his way into the contest while first year players Luke Edwards and Isiah Winder had some good moments.

So did former Lion Alex Witherden, who played on both sides, while Zac Langdon’s defensive pressure was evident.

While the stars were on show on the ground, there were also a few on the balcony with Tim Kelly, Josh Kennedy, Jeremy McGovern, Elliot Yeo and Nic Naitanui among those watching the action unfold.

The ball zipped around impressively and without doubt would have been even more electrifying with those quality players in action.  

The good news was that there were no injuries of note.

Next week, the Eagles will play an inter-club practice match against Fremantle.