WEST Coast coach for the day, Peter Sumich, says he spared his side a spray after a poor first half, but it was a far better-looking outfit after half time that put paid to Collingwood in Albany on Saturday afternoon.

The Magpies lead at the half by four points, but West Coast kicked five unanswered goals in the third term to build a match-winning lead.

Sumich said the stats told the story of where the Eagles went wrong in the first hour.

"I suppose in the first half we over-used the footy a little bit, and got ourselves into trouble," he said. "In the second half, we were just a bit more free-flowing and got the ball inside 50.

"I thought [Brent] Staker and Jaymie Graham and Seabs (Mark Seaby) and Coxy (Dean Cox) up there were great, and got some results.

"We don't give bakes any more, I think that's gone. We just assessed it at half time, and we were just probably overusing the footy, especially with the handball. I think we had 70-odd handballs in the second quarter, which is well up there, nearly a record, I suppose, so we did overuse it."

Sumich said he was impressed with several of the younger players.

"I think young [Scott] Selwood and Brad Ebert, [Jamie] McNamara, they were great, [Mitch] Brown down back on [Anthony] Rocca was terrific, so from the club's point of view, we're rapt with the younger kids."
At the other end of the spectrum, midfield  veterans Michael Braun and Andrew Embley played their first games of the year, and Sumich said he was happy with both, given the holes the midfield has to fill this season.

"Braun is probably ahead of time, he wasn't expected to play this week, so for him to get roughly 65-70 minutes was great, and I think he's an important player to us. And of course, Andrew Embley is a great player and the run will do him good."

While Ash Hansen will miss next week's game in Alice Springs with the hamstring tightness that saw him sit out the second half against Collingwood, Sumich said skipper Darren Glass, starting midfielders Tyson Stenglein and Matt Priddis, Adam Hunter, Quinten Lynch and Adam Selwood were all likely to play next week. Daniel Kerr's hamstring tear could seem him miss all competitive games before round one.