The Lions were bracing for a fierce response from West Coast after a shock loss to Gold Coast in round two and the Eagles didn’t disappoint.

West Coast are considered genuine premiership contenders and the Lions coaching staff knew their side would have to find another gear from the round two victory over Fremantle to make it two wins in a row.

With a midfield full of premiership players, All Australians and club champions and superstar ruckman Nic Naitanui, the battle in the middle of the ground was crucial.

Midfield coach Dale Tapping said the side’s ability to perform strongly in the key areas of the game the Club values highly was a major factor in their 30 point win.

“The contest is one, we knew West Coast were going to be a lot hungrier than their performance the week before,’’ he said.

“It was always going to come off being more competitive around the footy and around the contest

“And it was important for us to match that as a midfield and as a team and I thought we did that pretty well.’’

Tapping said a lot of planning had gone into negating the influence Naitanui might have hoped to exert in the absence of veteran Lion Stef Martin.

He praised the efforts of inexperienced duo Oscar McInerney and Archie Smith against Naitanui and Oscar Allen.

He also said the discipline of the ground level midfielders to stick to a plan was pivotal in the victory.

“The boys in the ruck did a really good job, really competitive with Naitanui and Allen,’’ he said.

“And the boys at ground level really executed a few things we had in place to negate any advantage they may have got, particularly at center bounces.

“I thought our guys did a good job around that.’’

It was the first time McInerney and Smith had partnered each other in the ruck in an AFL game and Tapping said they rose to the occasion.

“It was terrific for Arch to get an opportunity and hopefully he grows from that and really continues to work at his craft and sees there’s an opportunity for him in the team and long term,’’ he said.

“And O just works really hard in games of footy, we have seen that over 18 months.

“Whatever we have set him he will go about doing at his absolute best.

“Both really prepared well for the role and we were really pleased with what the provided against a high-class athlete.’’