JUST as it did 12 months ago, West Coast is making the longest trip in the AFL to start the season against the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba on Saturday night.

In 2009, the Eagles gave the home team the fright of its life before the Lions clicked into gear and ran out winners.

With an electric five-goal first half from Mark LeCras, West Coast jumped to a 38-point lead during the second quarter before the Lions stormed home to win by nine points.

This time around, the teams have a number of new faces.

Bradd Dalziell and Brent Staker have swapped jumpers after the pair were traded in the off-season, while the Lions have also recruited the experience of Brendan Fevola, Amon Buchanan and Andrew Raines.

Glass against Fevola, Black and Kerr in the middle and 2008 top-10 draftees Nic Naitanui and Daniel Rich on the field together should make for an exciting opening-round clash.

2010 to date
Read what you like into the pre-season, but West Coast has winning form on the board. And after saluting in four of their last five matches in 2009, confidence should not be a problem for the Eagles.

They took care of Essendon first-up in the NAB Cup before being humbled by Port Adelaide in round two. Since then, they have beaten Carlton and Melbourne in NAB Challenge matches and shown some good signs on the way.

Youngsters Mitch Brown and Naitanui have shown god signs, while Kerr has also strapped the boots on and appears ready to roll.

The coach
Now in his ninth season as West Coast coach, John Worsfold has seen just about seen everything. The Eagles made the finals each year under his reign until winning the premiership in 2006.

But when Chris Judd and Ben Cousins departed prior to the 2008 season, ‘Woosha’ had to rebuild the team he once captained.

After two seasons of struggle, the toughness he displayed as a player is again coming through in the team he coaches.

The gun
The midfield or key forwards usually attract the attention, but West Coast captain and fullback Darren Glass is his team’s gun.

Glass won the Eagles’ best and fairest last season and has forged a reputation for stopping the game’s best key big men. He is likely to take Lions’ new recruit Fevola on Saturday night, but he has also spent time on captain Jonathan Brown in the past.

Whichever man Glass goes to will certainly need to be on his game because the Eagle is rarely beaten with his combination of brute strength and speed off the mark.

The sleeper
With 58 goals last season, Mark LeCras the small forward was an unlucky omission from the All-Australian team in 2009.

In his one appearance against the Lions, he had a night out, booting six goals at the Gabba.

The nimble right-footer may spend more time in the middle this season but you can bet Lions coach Michael Voss will be putting his tightest defender or tagger on the talented Eagle.

The bolter
While everyone gets excited about Nic Naitanui and his incredible athletic ability, there’s another recent high draft pick who is ready to explode.

Chris Masten was taken at number three in the 2007 draft, but after his first year was dogged by osteitis pubis, the 20-year-old showed some promising signs in 2009. With 19 games last season and further progression from his injury, it is expected Masten will improve even more.

He knows how to find the ball in the middle of the ground and should be able to get more penetration with his kicking this season.

Strengths
The Eagles have an exceptional centre square set-up led by arguably the game’s best ruckman, Dean Cox.

Cox missed the end of last season with a groin injury but his tap work is superb and his combination with Daniel Kerr is second to none in the league.

Throw in Matt Priddis and Masten and you’re starting to get a centre square team to be reckoned with.

The Lions' choice of rucks will be crucial in deciding this contest. Charman and Leuenberger can match Cox at the ball-ups, but Mitch Clark is best suited to match him around the ground.

Weaknesses
Unless the Eagles’ midfield contributes on the scoreboard, it’s hard to see them kicking a winning score.

LeCras is their best target and showed many times last season he was capable of carrying them. Youngster Mitch Brown is also a prospect while Josh Kennedy is more than capable of multiple goals.

They surprised the Lions in round one last season but if the home team’s back six can knuckle down, it will go a long way towards victory.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily of the clubs or the AFL.