THE West Coast Eagles have shared the picture they sent to their banned star Andrew Gaff after his mammoth punishment for punching a fellow player.
MINUTES after his AFL club pinched victory, suspended West Coast star Andrew Gaff’s mobile phone buzzed.
It was his joyous Eagles teammates, sending him a snapshot of their celebratory scenes in the Adelaide Oval rooms.
Gaff watched on television in Melbourne as his teammate Jeremy McGovern kicked a goal after the final siren to steal a four-point win over Port Adelaide on Saturday.
“We sent him a photo of the boys after the game in the rooms,” Eagles coach Adam Simpson said.
Gaff was banned for eight games for a strike which broke the jaw of Fremantle’s Andrew Brayshaw in last Sunday’s West Australian derby.
“It was a big week for the club,” Simpson said after West Coast’s 9.8 (62) to 9.4 (58) win over Port.
“To lose Andrew like we did — and it was a six-day break — part of me felt it was good to get away (from Perth).
"We took this photo and sent it to Gaffy right after the game, I think our supporters would like to see it."
“But yeah, it took us right to the line to move on from it.
Simpson said the club had no other choice.
“We have got to be resilient, don’t we. We haven’t got him now,” he said. “The whole week, it was emotional, it was a big week for everyone. “Andrew has accepted that his actions were poor. And we will do everything we can to get him in the right headspace in the coming weeks. “But I think as an industry we just move on. We know what kind of bloke he is so we’ll just move on.” The second-placed Eagles are now assured of a top-four spot entering the finals.
Another win in their remaining matches, against Melbourne at home and Brisbane away, will secure second spot and coveted home-ground rights for their first final.