ANY TIME you defeat the reigning premiers is going to be a highlight of the season, and although we recognised West Coast was missing some quality players, the Eagles have still been the top team in the competition this year, having lost just one match before round nine.

So for us to be able to gain the four points over West Coast last Saturday at our home-away-from-home was extremely pleasing. As a developing team, it's important we start beating top four and top eight teams, so to win the way we did in Launceston was a feather in our cap.

The performance of Luke Hodge against the Eagles was outstanding. The game was a genuine arm-wrestle until he cut loose in the third quarter with three classy goals from five shots at goal. We used him down back and up forward during the match, but he really controlled the play and I thought he was best-on-ground.

Stephen Gilham was again a fine player for us down back. He has been vastly-underrated outside of the club this season, but from our point-of-view, Stephen has been a fantastic addition to our team with his defensive and offensive work. He is a good decision-maker, doesn't make scatterbrain errors and is very solid.

Stephen has been a late developer, but he was a very good junior player, captaining the Vic Metro team, and he was a high draft selection – he was taken at No.16 in the 2002 NAB AFL Draft by Port Adelaide.

It's taken a while for him to develop physically as a key position player, while he also had his fair share of injuries, but "Clarko" knew him through their Port Adelaide days and since we gave Stephen an opportunity he hasn't let us down at any stage.

A lot has been said about our first-round draft selections and we've still got a great smattering of kids coming through from those picks, like Xavier Ellis, Beau Dowler, Beau Muston, Mitch Thorp, Brent Renouf and Max Bailey – outstanding young talent who are going to be great players for us – but we've also found a number of unsung players like Gilham, Ben McGlynn, Clinton Young and Brad Sewell via our rookie list.

So to win down in Tasmania without Sam Mitchell, Shane Crawford and Lance Franklin starring was a step in the right direction for our club. We didn't have to rely on our bigger name players. And with Mark Williams out injured, we are still able to kick a winning score.

We're really pleased with the state of our list at the moment, with plenty of players putting their hands up for selection with good form for Box Hill. That's a really good sign for us, considering we are about to enter the second half of the season.

This Sunday we take on Port Adelaide, another challenge for us. The Power has started very well this year and it will be a great test for us to win on the road, as we were unable to win in Brisbane or Perth this year. We'd like to take the next step and defeat Port Adelaide on its home turf.