Allen, too, had a grievance. One of the few leaders who had stood up during Adam Simpson’s disastrous last two-and-a-half seasons, he had believed a long-term deal was coming his way at the start of last year before a knee injury put him on the sidelines for three months.

In what was a tough year for Allen – his fiancee Lorna McNabb’s father died around the same time – he felt let down by the club.

Barrass was successfully wooed by Mitchell midway through 2024 and his arrival at Hawthorn has left Mitchell’s recruiting team in no doubt that West Coast, with their new management team and untested rookie coach, was vulnerable to another raid.

This followed the club’s decision to deviate from the strategy put in place three years ago by the board to go back to the draft.

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Instead, the Eagles brought in Liam Baker and Jack Graham from Richmond and Matt Owies from Carlton in a series of deals which saw their first draft pick fall from No.3 to No.12 and – weirdly – choose Hawthorn’s future first-round pick over Carlton’s.

Mitchell must feel dreadful for Allen, who has now become the poster boy for captains deserting their teams.

The Hawks remain publicly unapologetic, even if football boss Rob McCartney contacted the Eagles, and captain James Sicily reinforced that view on Friday, but the club and their audacious raid on West Coast has harmed Allen in the eyes of supporters.

That Mitchell and his not-so-secret recruiting weapon and wife Lyndall met Allen and McNabb in a private house did not prevent the incident being exposed after an airport sighting.

The purpose of the meeting was to ascertain whether or not the Hawks were a realistic chance and should prepare a deal for Allen, but the exposure has blown up that plan.

Allen might not be the first – think Leigh Colbert, and Tom Lynch and Steven May to name three – but the timing and the accidental public nature of last week’s meeting embarrassed him and drew criticism from footy traditionalists and a long line of respected retired captains.

And still he remains in contractual limbo, which makes you wonder whether the club truly wants to keep the player who is struggling for form and yet who has stood up as one of the Eagles’ strongest competitors in recent years.

Coach-turned-CEO Don Pyke frankly sounded more like a coach when he appeared on Perth radio on Tuesday. His response to the Mitchell meeting, which he said was “news to us”, was pragmatic to the point of wishy-washy. It’s difficult to imagine Greg Swann, Trevor Nisbett or Brendon Gale being so measured.

West Coast supporters, who should be seriously wondering about the direction in which their club is heading, wanted something stronger than Pyke’s blithe acceptance that a club captain meeting a rival coach (who used to work for the club) after just three rounds of football is just an example of where the game is heading.

Hopefully behind the scenes the Eagles, having not got mad, are getting even. But instead of publicly throwing the book at Hawthorn, Pyke and his team kept their powder dry.

Instead, they threw Allen to the wolves.

Having made their unsigned co-captain the public scapegoat, the once powerful West Coast Eagles should have instead turned the mirror on themselves.