The 27-year-old got on the scoresheet and dominated the middle of the park with some nice touches in his side's 3-0 defeat of Richmond.

His coach Paul Harris credited some of the midfielder's turn in form to the return of technical director Ian Dobson to the club.

"I think he [Dobson] has brought out the best of a number of players within the squad. I'd say Hockless included - I think he has been terrific, a standout, in the second half of the season," Harris said.

"I think Hockless was terrific," he said of the 170cm midfielder's performance on Saturday night.

Midfield rival and Richmond captain Dimitri Tsiaras also praised the Cavaliers midfielder, but insisted the space afforded to Gully's midfield was some of his team's own wrongdoing.

"He was fantastic. He was great," the Eagles leader said.

"We gave them too much room and that was the problem.

"We were stretched too much in the middle and that gave them time to move and he can do whatever he wants."

Hockless won the Gold Medal in the competition while at Heidelberg United in 2008 and has added another award to his growing cabinet.