West Coast

[mjp]

Re: West Coast

No no, he has the full support of the board.

Well, knowing the Eagles board they've probably all been investing in pop-corn in preparation for the expected rise in sales.

West Coast members cheering Simpson every time he appeared on the big screen in the last home game is the most bat-shit crazy thing I have ever seen. The majority of them support the club re-affirming his position and believe "no-one could have done any better" and the plight of the club was 100% dictated by the injuries. They will tell you that in several games this year they had to name players as emergency who were unfit to play - the AFL mandated they MUST name emergencies and they simply had no fit players available.

I actually don't get it. This club was ruthless and once sacked a coach who MADE THE FINALS in his only year in charge...now? All they care about is dollar signs.

[Twodogs]

Re: West Coast

If you're curious about how things are going at West Coast - REALLY - check the WAFL scores from today.

https://wafl.com.au/match/league-eas...-round-12-2023

At least they won the hit outs.

[Jasper]

Re: West Coast

Well, knowing the Eagles board they've probably all been investing in pop-corn in preparation for the expected rise in sales.

West Coast members cheering Simpson every time he appeared on the big screen in the last home game is the most bat-shit crazy thing I have ever seen. The majority of them support the club re-affirming his position and believe "no-one could have done any better" and the plight of the club was 100% dictated by the injuries. They will tell you that in several games this year they had to name players as emergency who were unfit to play - the AFL mandated they MUST name emergencies and they simply had no fit players available.

I actually don't get it. This club was ruthless and once sacked a coach who MADE THE FINALS in his only year in charge...now? All they care about is dollar signs.

Every club must have them.

[ledge]

Re: West Coast

Is it a Thompson/Hardwick moment where they keep him and have a dynasty ?

[GVGjr]

Re: West Coast

West Coast to search far and wide for next list boss

Arguably the most important role at West Coast is the one the Eagles are still yet to fill.

The Eagles have cast the net far and wide in search of their next list manager to replace long-time servant Rohan O’Brien in an off-season defined by change. Indeed, a club that has been criticised in recent seasons for confusing stability with stagnation has spent the past few months transforming at warp speed.

Chief executive Don Pyke was the Eagles’ first key appointment, starting his new role last week. West Coast has also endured significant change to its playing list, losing Nic Naitanui, Luke Shuey and Shannon Hurn to retirement.

The Eagles voted in new co-captains before Christmas, Oscar Allen and Liam Duggan, and also welcomed two new faces to its strength and conditioning department, adding Collingwood strength and conditioning coach Paul Turk and former Western Bulldogs high performance coach Matt Inness.

Still, despite those changes, West Coast’s most crucial portfolio remains unoccupied.

O’Brien, whose tenure at the Eagles spanned 33 years, stepped down in December after overseeing West Coast’s trade period and draft.

He was the club’s third list manager since 2019 – Brady Rawlings left the role to head back to his former club North Melbourne and Darren Glass left mid-pandemic a year later to pursue business interests outside of football.

The lack of consistency is part of the reason why West Coast was caught napping and left with a bottom four list.

The Eagles’ list is at a critical juncture. Finally, after two gruelling years, they have managed to introduce some high-end talent, notably No. 1 pick Harley Reid a year after adding first round selections Reuben Ginbey and Elijah Hewett.

Yet West Coast still only has four top 10 picks on its list heading into 2024, the equal-lowest total in the competition. The Eagles have also sought to address a dearth of players in their mid-20s to drive the club’s rebuild, with spearhead Allen the main one putting his hand up in that age group to bridge the gap between veterans and draftees.

It’s no longer a list in freefall.

But it still needs significant work.

Realistically, West Coast’s list is at least another draft and some shrewd list management away from premiership contention again, which further emphasises the need for someone with a defined vision.

While the club’s decision to advertise the position on Seek may raise some eyebrows, in reality, it’s the sign of an organisation that wants to spread the widest possible net to attract the best possible candidate.

That said, as is often the case with such moves, the Eagles probably already have a fair idea of what their shortlist might look like and GWS recruiting boss Adrian Caruso, Richmond recruiting manager Matthew Clark and Adelaide list consultant Binuk Kodituwakku have already been linked to the club.

Two names that won’t be on it, though, are Simon Dalrymple and Matt Rosa.

Lauded for what he was able to achieve as football operations boss at Peel Thunder, Rosa was recruited by Essendon as the club’s next AFL talent and operations manager, replacing long-time Bombers recruiter Adrian Dodoro. And Dalrymple, previously Sydney’s national recruiting manager Dalrymple, headed to St Kilda in late December.

West Coast had conversations with Dalrymple throughout 2023 about the prospect of joining the Eagles, however the club didn’t have a firm role to offer him at that point given that O’Brien only made his decision in December.

One of the architects behind the Western Bulldogs’ 2016 premiership squad, notably taking Marcus Bontempelli with pick four and Aaron Naughton at nine, Dalrymple also found diamonds in the rough in Chad Warner (pick 39), James Rowbottom (25) and Justin McInerney (44) at Sydney.

The Eagles would love someone capable of nailing those late picks, akin to cross-town rival and Dockers list boss David Walls.

The Eagles have time to find them, given they won’t need to make their next list management decision until the mid-season draft and only if a player suffers a significant injury.

What West Coast needs is a forward-thinking list manager, who can pick holes and identify strengths before they develop and who can eke every available ounce of talent out of what’s already available.

The fate of West Coast’s planned turnaround in fortunes depends on it.

[ledge]

Re: West Coast

They also have huge problems with injuries .
It’s been a huge issue since Covid.
Do they train on a ground too hard .. like us and skinner reserve ?

[GVGjr]

Re: West Coast

They also have huge problems with injuries .
It’s been a huge issue since Covid.
Do they train on a ground too hard .. like us and skinner reserve ?

Possibly they've gone too hard with long term contracts that have bitten them hard.
They're rich enough to fix any issues with the ground.

[Happy Days]

Re: West Coast

How aren’t they still a list in free fall? They only added one guy (two with Brockman I guess).

[mjp]

Re: West Coast

They also have huge problems with injuries .
It’s been a huge issue since Covid.
Do they train on a ground too hard .. like us and skinner reserve ?

Lathlain Park (where they train) is ELITE!

They shipped in the same grass used on the MCG to create the playing surface...

To be fair, I moved clubs last year and am not at the same training base as them any more but they train at an amazing venue.

[ledge]

Re: West Coast

Lathlain Park (where they train) is ELITE!

They shipped in the same grass used on the MCG to create the playing surface...

To be fair, I moved clubs last year and am not at the same training base as them any more but they train at an amazing venue.

So something is happening that’s causing a lot of injuries . What’s your thoughts on why ?
I don’t think it’s just a bad run.

[Mofra]

Re: West Coast

So something is happening that’s causing a lot of injuries . What’s your thoughts on why ?
I don’t think it’s just a bad run.

List profile and long contracts have something to do with it.
NicNat went around again last year, Yeo is made of tissue paper and Gaff was cooked by the end of 2022.

[ledge]

Re: West Coast

List profile and long contracts have something to do with it.
NicNat went around again last year, Yeo is made of tissue paper and Gaff was cooked by the end of 2022.

Nic Nat would have played about 5 games in his last 3 years . Amazing they kept him so long.

[mjp]

Re: West Coast

So something is happening that’s causing a lot of injuries . What’s your thoughts on why ?
I don’t think it’s just a bad run.

Umm - I guess I have thoughts.

It's basically pretty bad/hard when you're losing to get things together.

1/. Your vets get rested because they become 'critical' - so when they lift the training volume (or play a match) they break.
2/. Their kids get 'fast tracked' cos they need them and they break.
3/. The support players are forced to play in roles they shouldn't (aka can't) and struggle to perform...most of these guys are good soldiers who will then do extras and other stuff trying to raise their performance level and they break.

It's why clubs have injuries in clusters. And when the pressure continues to be 'on' to win actual games of footy, well, the cycle continues..

What can you do? Well, you need a circuit breaker (like you sack the coach) to remove the pressure or you need to win some games or both.

I still remember when Carlton sacked Bolton and installed Teague - who did stuff like recall veterans and stick them around the ball and move the kids out of primary roles to flanks and back to the VFL...they got some continuity and won some games. Proved nothing and potentially compromised Carlton long-term (but gave the supporters hope (and players) and increased Teagues chance of getting a job). Workloads and injuries are very closely linked...

There was a comment in the training thread the other day about 'more running' and one poster commented that they like more running. Well...it's a fine line you walk...and if you push too far over the line it is VERY hard to get things back under control once the injury cycle starts.

[ledge]

Re: West Coast

Be interesting to see our injuries the last 5 years and what the common one is . Do we have more or less than other clubs ?
Is it due to a hard ground as in skinner reserve last season did it go up in that year ? .
I think our injuries are down from the last few years.
And I am talking muscle or training injuries not including collision injuries.

[GVGjr]

Re: West Coast

How much power can West Coast have in the media?

Peter Sumich quits The West Australian after being stopped from publishing Harley Reid column

West Coast champion Peter Sumich has quit his weekly newspaper column after they refused to publish an article criticising boom recruit Harley Reid.

Sumich has been writing for the West Australian for 18 months with the paper promoting him as not holding back and offering an “insightful, no-holds-barred perspective” on all footy matters.

It turns out the two-time premiership spearhead went too hard on the Eagles new golden boy who has been the newspaper’s obsession since he arrived in Perth in December.

“I’m not writing for the West anymore,” Sumich told Media Street.

“I had a bit of a run-in with them. I wanted to put this article in and they reckon I was too harsh.

“It was on Harley Reid, I gave the kid a pump-up and said he is going to be a good player but everyone is carrying on like he’s going to be Chris Judd.

Sumich revealed part of the article focussed on Reid’s body saying he used the term “puppy fat” when describing the No.1 draft pick’s conditioning.

“I said he has got a little bit of puppy fat and he needs to tidy up this and that but that was it,” he said. “Other than that I pumped the kid up, there wasn’t anything disastrous or bad.”

The former Eagles assistant coach said the hype around Reid was over the top.

“He has been here since December or so, let’s say 50 days and I reckon he has been in the paper for 40 of those 50 days.

“And on the back page probably 20 of them . . . seriously c’mon where is WA football going? It’s not a good sign.”

Sumich, who kicked a club record 514 goals from 150 games with the Eagles from 1989-1997, said he feared for his old side’s fortunes in 2024.

“I love the club and I want them to do well but at the moment it is really a basket-case and there is no light at the end of the tunnel on what I saw on Saturday night (against Fremantle),” he said.

“If anyone can tell me any different, well, please. Fremantle are going to be OK, I don’t think they are a top six side yet they put West Coast to the sword without even trying.”