Where are the West Coast Eagles at?

[Mitch1Brown]

Where are the Eagles as a team. They obviously can't compare to the top 6-8 teams in the comp on a consistent basis. We can, on our day, absolutely demolish bottom 6 teams and are competitive (most of the time) against middle of the table teams.

- Key players often don't perform to high standards and they dish up rubbish (against North Melbourne) or good footy (against Gold Coast, Collingwood). This is very frustrating and hard to get my head around.

- Fitness? I used to think it was good, now i don't know

- We made a Preliminary final and top 4 with this list back in 2011, is that as far as it goes? Fallen of a cliff since the start of 2013.

Do we rebuild?
Is this list good enough?

What are your thoughts on the downfall and future?

 

[rEALdEAL86]

Its mind blowing but i still think they got found out last year and woosha didnt change up the gameplan, this year i think its to do with a new coach comming in plus players not putting in enough effort...its abit of a transition period

 

[Smotie]

Our ruck stocks are awesome.
Forward and defences are very good.
We have a pint sized slow midfield which gets exposed against the better sides.
We also have very shallow depth due to the wide gap in quality versus experience. We have a number of young kids that could be very good but they are inexperienced right now and some may not be ready and we have older ones (ala Butler) that kill it in the WAFL but in the AFL they are very average.

We need a midfield rebuild and we need it fast. We may need to go backwards for that to happen but we are already mid table and may as well get some experience in the kids to build our depth and cull the list of a number of poor players.

 

[Mitch1Brown]

I think the coaching, as much of a legend woosha is, is better than last year and the players have a better understanding of they need to do. I agree with the midfield, they just aren't good enough. Unfortunately the power-forwards we have can't really have good games if the midfield can't give it to them. I would like to see how we go against Sydney, see then how many kids we play on the back of that performance.

 

[ziad]

all good less mids and fast small forward.

 

[Masto]

Botton line: we are no where near a premiership. How do we get back to one? We need a plan - people will argue about the best plan but ATM I see little evidence of any plan. If they have one, they are hiding it very well.

 

[Smotie]

Botton line: we are no where near a premiership. How do we get back to one? We need a plan - people will argue about the best plan but ATM I see little evidence of any plan. If they have one, they are hiding it very well.

Put any of the top eight mids in our team and we win this years premiership. Except the ruckmen of course.
Put our mids in any top eight team and they become mid table teams.

The plan is to change our midfield asap.

Selwood, Masten, Priddis, Rosa, Hutchings and Gaff as a combined unit will not win us a premiership.
Maybe 3 of those with another 2 quality mids would help us win one.

 

[bzparkes]

If we'd kicked straighter we'd have likely won 5 extra games and everyone would be talking about how much we've improved... I don't think we're that far off but yes, our midfield does need improvement.

 

[Eastern Rangers]

Downfall? started in 2007. This year is better than a lot of the years we've had since then.

 

[Masto]

Put any of the top eight mids in our team and we win this years premiership. Except the ruckmen of course.
Put our mids in any top eight team and they become mid table teams.

The plan is to change our midfield asap.

Selwood, Masten, Priddis, Rosa, Hutchings and Gaff as a combined unit will not win us a premiership.
Maybe 3 of those with another 2 quality mids would help us win one.

That's a little simplistic. Our forward line is one dimensional, we lack a genuine ground level threat. It could certainly improve. The backline still leaks easy goals at times and I think there are several teams who rebound the ball more quickly and in more dangerous positions.

 

[HeaveHo_WeBlow]

We are 11th. /thread

 

[Daveismad]

Probably about where we belong

Look at the top sides ...they have what we don't

Great midfield

You can't make the top 4 on consistent basis without depth in the midfield

Swans, freo , hawks and port ....all depth in the midfield and pace

 

[matt_bas]

I don't think people have enough faith in the club. If I recall correctly Sumich was all but guaranteed the job, along comes Simpson and blows the selection panel away. Simpson inherited this list, he's had no imput on any players from draft period or trade period. He has great forwards, great rucks and great defence. But the midfield lets us down every week. He would obviously know that the current midfield will not get us to a premiership. Let's see what he does with the team in the offseason. As for where we are at now. Were a mid table team, too good for the bottom half, not good enough for the top half.

 

[Prem87]

Our club has fallen away since 2007 - we've become mediocre on the field and off.

 

[Daveismad]

It lags speed

We play 11 home games on an oval 176 meters long

Look at our history ...when we had a good midfield and it had pace we won flags

It's that simple

A great midfield made Quentin lynch look like a really good forward .....

Ok we did make top 4 two years ago......well I reckon that was a low year for good teams ....but it soon got exposed ...teams get us on the spread ...we can compete for long periods however we get torched on the counter attack

Our recruitment of indigenous players has been terrible ....I'm sorry but woosha didn't like recruiting aboriginal players ....and right now that's what we are missing

Or maybe the ones we have didn't develop because of poor coaching/mentoring

It's something that needs addressing

 

[erbenz]

We're at Subiaco Oval for training, administrative purposes and Home games, though occasionally we venture to pre-season grounds for NAB Cup, Leederville Oval for Pre-Season training, City Beach for recovery and now are using Lathlain Park for functions foreshadowing our move there in a few years time. Additionally we will be at Burswood by 2017/18 if all goes according to plan with the new stadium.

On away games we are at a variety of ground across the country, most often in Melbourne (MCG, Etihad), Sydney (Spotless Stadium, SCG), Queensland (Metricon Stadium, The Gabba), as well as Adelaide Oval and a range of boutique grounds we don't really get to aside from York Park/Aurora Stadium in Launceston Tasmania.

During the off-season, the club's on-field activities are based mainly at McGilvray while the players holiday in locations as diverse as the United States, Europe, Bali, Cervantes and some just keep training, back at Subiaco.

I hope this answers your question. Please PM me if you have further queries or others locations the Eagles are at.

PS: Poster Doughboy has just informed me that the players also dedicate part of their nutrition program to San Churros in Subiaco, which may explain our inability to run out games. Nevertheless, the Eagles are at San Churros as well. Thanks for this.

PPS: Beutbrute correctly pointed out that there is an Eagle at Wooroloo, and I daresay that the players and support staff have been visiting Muzza, so the Eagles (not just an Eagle) are definitely at Wooroloo as well. Chicky and Kerr have probably been lucky to avoid the place, so it's probably overdue that we are there at the present moment.

 

[Doughboy]

We're at Subiaco Oval for training, administrative purposes and Home games, though occasionally we venture to pre-season grounds for NAB Cup, Leederville Oval for Pre-Season training, City Beach for recovery and now are using Lathlain Park for functions foreshadowing our move there in a few years time. Additionally we will be at Burswood by 2017/18 if all goes according to plan with the new stadium.

On away games we are at a variety of ground across the country, most often in Melbourne (MCG, Etihad), Sydney (Spotless Stadium, SCG), Queensland (Metricon Stadium, The Gabba), as well as Adelaide Oval and a range of boutique grounds we don't really get to aside from York Park/Aurora Stadium in Launceston Tasmania.

During the off-season, the club's on-field activities are based mainly at McGilvray while the players holiday in locations as diverse as the United States, Europe, Bali, Cervantes and some just keep training, back at Subiaco.

I hope this answers your question. Please PM me if you have further queries.

The squad also gets it's nutrition advice at San churros, Subiaco

 

[erbenz]

The squad also gets it's nutrition advice at San churros, Subiaco

Noted and amended, thank you.

 

[dajesmac]

I think the focus needs to shift from 2013-15 to 2016-19.

We've got part of a solid nucleus - strong KPPs and some quality role players. The biggest issue with our list is that our primary midfielders are average to decent players - the same can't be said for any of the top 8 sides. Average recruiting (often conservative) and additional circumstances beyond our control have led to this (GC's inception, Swift and Stevens pussying out, etc).

Free Agency or trades are probably not the answer. We should probably start looking to develop a 2018 midfield consisting of:

Shuey (28)
Gaff (26)
Yeo (25)
Sheed (23)
Waterman (22)
Pick ~8 (22) - Jordan De Goey?
Masten (29)
Wellingham (30)
Selwood - tagger (28)

 

[SpaceClef]

Been through this all before but basically I reckon it all comes down to not making the most of our early draft picks since 2007.

You expect to get a dominant player with a selection in the first 3 or 4 picks. Anything less is a fail.

Out of your picks in the first two rounds you expect every second player to be someone who could fit into a premiership quality side after a reasonable period of development, given they stay uninjured.

With the remaining picks and rookies, you'd be happy if a quarter made it to your best 22.

That's for your average (not Melbourne Demons) side. Premiership teams get lucky with higher hit rates in later rounds, savvy trading of star players, and rare talents like Judd that somehow lift the quality of every other player in the side.

Without going through pick by pick, because other posters have done that elsewhere already, we've been way below par in this regard. Whether or not that's because of bad luck, bad recruiting or bad development, I'm not sure.

We didn't make the most of our terrible years, with a limited player in Gaff our reward for a wooden spoon (also screwed over by the GC concessions), and an enigmatic ruckman for finishing second bottom (let's face it - he is capable of genius and an absolute top shelf bloke, but you don't build a team around a ruckman). Compensation for losing a Brownlow medalist was not capitalised on. Then there was a top 10 pick used on Sheppard.

Our 20-30 picks in the same time as we know have provided us with far more misses than hits.

Forget the coaching or Priddis or the debacle that was not renewing Bradd Dalziell's contract - surely the main reason we are stagnant is because of our drafting (and then secondarily our development)?

 

[SpaceClef]

I think the focus needs to shift from 2013-15 to 2016-19.

We've got part of a solid nucleus - strong KPPs and some quality role players. The biggest issue with our list is that our primary midfielders are average to decent players - the same can't be said for any of the top 8 sides. Average recruiting (often conservative) and additional circumstances beyond our control have led to this (GC's inception, Swift and Stevens pussying out, etc).

Free Agency or trades are probably not the answer. We should probably start looking to develop a 2018 midfield consisting of:

Shuey (28)
Gaff (26)
Yeo (25)
Sheed (23)
Waterman (22)
Pick ~8 (22) - Jordan De Goey?
Masten (29)
Wellingham (30)
Selwood - tagger (28)

We'd want to be pushing for a flag considering: Le Cras (31), Kennedy (30), Hurn (30), Mackenzie (30), Priddis (33)

 

[dajesmac]

We'd want to be pushing for a flag considering: Le Cras (31), Kennedy (30), Hurn (30), Mackenzie (30), Priddis (33)

Haha love the sneaky Priddis inclusion.

But yes. We may also have a Matera and Jake Waterman in the mix .

 

[Double the Fist]

Our ruck stocks are awesome.
Forward and defences are very good.
We have a pint sized slow midfield which gets exposed against the better sides.
We also have very shallow depth due to the wide gap in quality versus experience. We have a number of young kids that could be very good but they are inexperienced right now and some may not be ready and we have older ones (ala Butler) that kill it in the WAFL but in the AFL they are very average.

We need a midfield rebuild and we need it fast. We may need to go backwards for that to happen but we are already mid table and may as well get some experience in the kids to build our depth and cull the list of a number of poor players.

/thread

 

[Beutbrute]

We're at Subiaco Oval for training, administrative purposes and Home games, though occasionally we venture to pre-season grounds for NAB Cup, Leederville Oval for Pre-Season training, City Beach for recovery and now are using Lathlain Park for functions foreshadowing our move there in a few years time. Additionally we will be at Burswood by 2017/18 if all goes according to plan with the new stadium.

On away games we are at a variety of ground across the country, most often in Melbourne (MCG, Etihad), Sydney (Spotless Stadium, SCG), Queensland (Metricon Stadium, The Gabba), as well as Adelaide Oval and a range of boutique grounds we don't really get to aside from York Park/Aurora Stadium in Launceston Tasmania.

During the off-season, the club's on-field activities are based mainly at McGilvray while the players holiday in locations as diverse as the United States, Europe, Bali, Cervantes and some just keep training, back at Subiaco.

I hope this answers your question. Please PM me if you have further queries or others locations the Eagles are at.

PS: Poster Doughboy has just informed me that the players also dedicate part of their nutrition program to San Churros in Subiaco, which may explain our inability to run out games. Nevertheless, the Eagles are at San Churros as well. Thanks for this.

Does Wooroloo deserve an honourable mention??

 

[West Coast Weasel]

Rebuild, albeit off field. Our gameday coaches, fitness and skills coach/assistant stocks need to be improved. The sooner we get to the new stadium the better, its getting painful forking out money and sitting in the cold only to watch us get spanked at the 'G or Etihad. We need to be able to play on the smaller ovals. The less said about our current problems in the middle the better...

I also think we dug ourselves into a corner by aligning with East Perth, especially if our rookies can't get game time against other players in the 2's.