West Coast - time for a rebuild?

[FreoGirl]

Seriously unsure why Harley would have something against moving to WA. Absolutely shits on Victoria if you are a young person.
I get family and friends makes it tough but he'd love the life.

Obviously he would consider the current state the list is in though. It would be a major concern because realistically, could be spending the first half of his career in the bottom four.
If he goes to North Melbourne, they are going to be pushing for the eight within 3-5 years time.

Brad Hardie and Jakovich said, "Gone are the days when WCE were a destination club". Why would he want to hang around to prop up a pension fund when there's other young clubs rebuilding without having a bunch of old guys hanging on to their incredible contracts? Jordan Clark grew up supporting WCE but claimed he had nominated Fremantle because they were a younger club, and it had been miserable and isolating being in Geelong where your besty was Selwood. Their best chance of keeping Reid would be if he was surrounded by other Victorian country kids.

Players often "have something against moving to WA" because it's a fish bowl environment. This was why Neale claimed he wanted to move to Brisbane, and why Hogan was unable to cope.

When you only have two teams in a state, you get picked to pieces. At least Melbourne players are protected due to there being many more clubs to be scrutinised. When WCE were doing well, you couldn't pick up the daily newspaper and not read an article on what undies Nic Nat was wearing, or what he thought about climate change. When they started to perform poorly, there were stories about how fat Eliot Yeo has become.

The newspaper here is very cruel and personal. It survives on targeting and bullying football players. The attacks on Luke Jackson, earlier in the year, were unrelenting. They will then hypocritically rn a story on the impact of bullying on young people.

It's amazing that O Henry was able to validate wanting to go to Geelong from Collingwood "just down the road" because he was "homesick".

If Reid was my son, I wouldn't want him moving to WA.

 

[matthew_s]

Brad Hardie and Jakovich said, "Gone are the days when WCE were a destination club".

how ******* stupid. neither freo or the eagles have been a destination club in forever and it has little to do with their ladder position.

both clubs rely heavily on local produce. it's why the eagles overpaid for TK and the dockers overpaid for Jackson.

 

[FreoGirl]

how ******* stupid. neither freo or the eagles have been a destination club in forever and it has little to do with their ladder position.

both clubs rely heavily on local produce. it's why the eagles overpaid for TK and the dockers overpaid for Jackson.

I'm just quoting what Jako and Hardie said on the radio lol Will Brodie is a Victorian who grew up loving Michael Barlow. Freo also picked up Chris Tarrant and Tony Modra. I'm sure there's been players from Victoria/SA who wanted to join WCE.

Both teams have held on to players from other states like Pavlich, Mundy, Schultz, Brayshaw, Cox, Serong, Sturt, Emmett ,Taberner, Corbett, Aish, Brodie, Pearce, Ryan, Switkowski, Treacy, Sean Darcy, Young, Colyer, Wagner, Fredericks, Knobel. Over half of Fremantle's current players are not from WA.

 

[Big_Birdy]

Neither of those sides won 3 of 36 games with an average losing margin of 8 goals.

Melb was 2019 after making the prelim a year prior. They just missed finals in 2017 and 2020. 2021 pies after being a finals side 18-20 and again last year.

Eagles have been diabolically bad since mid 2021, it is one off season. It’s a winning record like that which ended Brendan Bolton at Carlton (4 wins from 43), but even we were more competitive in that stretch than the eagles have been in their last 36 games.

The poster claimed it was more difficult now to rebound up the ladder. It's the same as it ever was post 2000. It may be difficult for us, but claims of a decade in the wilderness are basing opinions on wishes.

 

[Gavin Excell]

Brad Hardie and Jakovich said, "Gone are the days when WCE were a destination club". Why would he want to hang around to prop up a pension fund when there's other young clubs rebuilding without having a bunch of old guys hanging on to their incredible contracts? Jordan Clark grew up supporting WCE but claimed he had nominated Fremantle because they were a younger club, and it had been miserable and isolating being in Geelong where your besty was Selwood. Their best chance of keeping Reid would be if he was surrounded by other Victorian country kids.

Players often "have something against moving to WA" because it's a fish bowl environment. This was why Neale claimed he wanted to move to Brisbane, and why Hogan was unable to cope.

When you only have two teams in a state, you get picked to pieces. At least Melbourne players are protected due to there being many more clubs to be scrutinised. When WCE were doing well, you couldn't pick up the daily newspaper and not read an article on what undies Nic Nat was wearing, or what he thought about climate change. When they started to perform poorly, there were stories about how fat Eliot Yeo has become.

The newspaper here is very cruel and personal. It survives on targeting and bullying football players. The attacks on Luke Jackson, earlier in the year, were unrelenting. They will then hypocritically rn a story on the impact of bullying on young people.

It's amazing that O Henry was able to validate wanting to go to Geelong from Collingwood "just down the road" because he was "homesick".

If Reid was my son, I wouldn't want him moving to WA.

I know Freo have been forever attacked by the West Australian but is the blowtorch on the Eagles relatively new? I had thought perhaps incorrectly that they were rather sycophantic when it came to reporting on WC

 

[Purple Suit]

The poster claimed it was more difficult now to rebound up the ladder. It's the same as it ever was post 2000. It may be difficult for us, but claims of a decade in the wilderness are basing opinions on wishes.

I never mentioned 10 years, I said a very long time but you could be onto something. You're already 2.5 years into your 10 and you haven't hit rock bottom yet. History tells us that any team that is this diabolically bad for an extended time develops scars and a losing mentality. There is no were to hide from it, the players in the two's are getting beaten worse than your AFL team.

You need to turn over the entire list and the same people who have stuffed your drafting and recruiting since 2015 are in charge. You also need a new coach & CEO, although I think acting soon on that would quicken the whole process, instead you'll be doing it in two years and I just can't see you resetting quick enough before Tassie drafts come in.

A lot of pressure will be on Harley Reid coming over here.

 

[Forward Press]

Player	Contracted until	Games played last two seasons (2022-2023)
Tom Cole	2025	4
Dom Sheed	2025	7
Elliott Yeo	2024	7
Nicholas Natanui	2024	8

Although in retrospect they are poor contracts to have on the books...

• Tom Cole is a premiership winning defender that was reliable in terms of durability and performance
• Dom Sheed is a premiership legend that, if nothing else, was great as a second tier midfielder even if you ignore the 2018 GF
• Elliot Yeo is a critical cog, able to play in the backline and midfield, and offered real grunt in a side that badly needed (and still needs) more contested ball winning ability, and was also reliable like Cole
• Nic Naitanui although coming off two knee reconstructions won All Australian in 2021 and we had no other options that could reliably be the primary ruckman

You'd get credit if you predicted all four would barely get on the park since 2021.

 

[FreoGirl]

I know Freo have been forever attacked by the West Australian but is the blowtorch on the Eagles relatively new? I had thought perhaps incorrectly that they were rather sycophantic when it came to reporting on WC

Up until very recently, the rhetoric has been,”WCE are brave.”

After Freo defeated Hawthorn (and yes it was only Hawthorn), it was hilarious that there was barely a mention.

 

[Purple Suit]

Although in retrospect they are poor contracts to have on the books...

• Tom Cole is a premiership winning defender that was reliable in terms of durability and performance
• Dom Sheed is a premiership legend that, if nothing else, was great as a second tier midfielder even if you ignore the 2018 GF
• Elliot Yeo is a critical cog, able to play in the backline and midfield, and offered real grunt in a side that badly needed (and still needs) more contested ball winning ability, and was also reliable like Cole
• Nic Naitanui although coming off two knee reconstructions won All Australian in 2021 and we had no other options that could reliably be the primary ruckman

You'd get credit if you predicted all four would barely get on the park since 2021.

The Nic Nat one was the worst. 2 years on the back of that horrible season and he had barely played. He publicly stated he wasn't going to be trade bait and wanted to stay in WA so a 1 year deal would have been all that was required and then go again. The club has lost it's ability to make tough decisions.

 

[Big_Birdy]

I never mentioned 10 years, I said a very long time but you could be onto something. You're already 2.5 years into your 10 and you haven't hit rock bottom yet. History tells us that any team that is this diabolically bad for an extended time develops scars and a losing mentality. There is no were to hide from it, the players in the two's are getting beaten worse than your AFL team.

You need to turn over the entire list and the same people who have stuffed your drafting and recruiting since 2015 are in charge. You also need a new coach & CEO, although I think acting soon on that would quicken the whole process, instead you'll be doing it in two years and I just can't see you resetting quick enough before Tassie drafts come in.

A lot of pressure will be on Harley Reid coming over here.

We had 4 picks in the top 20 from 2011 to 2021. 4. And none in the top 10.

That's the cost of us making GFs and winning a flag. There is nothing wrong with our drafting and recruiting.

We don't all have the luxury of being crap all the time and constantly getting high picks.

The entire list does not need to be overhauled. No one looks good when you are losing. Especially kids. We managed to stay up and about for the better part of the decade without a single top ten pick, and a pick in the 20's once every 2.75 years. We will have 4 picks in the top 20 from 2022/23 the way it stands.

Ill back our recruiters and development against pretty much anyone else's.

 

[WillHayward]

Although in retrospect they are poor contracts to have on the books...

• Tom Cole is a premiership winning defender that was reliable in terms of durability and performance
• Dom Sheed is a premiership legend that, if nothing else, was great as a second tier midfielder even if you ignore the 2018 GF
• Elliot Yeo is a critical cog, able to play in the backline and midfield, and offered real grunt in a side that badly needed (and still needs) more contested ball winning ability, and was also reliable like Cole
• Nic Naitanui although coming off two knee reconstructions won All Australian in 2021 and we had no other options that could reliably be the primary ruckman

You'd get credit if you predicted all four would barely get on the park since 2021.

I see your point but I guess list mgt is about overall risk management.
Yes Nicnat has a good year in 2021 but we all know his injury history (he is now 33) so extending until 2023 would have seemed fair at the time.

Look at at Yeo
2020 - 10 games
2021 - 12 games
Feb 2022 - Give him contract extension from 2023 until 2024 - More Sonny days ahead for Freo, another year for gun Eagle
2022 - 5 games
2023 - 2 games

Why did they think it necessary to add on an extra year for him in feb 2022 when he had 2 full seasons remaining on his contract and had just come off 2 seasons where only managed half the games? Its just an odd decision and they could have waited. So i dont accept this is just hindsight talking. There was simply no need to give Yeo an extension when he had 2 full years left remaining. Thats plain odd. Wait 12 months.

 

[matthew_s]

I'm just quoting what Jako and Hardie said on the radio lol

Yes and my comment isnt aimed at you...it's aimed at their comments.

 

[Purple Suit]

We had 4 picks in the top 20 from 2011 to 2021. 4. And none in the top 10.

That's the cost of us making GFs and winning a flag. There is nothing wrong with our drafting and recruiting.

We don't all have the luxury of being crap all the time and constantly getting high picks.

The entire list does not need to be overhauled. No one looks good when you are losing. Especially kids. We managed to stay up and about for the better part of the decade without a single top ten pick, and a pick in the 20's once every 2.75 years. We will have 4 picks in the top 20 from 2022/23 the way it stands.

Ill back our recruiters and development against pretty much anyone else's.

You used those picks for trades, you get a top 20 pick every year or close to it after academy picks. That is on your list management team & a reason you extended your window slightly. It was the 2019 Kelly Trade that really did the damage, right when you needed a refresh.

3 wins from 36 games is historically bad and you think you don't need a overhaul of the list?

 

[Eastern Rangers]

You're already 2.5 years into your 10 and you haven't hit rock bottom yet. History tells us that any team that is this diabolically bad for an extended time develops scars and a losing mentality.

This is the wishful thinking part of it.

West Coast would need a repeat of the last two years, on top of this any upcoming talent and middle of our list would need to not improve.

You could cut Shuey, Hurn, Naitanui & Yeo at year's end and our on field performance would improve simply by having more fit players to choose from.

 

[Big_Birdy]

You used those picks for trades, you get a top 20 pick every year or close to it after academy picks. That is on your list management team & a reason you extended your window slightly. It was the 2019 Kelly Trade that really did the damage, right when you needed a refresh.

3 wins from 36 games is historically bad and you think you don't need a overhaul of the list?

Smart work by the trade and development team those trades. Get in good players. Still find a few diamonds in the rough. Win a flag. That's my point.

The entire list doesn't need overhauling. The list will overhaul naturally with retirements, the extra picks we get (already an extra 2nd and 3rd this year) and delistings. They aren't hard to work out.

For the first time ever Eagles will have top 10 picks in consecutive years to play with. Lets be honest a couple of them are going to be very high. It is a better position than some, especially for a club not starved of success.

 

[Joao]

Smart work by the trade and development team those trades. Get in good players. Still find a few diamonds in the rough. Win a flag. That's my point.

The entire list doesn't need overhauling. The list will overhaul naturally with retirements, the extra picks we get (already an extra 2nd and 3rd this year) and delistings. They aren't hard to work out.

For the first time ever Eagles will have top 10 picks in consecutive years to play with. Lets be honest a couple of them are going to be very high. It is a better position than some, especially for a club not starved of success.

I'm sure you'll be fine long term, I reckon the most interesting part will be how supporters are going to take it. You've been successful over your entire existence and your downs have been short lived. This isn't going to be like the other times and I wonder how much resilience is in the fanbase.

Also, disagree about the list not needing to be overhauled. Reckon if your rebuild team wins a flag, you'll be lucky if there are 8 players currently on your list playing in that game.

 

[Big_Birdy]

I'm sure you'll be fine long term, I reckon the most interesting part will be how supporters are going to take it. You've been successful over your entire existence and your downs have been short lived. This isn't going to be like the other times and I wonder how much resilience is in the fanbase.

Also, disagree about the list not needing to be overhauled. Reckon if your rebuild team wins a flag, you'll be lucky if there are 8 players currently on your list playing in that game.

Oh the list needs an overhaul. Not the entire list though, which is what was written. I just don't understand what an entire list overhaul is supposed to mean except we need to move on every single player.

I agree, we will see how the fans take it. As I have alluded to, we will have never had as many top 10 picks playing together as we most likely will in 2025. That should hopefully should bring some excitement (if not necessarily wins or long term success).

 

[footy_basis]

Oh the list needs an overhaul. Not the entire list though, which is what was written. I just don't understand what an entire list overhaul is supposed to mean except we need to move on every single player.

I agree, we will see how the fans take it. As I have alluded to, we will have never had as many top 10 picks playing together as we most likely will in 2025. That should hopefully should bring some excitement (if not necessarily wins or long term success).

The issue is, most of the young talent is trash. What's the point in playing the kids, when they're barely wafl standard.

On SM-G998B using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Joao]

Oh the list needs an overhaul. Not the entire list though, which is what was written. I just don't understand what an entire list overhaul is supposed to mean except we need to move on every single player.

I agree, we will see how the fans take it. As I have alluded to, we will have never had as many top 10 picks playing together as we most likely will in 2025. That should hopefully should bring some excitement (if not necessarily wins or long term success).

I don't think any club that moves on the whole list intends to, you're just at the mercy of how long it takes to develop players. Oscar Allen and your recent first rounders are highly likely to still be there in 5-6 years for sure. The rest is really hard to predict.

There is a point between being spoon quality and finals worthy that is enjoyable, and that tends to be when you are about 3-4 years in. Expectations are still very low but the high end talent starts to shine.

 

[fnerd]

You guys might even resurrect the parity thread you hid.

At least for a little while anyway.

We are the west coast eagles mate we go down, pick up some kids then off we go again, we win flags mate, you should come down to mineral resources park and have a squizz, if you cant support a great club, at least you can bathe in the reflected light of one!!

 

[PorcelainBus]

West Coast giving Simpson a 3 year break at the end of this season.

 

[fnerd]

Yep shows you how that club deals with adversity.
Things get a bit tough and all of a sudden Simpson Is asked to take a “holiday” to ease the “pressure fmd.
- on top of nissy himself saying he’ll step down… in 18 mths time lol

No wonder nissy and co are so vigilant in making sure west Australian /ch 7 predominantly write puff pieces on the club.
Bit of well deserved criticism and the so called mighty club of the west cant handle it

https://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/eagles-coach-adam-simpson-told-to-take-threemonth-holiday-to-save-job-eddie-mcguire-reveals/news-story/f1d22118fa4e61dd5f088368e25bbb74

 

[CoastersFlag No.5]

Not so fun fact from the weekend. Collingwood had 6 of the 7 players in the 2018 grand final playing whereas the Eagles had 2 of 12 with Duggan finishing up early because of a neck injury. All apart from Cox and Adams had great games. Holding onto the old guard can work if they stay fit and contribute which they clearly are not.

 

[Lia]

Yep shows you how that club deals with adversity.
Things get a bit tough and all of a sudden Simpson Is asked to take a “holiday” to ease the “pressure fmd.
- on top of nissy himself saying he’ll step down… in 18 mths time lol

No wonder nissy and co are so vigilant in making sure west Australian /ch 7 predominantly write puff pieces on the club.
Bit of well deserved criticism and the so called mighty club of the west cant handle it

https://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/eagles-coach-adam-simpson-told-to-take-threemonth-holiday-to-save-job-eddie-mcguire-reveals/news-story/f1d22118fa4e61dd5f088368e25bbb74

Well deserved yes, constructive no.

 

[Yippy Yi Yeo]

Not so fun fact from the weekend. Collingwood had 6 of the 7 players in the 2018 grand final playing whereas the Eagles had 2 of 12 with Duggan finishing up early because of a neck injury. All apart from Cox and Adams had great games. Holding onto the old guard can work if they stay fit and contribute which they clearly are not.

Pies had 9 players on the weekend that played in the 2018 GF