Analysis The Rebuilds of West Coast and Richmond and their Future Prospects

[Freomaniac]

People forget how decimated by injuries - especially to seniors - we've been for 4 full years. I think it's almost unprecedented. It would cripple any club. Richmond have had a lot, but not like we've had for so long.

Yes, they're better this year and appear to be ahead, but it doesn't figure they're closer to the next premiership. I'm not even sure Essendon, Port, St Kilda, Carlton etc are any closer. Port in particular might be due for a rebuild.

I think Eagles supporters who are aware of the extent of the situation know it's going to be a long rebuild and patience is required. None of us can really predict the future, but I'm preparing myself for quite a few years of not even playing finals, a weird feeling for us...but you can make finals say 15 out of 20 years and not win a premiership, and make it 5 times out of 20 and win 2, it's an easy choice. I'm sure you'd take Richmond's past 20 years to Port's.

Even if your side didn't have injuries or were not crippled by injuries, your club still had an ageing squad by the end of 2021. Dockers had an ageing squad in 2015.

Your club falling off a cliff in 2022 was no different in dockers falling off a cliff in 2016 when they were 0-10 , crippled with injury and ended up with only 4 wins.

When my dockers fell off in 2016, I knew instantly it was going to be a long rebuild. I knew dockers were gonna spend minimum 5 years in a row not making finals.

The point is eagles didn't acknowledge how long and how hard their rebuild was gonna be once they dropped off in 2022.

Eagles had 2 wins and 20 losses in 2022 and 3 wins and 20 losses in 2023. That was expected.

5 wins and 18 losses in 2024. That was some gradual improvement seems obvious. Eagles having some fit senior players helped.

Now eagles only have 1 win in 2025....


Eagles going down the youth path is the quickest way for west coast to get back up the ladder again.

 

[Freomaniac]

West Coast have 5 B grade players and thats including our ex whipping boy Jack Graham
5-6 Good young players and the rest are WAFL players

But old mate thinks after a 1 win season they are chokka block full of young guns that were selected after pick 30

It was never gonna be an easy rebuild at West coast .

I knew this back in 2022 and 2023.

18 teams. 8 teams make finals , 10 of them don't. Teams not making finals for 5 or 6 or even 7 years in a row is going to be Common.

Dockers didn't make finals once between 2016 to 2021.

Crows will make finals this season after no finals between 2018 to 2024, which is 7 years in a row of no finals

 

[Scotland]

Eagles going down the youth path is the quickest way for west coast to get back up the ladder again.

Eagles went down the youth path a lot earlier than people think. It's not McQualter came in and decided to play the kids.

7 debutants in 2023, 7 in 2024, 8 this year. More in 2022 but that was skewed by covid top-ups.

WC have been trying to turn over the list a few experienced players at a time for 4-5 years. Some things go to plan and some they do not. Chesser, Bazzo, Hewett are all 20-40 games behind where we would like them to be. I'm sure the plan going into 2025 wasn't for Bo Allan to play 6 times (and 5 in the WAFL).

Oscar Allen was out for all of 2022, JK played on one more season and then in 2023 Allen was great. And then last year he's injured until Rd 16 but Jake Waterman steps up and has a great year. Allen comes back and we've got two good key forwards in their mid 20s happy days and we let Darling go. And both are injured miss the second half of this year. Swell.

Similar with the back line. Schofield finished up 2020, Sheppard had to retire 2021, Hurn played on to 2023. We stuck with TB and Gov then decided at the end of 2024 to let TB go. And then Gov cops a head knock and has to retire. So it's Harry Edwards the 50 gamer as the #1 key back and we're trying to build around him instead of developing him as you would like.

The midfield we added Flynn who is no world beater to at least have a mature ruckman and then he played 4 games last year. We won a few games last year being able to play Yeo, Kelly and Reid together in the middle and have some flexibility with rotations. This year we've been able to introduce Hewett back in after missing 2024 and then Yeo hasn't played a game.

It's not like if the footy gods smiled on us we'd suddenly be good, but with a very thin list we are the little Dutch boy plugging leaks in the dike. In a perfect world we have more from the 2015-20 drafts, Venables doesn't retire at 20, Willie Rioli doesn't miss 2 years with a ban then ask for a trade etc. but you can't do anything about players who are no longer there. Ideally we'd be fielding a team with a couple more good 100 gamers in it each week but you can only pick who you have available. No one ever really knows what Essendon are doing year to year but they were 6-4 and are now 6-12 with 3 losses by 40+ and 2 by 90+ in the last 6. Which is what happens when you have 7 sub 10 gamers and you have to pick Goldstein and Shiel over Draper, Langford etc. WC are in a similar boat. Much shorter injury list but the talent pool of experienced players is very shallow.

 

[GoEaglesGoSGIO]

Even if your side didn't have injuries or were not crippled by injuries, your club still had an ageing squad by the end of 2021. Dockers had an ageing squad in 2015.

Your club falling off a cliff in 2022 was no different in dockers falling off a cliff in 2016 when they were 0-10 , crippled with injury and ended up with only 4 wins.

When my dockers fell off in 2016, I knew instantly it was going to be a long rebuild. I knew dockers were gonna spend minimum 5 years in a row not making finals.

The point is eagles didn't acknowledge how long and how hard their rebuild was gonna be once they dropped off in 2022.

Eagles had 2 wins and 20 losses in 2022 and 3 wins and 20 losses in 2023. That was expected.

5 wins and 18 losses in 2024. That was some gradual improvement seems obvious. Eagles having some fit senior players helped.

Now eagles only have 1 win in 2025....


Eagles going down the youth path is the quickest way for west coast to get back up the ladder again.

2022 and 2023 we got destroyed by injuries to everyone and not just the senior players. The injury lists we had those years are similar to what Essendon is experiencing now. Its very hard to include those as rebuilding years when so many didnt play.

I can assure you Elijah Hewett didnt benefit from missing 2014 entirely and missing basically 18 months of football .. It has set him back big time.

 

[PerthBoy86]

Even if your side didn't have injuries or were not crippled by injuries, your club still had an ageing squad by the end of 2021. Dockers had an ageing squad in 2015.

Your club falling off a cliff in 2022 was no different in dockers falling off a cliff in 2016 when they were 0-10 , crippled with injury and ended up with only 4 wins.

When my dockers fell off in 2016, I knew instantly it was going to be a long rebuild. I knew dockers were gonna spend minimum 5 years in a row not making finals.

The point is eagles didn't acknowledge how long and how hard their rebuild was gonna be once they dropped off in 2022.

Eagles had 2 wins and 20 losses in 2022 and 3 wins and 20 losses in 2023. That was expected.

5 wins and 18 losses in 2024. That was some gradual improvement seems obvious. Eagles having some fit senior players helped.

Now eagles only have 1 win in 2025....


Eagles going down the youth path is the quickest way for west coast to get back up the ladder again.

It wasn't as old as people say, no different to Cats or Pies. On the older side, but not like we had to rebuild straight after a flag or anything. I contend we could've contended in 2019, think that's when our window closed...frustrated and inexplicable how we bottled top 4 that year. Had we not been decimated by injuries it would've been a slow decline and we may have been in for a mini rebuild. Probably finish mid table in 22 and 23, and bottom 6 24 and 25. I think by all metrics bar wins we're at least better now than 23 with the youth playing more of a role, so some small signs.

Instead of a mini rebuild, we're just undergoing a major rebuild under Mini (pun intended).

Freo seem to finally have the pieces in place.

 

[ShereKhan]

Eagles went down the youth path a lot earlier than people think. It's not McQualter came in and decided to play the kids.

7 debutants in 2023, 7 in 2024, 8 this year. More in 2022 but that was skewed by covid top-ups.

WC have been trying to turn over the list a few experienced players at a time for 4-5 years. Some things go to plan and some they do not. Chesser, Bazzo, Hewett are all 20-40 games behind where we would like them to be. I'm sure the plan going into 2025 wasn't for Bo Allan to play 6 times (and 5 in the WAFL).

Oscar Allen was out for all of 2022, JK played on one more season and then in 2023 Allen was great. And then last year he's injured until Rd 16 but Jake Waterman steps up and has a great year. Allen comes back and we've got two good key forwards in their mid 20s happy days and we let Darling go. And both are injured miss the second half of this year. Swell.

Similar with the back line. Schofield finished up 2020, Sheppard had to retire 2021, Hurn played on to 2023. We stuck with TB and Gov then decided at the end of 2024 to let TB go. And then Gov cops a head knock and has to retire. So it's Harry Edwards the 50 gamer as the #1 key back and we're trying to build around him instead of developing him as you would like.

The midfield we added Flynn who is no world beater to at least have a mature ruckman and then he played 4 games last year. We won a few games last year being able to play Yeo, Kelly and Reid together in the middle and have some flexibility with rotations. This year we've been able to introduce Hewett back in after missing 2024 and then Yeo hasn't played a game.

It's not like if the footy gods smiled on us we'd suddenly be good, but with a very thin list we are the little Dutch boy plugging leaks in the dike. In a perfect world we have more from the 2015-20 drafts, Venables doesn't retire at 20, Willie Rioli doesn't miss 2 years with a ban then ask for a trade etc. but you can't do anything about players who are no longer there. Ideally we'd be fielding a team with a couple more good 100 gamers in it each week but you can only pick who you have available. No one ever really knows what Essendon are doing year to year but they were 6-4 and are now 6-12 with 3 losses by 40+ and 2 by 90+ in the last 6. Which is what happens when you have 7 sub 10 gamers and you have to pick Goldstein and Shiel over Draper, Langford etc. WC are in a similar boat. Much shorter injury list but the talent pool of experienced players is very shallow.

If the rumours are true then 2026 might be not much better : Allen, Ryan gone. Obviously McGovern and Sheed retired. Not sure of Cripps plans? Not sure if Kelly will recapture motivation? A long shot for Yeo to play more than a dozen games.

It won’t be another 1-win season as the youth will be better, but it’s a long road given the lack of consistent quality players at the moment.

 

[ShereKhan]

It wasn't as old as people say, no different to Cats or Pies. On the older side, but not like we had to rebuild straight after a flag or anything. I contend we could've contended in 2019, think that's when our window closed...frustrated and inexplicable how we bottled top 4 that year. Had we not been decimated by injuries it would've been a slow decline and we may have been in for a mini rebuild. Probably finish mid table in 22 and 23, and bottom 6 24 and 25. I think by all metrics bar wins we're at least better now than 23 with the youth playing more of a role, so some small signs.

Instead of a mini rebuild, we're just undergoing a major rebuild under Mini (pun intended).

Freo seem to finally have the pieces in place.

What’s the Harley Reid ‘temperature’ over there ? Hold him and give him a 2-year deal with 7-year option for $20m? Or trade him for probably 3 x top-15 picks end of this year or next and build a deeper list?

It seems his manager is holding the Eagles to ransom, knowing they’re under massive pressure to retain their best potential asset.

Right now on Reid’s performance and the fact he turned up to pre-season a little out of shape is he worth anything remotely near $2m / year.

The demands are taking the P155 and are based almost entirely on potential. I think Reid will be an excellent player … but will he be a better player than Callaghan, Green, NWM, Serong, Rowell, JHF, Holmes, Anderson ..? It’s still very much up in the air where he gets to as a player.

But if you’re paying anywhere near $2m per season you can’t afford him to be Max Holmes or Caleb Serong … he needs to be Daicos or Bont.

What do Eagles supporters want ? Would they be cheering a 2/7 $20m deal or thinking the club has panicked and been held over a barrel?

 

[PerthBoy86]

What’s the Harley Reid ‘temperature’ over there ? Hold him and give him a 2-year deal with 7-year option for $20m? Or trade him for probably 3 x top-15 picks end of this year or next and build a deeper list?

It seems his manager is holding the Eagles to ransom, knowing they’re under massive pressure to retain their best potential asset.

Right now on Reid’s performance and the fact he turned up to pre-season a little out of shape is he worth anything remotely near $2m / year.

The demands are taking the P155 and are based almost entirely on potential. I think Reid will be an excellent player … but will he be a better player than Callaghan, Green, NWM, Serong, Rowell, JHF, Holmes, Anderson ..? It’s still very much up in the air where he gets to as a player.

But if you’re paying anywhere near $2m per season you can’t afford him to be Max Holmes or Caleb Serong … he needs to be Daicos or Bont.

What do Eagles supporters want ? Would they be cheering a 2/7 $20m deal or thinking the club has panicked and been held over a barrel?

Your guess is as good as mine, I live in Melbourne now. I haven't been following it closely, but I think it seems he's more likely to stay/most of us want him to. I think he will be an important part of our young side going forward so I hope he stays.

 

[Rich01]

Watching Tim English tonight makes you wonder why the Eagles didn’t go harder at him when he was a FA.

Their number one ruck just been dropped and it looks dire for them in that position.

 

[Scotland]

If the rumours are true then 2026 might be not much better : Allen, Ryan gone. Obviously McGovern and Sheed retired. Not sure of Cripps plans? Not sure if Kelly will recapture motivation? A long shot for Yeo to play more than a dozen games.

It won’t be another 1-win season as the youth will be better, but it’s a long road given the lack of consistent quality players at the moment.

We'll be a very young side one way or another.

As frustrating as it is to have senior players not available or not good at football, it's better to rip the band-aid off. Gov is gone, TB is gone, no point planning around them.

Going into 2026 Yeo and Waterman are the ones we really want to get back.

 

[THE_GUN]

We'll be a very young side one way or another.

As frustrating as it is to have senior players not available or not good at football, it's better to rip the band-aid off. Gov is gone, TB is gone, no point planning around them.

Going into 2026 Yeo and Waterman are the ones we really want to get back.

Waterman i agree with but going by Yeo history with soft tissue injuries i think you would probably take 10 games a year if given that today

 

[Grumpyshades]

Watching Tim English tonight makes you wonder why the Eagles didn’t go harder at him when he was a FA.

Their number one ruck just been dropped and it looks dire for them in that position.

The Eagles offered him a substantial contract

 

[The Kings Ransom]

Sorry if it’s already been posted.
Vlaustin is top 2 for intercept marks this season and I’m pretty sure top 3 for the afl era behind McGovern and Harris Andrews.

View attachment 2381414
Worth noting Vlaustin is 6”2

I’d be surprised if you find anyone shorter than that on the list

This is just semantics, but intercepts doesn’t mean intercept marks.

He has 51 intercept marks so far this year.

Still elite for his size. A gun player.

 

[Do the Dew]

Have WC really applied for a priority pick/draft assistance, a year after trading out draft picks for experienced players? I'd think the moment you add experienced players to your list then you forfeit any handouts as clearly you don't give a **** about youth/draft picks.

Same with if Norf tried applying for a priority pick given they've brought in mature players.

 

[G String]

Have WC really applied for a priority pick/draft assistance, a year after trading out draft picks for experienced players? I'd think the moment you add experienced players to your list then you forfeit any handouts as clearly you don't give a **** about youth/draft picks.

Same with if Norf tried applying for a priority pick given they've brought in mature players.

If either do get draft assistance it would not be a first rounder - it'd be a PR disaster, public image is AFLs number one focus. The optics of giving WCE draft picks when they'll prob already have picks 1+2 already would not sit well with the public and also North trading away their first pick when they got too excited/greedy/delusional in last years draft would also not look good.

 

[ShereKhan]

Waterman had a very good season last year.

But as a 28 year old next year he’ll have had one season where he’s kicked more than 18 goals.

There’s a bunch of players in his position I’d pick ahead of him and this year up to 8 players could kick more goals than what the Coleman medalist did last year.

If either do get draft assistance it would not be a first rounder - it'd be a PR disaster, public image is AFLs number one focus. The optics of giving WCE draft picks when they'll prob already have picks 1+2 already would not sit well with the public and also North trading away their first pick when they got too excited/greedy/delusional in last years draft would also not look good.

In 2010 Gale made it clear Richmond was going to dig our own way out of the hole we were in. Didn't ask for or want any AFL assistance despite rebuilding around GWS and GC drafts. It was bold given we hadn't made finals for a decade and had won 2 x finals in 30-years. Made it all that much sweeter to win 3 x flags with no father-sons, no academy picks and basically bottom of the free-kick ladder in every flag year.

Eagles won't get draft assistance directly, but will get pick-2 for Oscar Allen - if Lions are giving a guy with 1 x good season who has a terrible injury history enough to activate tier 1 ($6m over 6-years?) then I'll eat my hat. But the AFL 'herbs and spices' will ensure the Eagles are adequately compensated.

 

[G String]

In 2010 Gale made it clear Richmond was going to dig our own way out of the hole we were in. Didn't ask for or want any AFL assistance despite rebuilding around GWS and GC drafts. It was bold given we hadn't made finals for a decade and had won 2 x finals in 30-years. Made it all that much sweeter to win 3 x flags with no father-sons, no academy picks and basically bottom of the free-kick ladder in every flag year.

Eagles won't get draft assistance directly, but will get pick-2 for Oscar Allen - if Lions are giving a guy with 1 x good season who has a terrible injury history enough to activate tier 1 ($6m over 6-years?) then I'll eat my hat. But the AFL 'herbs and spices' will ensure the Eagles are adequately compensated.

the FA compo mystery box

Geez Benny Gale was a legend - basically rebuilt the club from ground zero - culture and all

 

[tiger_tough]

Didn’t even sound like we were asking for a pick, sounds like extra list spots/NGA access.

I’m taking eagles list before the tigers every day of the week.

Shueygod hanging with every other objective footy fan that'd pick Eagles list over Richmonds....

 

[THE_GUN]

Shueygod hanging with every other objective footy fan that'd pick Eagles list over Richmonds....

Leave him alone , I really feal for him
Copium

 

[Scotland]

Waterman i agree with but going by Yeo history with soft tissue injuries i think you would probably take 10 games a year if given that today

I'll take 10 over 0.

 

[Scotland]

In 2010 Gale made it clear Richmond was going to dig our own way out of the hole we were in. Didn't ask for or want any AFL assistance despite rebuilding around GWS and GC drafts. It was bold given we hadn't made finals for a decade and had won 2 x finals in 30-years. Made it all that much sweeter to win 3 x flags with no father-sons, no academy picks and basically bottom of the free-kick ladder in every flag year.

Eagles won't get draft assistance directly, but will get pick-2 for Oscar Allen - if Lions are giving a guy with 1 x good season who has a terrible injury history enough to activate tier 1 ($6m over 6-years?) then I'll eat my hat. But the AFL 'herbs and spices' will ensure the Eagles are adequately compensated.

Wow, what an amazing effort by Gale to not ask for something in 2010 that wasn't introduced until 2012.

2003: pick 6
2004: pick 1 (priority, Deledio), pick 4
2005: pick 8
2006: pick 8
2007: pick 2, pick 18 (priority, Rance), pick 19
2008: pick 8
2009: pick 3
2010: pick 6

How ever did you cope with such limited access to top end talent?

 

[bzparkes]

In 2010 Gale made it clear Richmond was going to dig our own way out of the hole we were in. Didn't ask for or want any AFL assistance despite rebuilding around GWS and GC drafts.

Having #1 PP Deledio on the list, as well as #18 pp Rance probably softened the blow somewhat.

 

[Shueygod]

Leave him alone , I really feal for him
Copium

Feel*

Cope with your sub 60 iq.

 

[THE_GUN]

Feel*

Cope with your sub 60 iq.

LOL coming from a guy that knows nothing about football

Richmond wont win another game you said then BANG BANG Shueygod gets blown away
its funny whats your next prediction ? Eagles making finals in 2028

 

[THE_GUN]

Wow, what an amazing effort by Gale to not ask for something in 2010 that wasn't introduced until 2012.

2003: pick 6
2004: pick 1 (priority, Deledio), pick 4
2005: pick 8
2006: pick 8
2007: pick 2, pick 18 (priority, Rance), pick 19
2008: pick 8
2009: pick 3
2010: pick 6

How ever did you cope with such limited access to top end talent?

We didnt split and trade the picks out for short people

Maybe we should have