Coach Welcome to West Coast: Andrew McQualter

[WCE777]

Not sure about footy manager but would be worth looking at as head of development.

TBF there are several assistants that could make way better alternatives.
G Bell basically got moved aside when Woosha was appointed and pending contract status he would be close to no 1 out the door.
L Webster pending contract would be next.
J Brennan would follow also.
If we have had to bring in people like Hurn & H Taylor last year to help with development and other skills I think we could easily get rid of those 3 and Mini could identify his most desired assistant and he could be targeted, which they probably already are.
Up the pay structure for the better assistants and Mat Inness, job done.
There will be some fall out at Melbourne and Mini will know who is worth chasing?
Bassett/Chaplin?

 

[matthew_s]

i hope he does. Change out all the current assistants apart from Shuey.
The question that has to be asked of all of them is "What Have You Done to improve the Club" ?

**** Shuey off too. Best for both him and the Eagles.

Go learn your new craft somewhere other than where you've spent your whole career.

 

[Elite Pete]

Is there any word on whether we have any assistants without contracts?

Would be interesting to see whether McQualter brings anybody in.

Duff asked Bell on his show yesterday. Working through that at this stage was the answer.

 

[ukurrie]

Would be interesting to see whether McQualter brings anybody in.

Pyke told Duff last week that he’s expecting McQualter to provide a recommendation for what support he needs from a coaching department perspective.

It sounded like the club will support any reasonable ask McQualter’s makes, which makes sense given Mini didn’t get a chance to really put his team together.

Seems like everyone is waiting for the season to end to think about it more deeply and get the people they want.

 

[Monsterdarlz]

Wasn't my first choice but Ron Barrasi would of struggled with our list and lean football development staff. We need a min another3/4 well accredited coaches

 

[HoneyBadger35]

News - Offseason Staffing Changes - 2025 Edition

A centralised thread to discuss any changes at the club in the 2025 offseason. Hoping this leaves the McQualter thread free to discuss the coach, game plan growth that we’ve seen etc, rather than assistant coach and footy dept chat. Starting with:

www.bigfooty.com

A new thread has been created to discuss staffing changes, assistant coach wishlists, etc.

Hoping that this thread can remain the place to talk game plan development, reflect on McQualter’s first season etc.

 

[Jeremy McLovin]

Since we played Collingwood and did decently by running straight at them and having speed on the ball, they've lost three of their last six (likely four of the last seven soon) to teams using a similar strategy. Might be clutching at straws a little here but gives me hope that Mini has good ideas and just lacks the soldiers.

 

[Astro7]

With Webster leaving, Is it true Mini didn't get to choose his own assistant coaches?
So Webster is leaving or was pushed? If so highly regarded, why isn't he sticking around?
As forwardline coach, then backline coach, if he was pushed, hopefully this is the beginning of a few 'highly regarded and well respected' departures!

 

[Astro7]

Since we played Collingwood and did decently by running straight at them and having speed on the ball, they've lost three of their last six (likely four of the last seven soon) to teams using a similar strategy. Might be clutching at straws a little here but gives me hope that Mini has good ideas and just lacks the soldiers.

Always nice to see the protected species The Collywobbles, come undone...Hopefully Mini has enough insight now to build exactly what he needs around him?

 

[Altum Volantes]

Wasn't my first choice but Ron Barrasi would of struggled with our list and lean football development staff. We need a min another3/4 well accredited coaches

I keep telling you, he's 89 years old and he's dead!

 

[southcoast]

I keep telling you, he's 89 years old and he's dead!

Almost fits with our (recent years) team profile then.

 

[DanWCE]

With Webster leaving, Is it true Mini didn't get to choose his own assistant coaches?
So Webster is leaving or was pushed? If so highly regarded, why isn't he sticking around?
As forwardline coach, then backline coach, if he was pushed, hopefully this is the beginning of a few 'highly regarded and well respected' departures!

Mini arrived on the scene pretty late. It was pretty much GF time. He missed the window to meet, recruit, hire and fire his team. Equally he missed the opportunity to conduct exit interviews with players and have much of a say in our drafting.

In a lot of ways this is the first full off season and pre season he will get, which is exciting.

As for Webby, whether he was any good or not, he seemed to be particularly close with the premiership players and may have his fingers all over the poor standards we've seen since the flag. Eventually whether you're good or not it's time to turn over the coaches and get fresh ideas and voices.

 

[Astro7]

Mini arrived on the scene pretty late. It was pretty much GF time. He missed the window to meet, recruit, hire and fire his team. Equally he missed the opportunity to conduct exit interviews with players and have much of a say in our drafting.

In a lot of ways this is the first full off season and pre season he will get, which is exciting.

As for Webby, whether he was any good or not, he seemed to be particularly close with the premiership players and may have his fingers all over the poor standards we've seen since the flag. Eventually whether you're good or not it's time to turn over the coaches and get fresh ideas and voices.

Great, was hoping to hear that! It's by no means his own fault, with leftover baggage. Now he can truly build. My only real complaint about Mini is the Owies thing.

 

[DanWCE]

Great, was hoping to hear that! It's by no means his own fault, with leftover baggage. Now he can truly build. My only real complaint about Mini is the Owies thing.

What makes you think he was the Architect of getting Owies? He was hired a week before the trade period started.

 

[ziad]

What makes you think he was the Architect of getting Owies? He was hired a week before the trade period started.

well its BF and people have to rage, facts are just a distraction

 

[Cainozz]

Yeah there are three things that I think need to be understood when it comes to assessing mcqualter's year.

1. He was starting in an incredibly difficult position. The list was a truly special kind of ****ed, he didn't have time to select his own assistants, it was always going to be an uphill battle.

2. Starting from that rough position, he then suffered utterly astonishing, jaw dropping bad luck. Like mind blowingly bad luck. Cumulatively, I think probably the worst luck of any eagles coach in any season since the clubs inception, just in terms of the sheer number of things that have gone wrong and the horrible way the team has combusted at exactly the wrong moment.

Given the low base he was starting from, to have the footy gods rule a line through basically every elite player he had access to, starting with our most important mid before a game was played, our best forward, our AA key defender, our next best forward and captain and finishing up with Harley ****ing Reid just as he hit form is just gutwrenching. The issue there is not quantity, it's quality in a team which simply did not have spare quality to play with. No team could absorb those sort of gut punches, and certainly not a bottom 2 team.

And its not just the outs, with such a young team, McQualter desperately needed some early wins to instill belief and motivation in a list that had lost way too much over the past few years. But even when we played well enough to win, those wins just didn't come. You can look at being up against the lions at the gabba with a quarter to play, or being within a kick against Essendon in what would have been a stirring come from behind win, or being in it against Geelong with a quarter or play, or leading for most of the game against Collingwood or even the way the system dominated the kangas in bunbury but butchered everything in front of goal, or Gross getting nailed when he had a chance to kick a match winner against Richmond at the 'G, any or all of those could have been wins but amazingly they all ended up as losses.

Of all of those near misses it's the game against Brisbane in Rd 2 which is imo the big sliding doors moment for the year. We were ahead by 20 at half time then kicked 1.6 in the third term, then lost both Bailey (who was actually having a good game for a change) and archer reid and ended up with reuben ginbey having to ruck whilst Brisbane rolled over us- even an average third quarter in front of goal and we go into the last quarter with a match winning lead, and fly home having knocked off the reigning premiers on their home turf. The value of that win in terms of motivation and self belief would have been huge.

3. I dont actually think there is a right way to coach the team over the last few weeks, they are simply done. The Richmond obliteration was the point at which the team, with the core leadership already gone, full of inexperienced and mentally weak players who have simply lost way too many games from winning positions finally just broke mentally and gave up. They're absolutely shot at the moment, there's no quality leaders left out there, there are some people who realise their careers are over no matter what and are just going through the motions and there are a bunch of kids who melt as soon as any pressure is applied because that's all they've ever experienced. I genuinely can't see what mini can say or do for the rest of the year- if he cracks the whip they'll just melt harder, if he looks for positives in big losses he's rewarding mediocrity, if he tries to tell them they are a chance against adelaide or the dogs he will just sound delusional, in short they are absolutely cooked and the end of the year can't come soon enough.

I just hope Mini is given a free hand to pick his own staff next year- he deserves to have a proper crack.

Great post and agree with all of this. With a bit of luck we could’ve had 3-4 wins.

 

[Farmer Lister]

What makes you think he was the Architect of getting Owies? He was hired a week before the trade period started.

He's probably talking about his auto inclusion every week

 

[Astro7]

What makes you think he was the Architect of getting Owies? He was hired a week before the trade period started.

I meant the way he keeps playing Owies regardless of poor performance...

well its BF and people have to rage, facts are just a distraction

Well you've clearly jump to conclusions!? I wasn't raging for a start, it was a simple comment, numerous posters are dissatisfied with the Mini-Owies thing.
See above for correct context before you distract any more facts yourself.

 

[DanWCE]

I meant the way he keeps playing Owies regardless of poor performance...

Never been blackmailed with compromising noodz before, I assume?

 

[ioppolo]

How much weight does a head coach have at selection?
If Mini says "drop Owies" can the entire MC say no?

 

[sharps24]

At the end of the day we are shitawful inside our 50 and Owies is our top small forward for 1%ers and tackles i50. McWalter has acknowledged that he's struggling with his conversion but at the end of the day he's playing a role someone has to play and applying defensive pressure. We can't just have 6 blokes down there jogging around trying to seagull easy ball and take pings at goal. Liam Ryan

1

Liam Ryan

Age

29

Ht

181cm

Wt

76kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.3

3star

K

8.6

3star

HB

2.7

2star

M

3.0

3star

T

2.0

4star

G

1.3

5star

D

9.9

3star

K

8.0

3star

HB

1.9

1star

M

3.3

3star

T

1.6

3star

G

1.3

5star

D

11.4

3star

K

9.0

4star

HB

2.4

3star

M

3.8

4star

T

1.8

4star

G

1.6

5star

's goal kicking has been as bad as Owies if not worse all things considered, but coaches just don't drop senior players for missing certain goals from the goal square. Liam Baker

3

Liam Baker

Age

27

Ht

173cm

Wt

72kg

Pos.

M/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

15.7

4star

K

7.8

3star

HB

7.9

5star

M

3.2

3star

T

2.6

4star

CL

0.7

3star

D

14.6

4star

K

6.8

3star

HB

7.9

4star

M

3.8

4star

T

1.8

3star

CL

0.5

3star

D

14.4

4star

K

6.2

3star

HB

8.2

5star

M

1.6

2star

T

1.8

4star

CL

1.2

4star

also can't kick to save his life, at least with Owies his kicking is a reversion of form not a baked in trait. [fact checkers Liam Ryan

1

Liam Ryan

Age

29

Ht

181cm

Wt

76kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.3

3star

K

8.6

3star

HB

2.7

2star

M

3.0

3star

T

2.0

4star

G

1.3

5star

D

9.9

3star

K

8.0

3star

HB

1.9

1star

M

3.3

3star

T

1.6

3star

G

1.3

5star

D

11.4

3star

K

9.0

4star

HB

2.4

3star

M

3.8

4star

T

1.8

4star

G

1.6

5star

GA 37% Matt Owies GA 32% Liam Baker

3

Liam Baker

Age

27

Ht

173cm

Wt

72kg

Pos.

M/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

15.7

4star

K

7.8

3star

HB

7.9

5star

M

3.2

3star

T

2.6

4star

CL

0.7

3star

D

14.6

4star

K

6.8

3star

HB

7.9

4star

M

3.8

4star

T

1.8

3star

CL

0.5

3star

D

14.4

4star

K

6.2

3star

HB

8.2

5star

M

1.6

2star

T

1.8

4star

CL

1.2

4star

GA 33%]

Edit: not that I am against a complete clean out of the forward line or could care less if Owies never plays another game. It's just that the reality is he's just a whipping boy and apart from shit conversion he's doing what the coaches expect from him.

 

[southcoast]

At the end of the day we are shitawful inside our 50 and Owies is our top small forward for 1%ers and tackles i50. McWalter has acknowledged that he's struggling with his conversion but at the end of the day he's playing a role someone has to play and applying defensive pressure. We can't just have 6 blokes down there jogging around trying to seagull easy ball and take pings at goal. Liam Ryan's goal kicking has been as bad as Owies if not worse all things considered, but coaches just don't drop senior players for missing certain goals from the goal square. Liam Baker also can't kick to save his life, at least with Owies his kicking is a reversion of form not a baked in trait. [fact checkers Liam Ryan GA 37% Matt Owies GA 32% Liam Baker GA 33%]

Edit: not that I am against a complete clean out of the forward line or could care less if Owies never plays another game. It's just that the reality is he's just a whipping boy and apart from shit conversion he's doing what the coaches expect from him.

Further to this Peter Bell (ABC Sports Talk 9th Aug) made interesting observation.

A small forward is very reliant on big forwards bringing ball to ground, contest and occasionally getting cheapies when unmarked. Our entry into F50, tackling pressure, leading lines etc are all dysfunctional at the moment and this will make Owies job even harder.

Now, not defending the guy and before you do the big pile on - I'm just passing on an outsider's comment for consideration.

 

[Grahame]

Further to this Peter Bell (ABC Sports Talk 9th Aug) made interesting observation.

A small forward is very reliant on big forwards bringing ball to ground, contest and occasionally getting cheapies when unmarked. Our entry into F50, tackling pressure, leading lines etc are all dysfunctional at the moment and this will make Owies job even harder.

Now, not defending the guy and before you do the big pile on - I'm just passing on an outsider's comment for consideration.

Yep. Think peak Rioli-Ryan wouldn’t be looking too flash either.

 

[Dark Sharks]

Let's get a bit more discussion on Ron Barassi and what he could do as a mentor for Harley please.

 

[bzparkes]

How much weight does a head coach have at selection?
If Mini says "drop Owies" can the entire MC say no?

Depends on what Gepp says.