Game Day Round 1, 2026: West Coast v Gold Coast

[mad_eagle]

Bailey Humphrey out. Could see him having a big day so will help a little

Take anything we can get in this game. One less problem to worry about, Hough to Trac when he rolls forward?!

 

[Farang83150]

Hopefully some will be getting in Jed's ear about going home

 

[Goroyals22]

Bailey Humphrey out. Could see him having a big day so will help a little

Seem to remember his replacement Jake Rogers having a day out against us on the coast a couple of years ago

 

[KERRPOW]

Bailey Humphrey out. Could see him having a big day so will help a little

 

[Couchpotato]

Hoping to just see something from the kids this game - suspect GC will get on a roll at some point and kick 5 or 6 unanswered which will be the difference.

Would like to see more of this glimpses from Harley - 2025 was such a down year you forget how pumped the team got from his goals / attitude in 2024. Turned games against the dockers and Melbourne in 5 minutes by himself.

Yeo back to help out - so here’s hoping!

 

[Rowan18]

Hoping to just see something from the kids this game - suspect GC will get on a roll at some point and kick 5 or 6 unanswered which will be the difference.

Would like to see more of this glimpses from Harley - 2025 was such a down year you forget how pumped the team got from his goals / attitude in 2024. Turned games against the dockers and Melbourne in 5 minutes by himself.

Yeo back to help out - so here’s hoping!

Harley was pretty good in the second half of 2025 before he hurt his ankle. I suspect he might be a little slow to start the year, as he is clearly aiming to be more involved with transition and link play. In preseason there was a lot of handballs quickly but not huge impact. If he can get the hang of that and know when to keep the ball and go for impact, that's when he levels up toward top echelon. Hopefully we see it after a few rounds.

 

[Keys]

Brain fog, or old age?

Both

 

[Proeagle]

Just gotta place all the negative Nellie's on ignore brother. Everyone has a whinge every now and then, that's all good, but if you're a serial complainer you go straight on my ignore list. My ignore list is huge

So bigfooty looks like the Epstein files for you? Mostly redacted

 

[Proeagle]

Harley was pretty good in the second half of 2025 before he hurt his ankle. I suspect he might be a little slow to start the year, as he is clearly aiming to be more involved with transition and link play. In preseason there was a lot of handballs quickly but not huge impact. If he can get the hang of that and know when to keep the ball and go for impact, that's when he levels up toward top echelon. Hopefully we see it after a few rounds.

I just hope he doesnt get too involved with the dirty stuff. Opposition now know you can push him around and get him angry and I dont blame Harley completely. It would be hard to put up with being shoved to the ground every time you are near it. Lets hope some teammates help him out this year in that regard. Robertson, Yeo etc. Somehow he needs to ignore that extra ram into the ground for a while and opposition will do it less. But easier said than done.

 

[Astro7]

I just hope he doesnt get too involved with the dirty stuff. Opposition now know you can push him around and get him angry and I dont blame Harley completely. It would be hard to put up with being shoved to the ground every time you are near it. Lets hope some teammates help him out this year in that regard. Robertson, Yeo etc. Somehow he needs to ignore that extra ram into the ground for a while and opposition will do it less. But easier said than done.

Agree, but he doesn't mind doing the shove into ground thing as well, so what goes around comes around...

 

[Kegs15]

Just gotta place all the negative Nellie's on ignore brother. Everyone has a whinge every now and then, that's all good, but if you're a serial complainer you go straight on my ignore list. My ignore list is huge

I enjoy the whinging in a weird roundabout way. Like I'll get flat about West Coast internally and catastrophise it all but then see someone go absolutely off the deep end on here, think "at least I'm not doing that", start to see the funny side, start to take supporting this club more lightly and take the little wins, it's a positive cycle.

The fires of other people's negativity seeding fresh regrowth for the little shoots of optimism.

That being said will ABSOLUTELY be buying a membership just so I can microwave it the second Bo Allen doesn't nail a kick or Archer Reid misses a set shot this season.

 

[Truckosaurus]

Just get in and out without injuries, please.

 

[Cuzz09]

Some big scores in fast patches so far this year.

See how we go folks

 

[mattyc75]

I think I’m done with this site for a while, or at least until our performances start to shift the tide of negativity in these threads, noting we could win the flag and still have a high level of negative to positive posts.
I do realise that blind optimism pretends the climb is easy as much as negativity denies the mountain can be climbed at all, and we rarely find middle ground on this site, but this off‑season in particular has felt overwhelmingly negative compared to previous years.
Any optimism I bring into reading a training report, player discussion, media thread or multiple other threads, just gets drowned out by a wave of criticism directed at players, coaches, drafting decisions, medical, S&C staff, "other posters" and the repeated dragging up of history that can't be changed, and not just by the recidivists.
I really do hope that those who struggle to see the positives here are at least able to find them in other parts of their lives, and that this place is simply an outlet.
It's been a long off‑season. For those that can't enjoy the season ahead:

“Being bitter/negative when your team is rebuilding is like booing a sunrise because it’s still dark"
"When you expect your team to struggle, choosing negativity is just choosing misery twice"

And for those with on the other end of the scale

“Negativity drains every season dry, but blind optimism floods it with false hope"

Its only because we're shit

 

[mattyc75]

Your use of the word form and Tyler Young are different to mine. I hope Milan can really be the ground level pressure and hassle we so dearly need.

He played well for them tho?

 

[Matera92]

I’d like to revise my initial prediction.


































































Gold Coast by two infinity. (and beyond)

 

[ziad]

Take anything we can get in this game. One less problem to worry about, Hough to Trac when he rolls forward?!

Would have been Stac. Pity

 

[ziad]

Well the sun is up and shining bright. I lament the outs and the impact in Defence. But as we stand today, not in the future, we only have added Harley over the last few years as a quality mid. Midfield is a huge weakness from half foward to half back run and carry will kill us. We do have realy bright hopefuls and strong prospects. Yoe will build over a few weeks.
We dont have the resources, so it will be interesting how we structure up. Let the game run and allow kids to develop their game, try to lock down etc. The devils number and standing will haunt us though.

 

[PremiershipNo4]

Well the sun is up and shining bright. I lament the outs and the impact in Defence. But as we stand today, not in the future, we only have added Harley over the last few years as a quality mid. Midfield is a huge weakness from half foward to half back run and carry will kill us. We do have realy bright hopefuls and strong prospects. Yoe will build over a few weeks.
We dont have the resources, so it will be interesting how we structure up. Let the game run and allow kids to develop their game, try to lock down etc. The devils number and standing will haunt us though.

I disagree, McCarthy will be an excellent midfield addition.
I bet you a sausage roll and sauce, McCarthy has more possessions than Harley in the midfield.

 

[GoEaglesGoSGIO]

Years at club:

1st- 6
2nd- 6
3rd- 3
4th- 2
5th- 1
10th- 1
11th- 1
12th- 1
13th- 1
14th- 1

Just over half the selected side in their first or second year at the club

Underscores the extent of the turnover to our list

To compare to Richmond btw

1st - 1
2nd - 4
3rd - 6 (2 are Hopper and Taranto)
4th - 2
5th - 3
6- 0
7th - 2 (incl. Tom Lynch)
8th - 2
9th - 1
10th - 1
11th - 1

12 players in their first 2 years to 5 seems a wild difference

 

[Goroyals22]

No excuse for not playing some decent footy tonight. Isn’t going to be hot, windy or to humid.
Footy might get a bit greasy but no where near as bad as some other games at this time of year in qld

 

[squashface]

game day bitchezzz

 

[Happy Mastenator]

We are undefeated. Something Pies, lions, dockers, hawks, cats, bombers, saints, blues and tigers can’t say!

 

[Cuzz09]

Well the sun is up

already! game starts at 540pm AFL need to look into giving teams 10 hour head starts v us

 

[RookiePick]

Maybe they won't kick straight?

Better sides than us have been shown up this round, hopefully we can just hang in for the 4 quarters. Fight hard Eagles!