Media Thread, 2025: Insightful, Inciteful and Incomptent

[Donkers]

came across my YT suggested, decided to reminisce

these boys made it look so easy

Whenever anyone is feeling bad this is a great watch.

 

[Coasters7]

Jay clark from the Herald Sun talking absolute dogshit about WC not deserving AFL assistance on the post-game show. ** off and go ** yourself you biased campaigner, grow a ****ing braincell.

He and Ralph are just AFL puppets trying to push the narrative early and soft launch to the public the result that’s already been decided on. Same happens with the tribunal.

 

[GoEaglesGoSGIO]

I question every achievement Hird made during his career after what went down when he was coach. Highly likely he was on the juice the whole time IMO. You don't go from somebody who never touched that stuff your whole playing career to all of a sudden a wildly enthusiastic peddler, promoter and distributor of the stuff to a group of 40 blokes under your care in the few short years between his playing coaching careers. And nobody has ever put that to him to his face even though he is on the TV several nights a week.

This x 1000. He also magically came back from many serious injuries that others havnt....

We all know when the love affair started

 

[the harry]

The peptide prince rolls in

This is so stupid.

Points against? Gov
Clearance? Yeo
Points for? Waterman

Those 3 players played 14/69 games this season after being major players last year

 

[Scotland]

If your analysis is 5 wins 68% > 1 win 60% then you probably can't have shoes with laces. I would love it if we managed to get one or two more wins, but even if we finished with the same record as last year if you can't see areas of improvement you don't want to.

Games played in 2025:

Barrass: 0
Yeo: 0
McGovern: 6
Waterman: 8
Allen 12

Even guys like Darling, Hunt, Witherden, Rotham etc. weren't key players but they did play most games.

By my count we had 14 players play at least one game in 2024 who did not play this year, with most of those no longer being on the list. We've been putting out teams where our best mid (until he also got injured) is 20, our most experienced key position player has played 30 games, our best ball user has played 8 games etc. and being competitive.

I am not bullish about a rapid turnaround but have a look at some of the teams Hawthorn were putting out in 2021-23 compared to now. Last week (skewed by Breust playing) they had almost 3000 games of experience. They had two players under 50 games, Watson on 39 and Dear on 24. We had 12 players with fewer than 39 games played on the weekend. 12.

 

[Byron_Clanger]

If your analysis is 5 wins 68% > 1 win 60% then you probably can't have shoes with laces. I would love it if we managed to get one or two more wins, but even if we finished with the same record as last year if you can't see areas of improvement you don't want to.

Games played in 2025:

Barrass: 0
Yeo: 0
McGovern: 6
Waterman: 8
Allen 12

Even guys like Darling, Hunt, Witherden, Rotham etc. weren't key players but they did play most games.

By my count we had 14 players play at least one game in 2024 who did not play this year, with most of those no longer being on the list. We've been putting out teams where our best mid (until he also got injured) is 20, our most experienced key position player has played 30 games, our best ball user has played 8 games etc. and being competitive.

I am not bullish about a rapid turnaround but have a look at some of the teams Hawthorn were putting out in 2021-23 compared to now. Last week (skewed by Breust playing) they had almost 3000 games of experience. They had two players under 50 games, Watson on 39 and Dear on 24. We had 12 players with fewer than 39 games played on the weekend. 12.

People losing their mind about the club winning one game completely leave out that our 5 most important players all 'played' 12 or less games. Yeo ZERO, McGovern 6 and Medical Retirement, Waterman 8 and was never right at any point in the year, came into round 1 with a bad foot? ankle? Lasted three quarters, got subbed, missed a month and was playing catchup for the rest of the 7 games. Oscar was a cadaver for all but one game against the Cats and Harley returned to the club badly out of shape.

What this did was expose a whole bunch of kids a year ahead of schedule and besides Jobe, none were prepared for it

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

I can't believe Oscar played 12 games.

Pick 2 the biggest steal since Dean Kemp.

 

[thebutterflyeffect]

If you looked at our results and win/loss record at face value without having watched any games beyond weekly highlights, then I can understand why you’d question how we’ve improved

But if you’ve watched the games more closely you’d see why McQualter can see some improvement - we’ve been able to genuinely challenge top sides for periods with an identifiable game plan. Unfortunately, we’ve been unable to sustain that effort across four quarters and have often fallen away badly

And we’ve been able to do that without meaningful contributions from four of our best/most important players for the majority of the season - Yeo, McGovern, Waterman and Allen

In fairness I think Hirds comments were in regards to improvement from last season to this season.

I can see his point, are we a better team than last year, performances and results suggest no. Are there reasons for that, yes.

Did we improve in season...tough to say, we were inconsistent throughout the season often having one good performance backed up at least two terrible ones. People forget we backed up the horror GC round 1 by nearly beating Brisbane at the Gabba.

I'd say we haven't improved but we are moving in the right direction. There's a slight distinction in that we could have performed better and won more games with last year's game style and less injuries but we'd be further away from a premiership.

 

[CoastersFlag No.5]

Quite a good pisstake of our season by BACKCHAT.

 

[MrWoollie]

I question every achievement Hird made during his career after what went down when he was coach. Highly likely he was on the juice the whole time IMO. You don't go from somebody who never touched that stuff your whole playing career to all of a sudden a wildly enthusiastic peddler, promoter and distributor of the stuff to a group of 40 blokes under your care in the few short years between his playing coaching careers. And nobody has ever put that to him to his face even though he is on the TV several nights a week.

This x 1000. He also magically came back from many serious injuries that others havnt....

We all know when the love affair started

As a player he grew a giant muscled neck that made his head look unbalancedly small. Something that then appeared on other Essendon players when he was coach. Went to a match during the period when Essendon were 'enhancing performance' and was near the exit race as they walked off. Looked like a bunch of body builders compared to our mob. All was explained a couple of years later.

Something you see when you visit the weights room of a suburban gym. Giant neck, pin head.

 

[Scotland]

In fairness I think Hirds comments were in regards to improvement from last season to this season.

I can see his point, are we a better team than last year, performances and results suggest no. Are there reasons for that, yes.

Did we improve in season...tough to say, we were inconsistent throughout the season often having one good performance backed up at least two terrible ones. People forget we backed up the horror GC round 1 by nearly beating Brisbane at the Gabba.

I'd say we haven't improved but we are moving in the right direction. There's a slight distinction in that we could have performed better and won more games with last year's game style and less injuries but we'd be further away from a premiership.

WC, Richmond and North are playing off to win 5 or 6 games. Once you graduate from that level you are into the teams having catastrophically bad years (Essendon) and teams that aren't really going anywhere (also Essendon, but with Carlton, St Kilda, Melbourne for company) before you get to teams that are in contention to make the 8. That's how far back we are. WC 2001 won 5 games. They were still 6% below the bottom 2 and utter dogshit.

Take out results against each other and we have one win, Richmond have 3 (including one against late season Essendon, woo), North have two and a draw. North have been the best over the course of the season but 5 wins 76% is still below Essendon who used 44 players.

When we are this bad I focus on games we are in. Last year I count maybe 9 games we won or were at least a chance of winning at 3QT. This year I think we also land on 9 despite only winning one. Given the changes to the 23 I am actually almost happy the season was up and down rather than starting off promising then ending with cricket scores.

 

[amazingjoshy]

 

[Altum Volantes]

Willie has retired. Thanks for the memories you goal-kicking, maynard-blocking, pot-smoking turncoat son of a gun!.

...but let's not forget our friends at Fox Footy in all of this...

 

[Big_Birdy]

Willie has retired. Thanks for the memories you goal-kicking, maynard-blocking, pot-smoking turncoat son of a gun!.

...but let's not forget our friends at Fox Footy in all of this...

View attachment 2407541

That is truly unbelievable.

 

[bzparkes]

Willie has retired. Thanks for the memories you goal-kicking, maynard-blocking, pot-smoking turncoat son of a gun!.

...but let's not forget our friends at Fox Footy in all of this...

View attachment 2407541

The Fox Footy guy putting this together:

 

[Byron_Clanger]

Willie has retired. Thanks for the memories you goal-kicking, maynard-blocking, pot-smoking turncoat son of a gun!.

...but let's not forget our friends at Fox Footy in all of this...

View attachment 2407541

I told my Mum last night Willie Rioli's retiring and she goes 'Oh well, wasn't he going to St Kilda anyway?'

I was like

 

[Truly Lazuli]

Willie has retired. Thanks for the memories you goal-kicking, maynard-blocking, pot-smoking turncoat son of a gun!.

...but let's not forget our friends at Fox Footy in all of this...

View attachment 2407541

Boy oh boy, wowee!

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

Quite a good pisstake of our season by BACKCHAT.

Brayshaw's section on the culture of the club.

 

[oak79]

I told my Mum last night Willie Rioli's retiring and she goes 'Oh well, wasn't he going to St Kilda anyway?'

I was like


View attachment 2407553

Is your mum BT ?

 

[Byron_Clanger]

https://archive.md/mdnMK

Paywall broken to copy the Eagles section.

WEST COAST​

Current Picks: 1, 12, 19, 30, 48
West Coast currently has pick 1, but is also expected to secure pick 2 as free agency compensation for departing captain Oscar Allen

4

Oscar Allen

Age

26

Ht

196cm

Wt

96kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

9.8

2star

K

6.6

3star

HB

3.2

3star

M

3.8

4star

T

2.4

4star

G

1.1

4star

No current season stats available

D

8.6

3star

K

5.8

3star

HB

2.8

3star

M

3.8

4star

T

2.0

4star

G

1.2

4star

.
Its draft haul could be improved even further if Liam Ryan

31

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

is traded, too.
With the first two picks, rival recruiters are expecting the Eagles to take 191cm Victorian utility Willem Duursma and 200cm ruckman-forward Cooper Duff-Tytler.

Duursma has looked best as a damaging midfielder-forward this year but has also spent time as a rebounding halfback, while Duff-Tytler looks up to Fremantle’s Luke Jackson

9

Luke Jackson

Age

24

Ht

199cm

Wt

102kg

Pos.

F/R

Career

Season

Last 5

D

8.3

2star

K

3.3

1star

HB

5.0

4star

M

1.5

2star

T

1.0

3star

G

0.3

3star

D

8.3

2star

K

3.3

1star

HB

5.0

3star

M

1.5

2star

T

1.0

2star

G

0.3

3star

D

8.3

3star

K

3.3

2star

HB

5.0

4star

M

1.5

2star

T

1.0

3star

G

0.3

3star

as a mobile tall who can impact in and around the ruck and also take a mark and kick a goal when forward.

At pick 12 – which will be pushed back after early bids are matched - West Coast could look at a homegrown West Australian talent like rebounding defender Jacob Farrow or onballer Fred Rodriguez.

The Eagles also have access to father-son Charlie Banfield – the son of two-time premiership player Drew – who is a 191cm wingman that could come into the equation later in the draft.
Lively forwards Tylah Williams and Wes Walley are also available to West Coast as NGA prospects this year, along with tough onballer Koby Evans.

 

[amazingjoshy]

Brayshaw's section on the culture of the club.

Guy is spectacularly unfunny. No idea how anyone watches that

 

[Ochre]

That is truly unbelievable.

Oh it's very believable surely. Have you never seen any AFL media before?

 

[DanWCE]

Willie has retired. Thanks for the memories you goal-kicking, maynard-blocking, pot-smoking turncoat son of a gun!.

...but let's not forget our friends at Fox Footy in all of this...

View attachment 2407541

Wow. Is that for real? In an age where you miss a month for using a word not a fist, how does this not get picked up and ripped to shreds? Repeated behaviour from media types, too.

 

[kane249]

Brayshaw's section on the culture of the club.

I still don't get the kerfuffle over that. He was employed by the West Coast Eagles, damn right they should expect him to play for the club also in the WAFL and not against him.

People complained it was a jobs for the boys club and we didn't take a hard enough stance, when they did take a hard stance people complained they were being dicks and they shouldn't dictate terms like that.

You just can't win either way

 

[Bender_]

Guy is spectacularly unfunny. No idea how anyone watches that

He's his own biggest fan.

 

[HoneyBadger35]

I still don't get the kerfuffle over that. He was employed by the West Coast Eagles, damn right they should expect him to play for the club also in the WAFL and not against him.

People complained it was a jobs for the boys club and we didn't take a hard enough stance, when they did take a hard stance people complained they were being dicks and they shouldn't dictate terms like that.

You just can't win either way

Was the issue here not around the fact we tried to hand back the team, leaving a bunch of players in limbo, and in that span he went and signed elsewhere? Then when we kept the WAFL side we made him quit his role at the club as a result of not being a Beagle anymore?

Seems reasonably justified to me, assuming I’ve got the detail on that right. Didn’t watch the segment so apologies if he’s talking about another scenario.