Coach Welcome to West Coast: Andrew McQualter

[Rowan18]

Duggan - plays like 7th defender, somehow Captain. Can't seem to shepherd the defence into any sort of functional shape, let alone the entire side.

Kelly - just seems to have zero passion in how he plays football.

Snake - kicking woes are deflating and is struggling for impact around the ground.

Yeo - maybe trying too hard. Making some poor decisions.

These "Old Guard" guys have never been the compelling and/or consistent performers - through injury or attitude or talent - that good leaders typify.

Mini's new, old guard are mostly unavailable or misses. Baker tries really hard but it's difficult to lead effectively when you are a turnover merchant.

This is actually a good thing compared to where we came from. Previously these guys were the best we had. At least now the younger players are raw and inconsistent, but have much more talent.

The season that we have replaced these old guys with better players in the B22, is probably the year we're back into finals. Most likely it comes mainly from the young guys aging to an experienced level (look at how consistent Ginbey and Harley are now in their 3rd/4th seasons) and a few more good trades (look at the impact Baker, Graham and Dev have had - hopefully we say the same about Starc).

If below them is another group of raw but talented youngsters from 2026 and 2027 draft, then we are very well positioned for sustained success from 2028 onwards.

Just need to nail the drafts. The biggest turning point in our rebuild was rebuilding the recruiting department- so far they look to have nailed 2 drafts and 2 MSD.

Edit: Waterman is an absolute gun and we need him as our senior forward line leader to guide us to 2030 flag

 

[Bacchus]

This is a fair point but the problem lies with the quality of the entries. 13.10 isn’t fantastic goal kicking but it’s not awful when we get a look at it. Our entries are shallow or they are panicked, high kicks that don’t give our plethora of excellent tall forwards a chance.

I really hope we prioritise kicking skills with our 1R pick this year, getting Neale would also be a huge help. This mock for territory and then pressure gameplan is total bullshit with our cattle.

I think the “plethora of tall forwards” as you describe them are being over exaggerated, especially with the absence of Archer Reid who is a pretty imposing physical presence if nothing else.

Shanahan, is a very promising prospect, but is not actually doing much apart from a great mark or two per game. He should be playing as a third tall forward atm.

CDT is pumped up a lot but he is not a strong mark at this point in his career.

We do not have any smaller forwards of note.

This leaves Waterman who is undersized but battling heroically. His poor kicking is hurting the team and he is double and triple teamed. I think it’s a case of stop Waterman and you basically negate our scoring options.
Add to that our poor entries.

My basic point is that we don’t actually have the forward potency that we think we have.

 

[greatwhiteshark]

I mean, you say this, but we got Baker two trade periods ago and Starcevich last year, both handy players, if not guns. I think the improvements in the kids is largely obvious (Hough gone backwards a bit, jury out on Hewitt), if you add another top pick this year, there will more wins against next season, then you start bringing in your Warners and hopefully a decent KPD.

Clearly we need to show that improvement, if only to keep Harley hanging around. But I don't think it's quite the doom and gloom even if going to last weekend's game gave me a bird's eye view of one the worst performances in recent memory.

I didn't say it's doom and gloom, I said if we do not start to see major improvement then attracting players gets harder and harder. You have seen with big clubs like Essendon and Carlton that the game stops for no one and if you don't act you will get caught in a spiral that may take decades to get out of.
We are 5 years into a nightmare none of us ever saw our club entering, we are not the big boy club anymore that we once were. we are a club hanging on to dear life to be relevant.
Always seeing the positive in everything is admirable but in reality its a bit head in the sand type of stuff.
We could not be in a worse place even if they planned to be here. Is there light? Yes of course there is but we need to start making improvement, not necessarily more wins but the hidings have to be gone and the plan must be visible.

 

[greatwhiteshark]

Eye test suggests Kelly has improved his apparent "care factor" in 2026.

Cracked in for mine. He's far from a complete player, bit limited with his age and just how good he actually is compared to top line AFL midfielders, but he's done his part for a soon to be 32yr old 4th tier mid.


Has warranted selection in the AFL team's best 22 this year and should see out his final year (hopefully) next season split between the Beagles and depth in the AFL side.


Statistically, Champion Data has Kelly ranked as the highest averaging WCE player this season (74th overall in the league) ahead of McCarthy (88th), and Duursma (92nd ). Captain courageous himself Liam Duggan is 14th at the club and 228th in the league.

Kelly has been good this year, if anything he is a step ahead of most out players. He tries create but our players are not in the right spots so it all goes pear shaped.
I can’t accept Kelly being cracked this year.

 

[Bacchus]

I just don't think McQualter is a particularly inspiring figure to be leading a club.


The seniors don't respect him, he doesn't command respect from anyone IMO, essentially just a 'fresh face' brought in to steer "change" at the club with a young list and guide us through "the next period" which doesn't actually amount to any actual success out of the metrics improving or being "more competitive".


Brendan Bolton was of a very Similar ilk to McQualter IMO.

Came into Carlton after Milk Malthouse was moved on (our version of Simpson), was this new face and personality for 3 years, never really got them going or any meaningful improvement, then got swiftly put in the bin. Carlton finished 14th, 16th and 18th under Bolton.


It really begs the question of what a colossual waste of time that period was for the Blues, and i think we're living the exact same thing at West Coast right now. At the end of McQualters tenure (presumably ending next year) i think we'll have taken zero steps forward, short of collecting more draft picks, more unwanted records and be starting from scratch, hopefully with an actual proper coach in 2028.

Personally i wish we could just skip this coach and move on to the next one already. Bucks? Hinkley?

Sadly, you may be correct.

I don’t want McQualter to fail as dismally as Bolton but perhaps he will.
The signs are there.
At least McQualter played 70-80 games of AFL football, Bolton played none.

Surely the club internally would know more than us.
The list he is working with is pretty threadbare, maybe worse than Carlton’s has ever been, I don’t follow them that closely.

There supposedly were hardly any candidates when McQ got the job.
Perhaps a higher profile, stronger more experienced presence is needed if we can actually get one.
We’re in such a lamentable state that nobody seems to want to come here.
Steven King seems to have landed on his feet going to Melbourne.

Losing Robertson and Graham appears to be coaching career killing.

 

[eaglevision]

I think the “plethora of tall forwards” as you describe them are being over exaggerated, especially with the absence of Archer Reid who is a pretty imposing physical presence if nothing else.

Shanahan, is a very promising prospect, but is not actually doing much apart from a great mark or two per game. He should be playing as a third tall forward atm.

CDT is pumped up a lot but he is not a strong mark at this point in his career.

We do not have any smaller forwards of note.

This leaves Waterman who is undersized but battling heroically. His poor kicking is hurting the team and he is double and triple teamed. I think it’s a case of stop Waterman and you basically negate our scoring options.
Add to that our poor entries.

My basic point is that we don’t actually have the forward potency that we think we have.

They are all very good 1v1 marks, we just play a game style where our F50 entries result in them having to take pack marks, rather than receiving a kick on the lead to advantage.

They are very good and excellent young tall forwards, they just need to have the opportunity to show that. Logan Morris would look awful in our system but at Brisbane looks like the best tall forward in the game.

 

[Bacchus]

They are all very good 1v1 marks, we just play a game style where our F50 entries result in them having to take pack marks, rather than receiving a kick on the lead to advantage.

They are very good and excellent young tall forwards, they just need to have the opportunity to show that. Logan Morris would look awful in our system but at Brisbane looks like the best tall forward in the game.

You are talking about ‘chalk’ and ‘cheese’ with us and Brisbane.
But we are expecting a lot of very young players in their first handful of games in an historically weak team.

Apart from that Logan Morris is a surprisingly talented young player.

 

[pantskyle]

I'm no Kelly lover at all but thought the Richmond game was his best of the season.

 

[Chris_6678]

Who is our forward line coach?

 

[WCEbrody]

I'm no Kelly lover at all but thought the Richmond game was his best of the season.

And he was probably the fourth or fifth best midfielder on the ground in a game between the two worst sides in the comp.

Says it all really.

 

[CountryLad]

“I’m not delusional” then 30 seconds later “We’ve improved our game of football”.

If that’s not a delusion I don’t know what is.

In his defence he did say we have improved in some areas but are struggling to defend.

I mean when you have Young, Brock and Bazzo to pick as your key backs but decide that a 190cm Ginbey is the best key Defender, sums up as to what he has to work with and what he thinks of our key backs.

Edwards can’t get on the park and is another limited player but the best of our defensive talls.

Hough has been poor this year, Duggan cooked, Cole, Young and Brock not good enough, Maric not physical enough to play as a defender at AFL level. Then he is trying to get games into Lindsay who’s played half a dozen games in his first year of AFL.

The only two we haven’t seen at AFL level this year are Bazzo and Greggo. He obviously thinks they aren’t up to it.

It’s a shambles back there. 48 inside 50s and they nearly scored 100 points. Faull booted 3 goals and prior to this game looked like a rabbit in a spotlight at AFL level. On top of that we have had games where sides have scored 143, 122 and 163 points against us.

When Starc and Edwards are back I’d like Minni to really settle the defensive end.

Starc Edwards Baker
Ginbey Shanahan McCarthy

Lindsay on the bench to rotate through. Hough in that side if his form improves.

People will say don’t put Shanahan back, I get it (I really do) but we don’t have two of him. At this point of the rebuild we need to be able to have a defensive unit that can at least keep us in games.

A good cohesive defensive unit (didn’t use the word synergy) will help stop these blow outs that are occurring like vs the Saints and Swans. Keep the opposition to under 100 points and we will at least be in games for longer. The 120+ scores need to end, they are the ones that turn into blowouts that everyone is sick of.

 

[greatwhiteshark]

In his defence he did say we have improved in some areas but are struggling to defend.

I mean when you have Young, Brock and Bazzo to pick as your key backs but decide that a 190cm Ginbey is the best key Defender, sums up as to what he has to work with and what he thinks of our key backs.

Edwards can’t get on the park and is another limited player but the best of our defensive talls.

Hough has been poor this year, Duggan cooked, Cole, Young and Brock not good enough, Maric not physical enough to play as a defender at AFL level. Then he is trying to get games into Lindsay who’s played half a dozen games in his first year of AFL.

The only two we haven’t seen at AFL level this year are Bazzo and Greggo. He obviously thinks they aren’t up to it.

It’s a shambles back there. 48 inside 50s and they nearly scored 100 points. Faull booted 3 goals and prior to this game looked like a rabbit in a spotlight at AFL level. On top of that we have had games where sides have scored 143, 122 and 163 points against us.

When Starc is back and Edwards I’d like Minni to really settle the defensive end.

Starc Edwards Baker
Ginbey Shanahan McCarthy

Lindsay on the bench to rotate through. Hough in that side if his form improves.

People will say don’t put Shanahan back, I get it (I really do) but we don’t have two of him. At this point of the rebuild we need to be able to have a defensive unit that can at least keep us in games.

A good cohesive defensive unit (didn’t use the word synergy) will help stop these blow outs that are occurring like vs the Saints and Swans. Keep the opposition to under 100 points and we will at least be in games for longer. The 120+ scores need to end, they are the ones that turn into blowouts that everyone is sick of.

The best Development Jobe could have right now is playing in the defence, learn the hard work required to be accountable for a man and be able to read the play better.
I would have him CHB in an instance, it won't hurt his forward craft moving forward and will provide him a grounding to become a far better playing moving forward.

It's a no brainer to me and I am perplexed it has not been put in place yet.

The other thing moving him to defence is that it gets him in the game where as the Forward line he has long periods not being in the game. You want your talented young players in the game touching the footy. CHB is where Job needs to be.

Get Edwards back to FB and Jobe at CHB and our backline immediately starts to resemble something decent.

Just bloody do it.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

Daylight between them but Kelly would probably be second to Ginbey in the Woosha Medal.

For all his yips Waterman is probably third or thereabouts.

 

[CountryLad]

The best Development Jobe could have right now is playing in the defence, learn the hard work required to be accountable for a man and be able to read the play better.
I would have him CHB in an instance, it won't hurt his forward craft moving forward and will provide him a grounding to become a far better playing moving forward.

It's a no brainer to me and I am perplexed it has not been put in place yet.

The other thing moving him to defence is that it gets him in the game where as the Forward line he has long periods not being in the game. You want your talented young players in the game touching the footy. CHB is where Job needs to be.

Get Edwards back to FB and Jobe at CHB and our backline immediately starts to resemble something decent.

Just bloody do it.

If he wants to keep his job it’s what he should do. Keep losing games in blowouts and he will be out the door sooner rather than later. Make us competitive and he’s a chance to ride out the storm.

 

[Monocle]

The best Development Jobe could have right now is playing in the defence, learn the hard work required to be accountable for a man and be able to read the play better.
I would have him CHB in an instance, it won't hurt his forward craft moving forward and will provide him a grounding to become a far better playing moving forward.

It's a no brainer to me and I am perplexed it has not been put in place yet.

The other thing moving him to defence is that it gets him in the game where as the Forward line he has long periods not being in the game. You want your talented young players in the game touching the footy. CHB is where Job needs to be.

Get Edwards back to FB and Jobe at CHB and our backline immediately starts to resemble something decent.

Just bloody do it.

Agree strongly.

At Colts in WA and Under 19 in Victoria, I used to always give my young KPF a stint as a KPD, it actually accelerated their ability to improve their forward craft.

Carey, Longmire and Pavlich all were thrust into defensive roles to learn their craft, before they became game winning impactful key forwards.

As a coach you need to sure up your the backline, as you can always manufacture a forward line.

 

[squashface]

Who is our forward line coach?

Marco “Who?” Bello

 

[JackOutback]

Jobe played forward and back for weeks when Archer Reid was in the team. I definitely think playing him back helps his development and gives us at least one KPD capable of stopping a big oppo forward, but without Reid or JWilliams playing, we have no tall forwards and rely on Waterman, a second or third tall, as our only target. Hopefully once AReid comes back, Jobe will go back again.

 

[RanaNaved]

Imagine if we didn't have Ginbey back there, a truly frightening thought. Been all-world back there but desperately needs some help

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

Carey, Longmire and Pavlich all were thrust into defensive roles to learn their craft, before they became game winning impactful key forwards.

So did the best of them all: Quinten Lynch

 

[JackOutback]

Imagine if we didn't have Ginbey back there, a truly frightening thought. Been all-world back there but desperately needs some help

Think Bazzo has earnt his opportunity, though doesn't solve the 'key' back dilemma.

 

[The_Reaper]

I recognise that McQualter has walked into a complete shit show and it will take a long time to fix. He isn't responsible for the complete collapse in standards at the club since covid or the state of the list.
I also think we're not exactly attractive at the moment and at minimum we need to give him the rest of the season.

I do think however that the team has regressed over the last month and part of that is stuff that McQualter can and should be held accountable for.

Give him the season but to continute on to next year should need to prove improvement.

 

[flyinghi64]

Would love to know what all these KPI's are that we are killing it in.
They obviously have nothing to do with being competitive or scoring often.
Might be time to shift focus a little on some other KPI's that will make us a little harder to run over.

 

[Smotie2]

The best Development Jobe could have right now is playing in the defence, learn the hard work required to be accountable for a man and be able to read the play better.
I would have him CHB in an instance, it won't hurt his forward craft moving forward and will provide him a grounding to become a far better playing moving forward.

It's a no brainer to me and I am perplexed it has not been put in place yet.

The other thing moving him to defence is that it gets him in the game where as the Forward line he has long periods not being in the game. You want your talented young players in the game touching the footy. CHB is where Job needs to be.

Get Edwards back to FB and Jobe at CHB and our backline immediately starts to resemble something decent.

Just bloody do it.

I don't understand why this is so difficult to see for mini.
Play Williams up forward and shanahan in defence as you said and we look way better than just young and ginbey struggling.

Williams will actually help waterman also.
Shanahan may turn out to be another McGovern albeit temporarily.

Ginby then becomes a third defender free to impact more.

Why is it so hard.

 

[CountryLad]

Jobe played forward and back for weeks when Archer Reid was in the team. I definitely think playing him back helps his development and gives us at least one KPD capable of stopping a big oppo forward, but without Reid or JWilliams playing, we have no tall forwards and rely on Waterman, a second or third tall, as our only target. Hopefully once AReid comes back, Jobe will go back again.

Just play J Williams. The output from Jack vs Jobe up forward won’t be that much of a difference. Jobe will however help our biggest issue down back.

 

[Mop]

I'm no Kelly lover at all but thought the Richmond game was his best of the season.

he didn’t really do too much wrong - he was also pretty good in one of our wins

His issue is doing it week in week out but overall it’s been better this season.