Changes for Round 6 v Adelaide

[flyinghi64]

Would have said Jetta and Cameron if fit but after reading Shuey comments am thinking there may be a first gamer or a couple.
Brayshaw would be a great in I think. Fairly mature and you know he will try his guts out.
Nic Reid sounds like another good one, not heard much on him but could be a good Jone replacement.

May as well try a few new guys out before we come home and try to go on a big roll.

 

[Ok Boomer]

Some predictable names in the declines for us, although Yeo looks like he has turned the corner.

I don't know how much stock you can put in these ratings though, Duggan and Allen are listed as improvers.

 

[SloppyJoe]

Fyfe will be back though.

The secret to beating them isn't too difficult. Yeo to hard tag Fyfe, Shep to shutdown Walters and someone to make sure Mundy is accountable. Don't think they have anyone else of note.

Except for Tabener, we'll just have to accept he is going to kick a bag.

A bag of behinds/OOFs.

 

[SloppyJoe]

Hopefully a debut in the mids rather than Brander back.

He shows a lot of promise for sure but I think the benefit of pumping games into him for the sake of it is outweighed by the fact he is being played out of position.

If a spot in the backline opens up (Hurn? or the Duggan/Nelson/Cole merry go round?) and he is better suited than Rotham/Edwards then let's get him in. Maybe even up forward, although Oscar and Jake are clearly ahead of him.

Until then he'll need to bide his time. In playing him on a wing the club has been trying to jam a square peg in a round hole. Add to that the difficult games he has been picked for and I'm not certain we have gained much in his 7 games. Definitely wouldn't have helped his confidence.

 

[campaigner___]

It's gotta be Hammer to debut. I feel like the club put him under Shuey's wing when he came to WC and there's a spot for him this week. I'd like it to be XON but I don't know if he's physically at the level yet.

 

[Obeanie1]

This. So much this. We seem to have a mild obsession with taking kids that havent played as midfielders (particularly half back flankers) and trying to turn them into midfielders. Or, taking midfielders and trying to play them on the half forward flank. I look at our list and the lack of young quality mids coming through the ranks and developing in the seconds is a huge, huge worry.

It has to be our number 1 priority from next year (we gave away our first round pick this year to the cats):
-draft actual midfielders
-play them in the midfield
-develop young onball talent and desperately improve our young midfield depth

So draft 18 year old mids and throw them in the guts to get smashed?

So many keyboard warriors on here who think they know how to develop AFL player's.

When a young kid gets drafted it is common practice across all club's that they don't necessarily play straight away in their preferred position. They get developed and play as flankers instead of on ballers or part of the spine.

They need that time to develop physically and mentally before they are suitably prepared to play in the position they dominated at u18 level.

They also need to displace an older and most likely better credentialed player who has earned that spot.

 

[Bleedblueandgold]

Would not be against a Hamish debut. Plays with a lot of passion and it would be great reward for him. Can't see him remaining in the team after Shuey returns, but would love to see how he goes at AFL level for a few games.

 

[WCErevival]

Strange XON wasn't mentioned. Thought he would be the most likely to play out of the mids.

 

[Miguel Sanchez]

Sorry Reidy, I was in favour of you being rookie listed but I can’t get as excited for your debut as I can for a Brayshaw or ONeill or Treacy debut.

 

[Obeanie1]

Strange XON wasn't mentioned. Thought he would be the most likely to play out of the mids.

So what / who was that article in the West talking about?

Brayshaw debut?

 

[WCErevival]

So what / who was that article in the West talking about?

Brayshaw debut?

Brayshaw and Reid were mentioned along with Ainsworth and Cameron

 

[FreeTK]

So what / who was that article in the West talking about?

Brayshaw debut?

It was an absolute nothing article about Luke Shuey hearing the boys rapturous applause, but not knowing what it was about.

As it turns out the applause was for the announcement that Gov will lead the boys out filling in for boots as Captain against Adelaide.

Also- How about the club now officially referring to Brander as a midfieler

"A few players, aware their names have been bandied about as possible replacements for hamstrung pair Shuey and Jamaine Jones, had a pep in their step.

Among them were forwards Jack Petruccelle, Jarrod Cameron and Nic Reid. Midfielders Jarrod Brander, Brayden Ainsworth and Hamish Brayshaw also trained enthusiastically."

McGovern to lead West Coast

The former rookie will lead the Eagles into battle against Adelaide while Luke Shuey is sidelined

www.westcoasteagles.com.au

 

[campaigner___]

It was an absolute nothing article about Luke Shuey hearing the boys rapturous applause, but not knowing what it was about.

As it turns out the applause was for the announcement that Gov will lead the boys out filling in for boots as Captain against Adelaide.

Also- How about the club now officially referring to Brander as a midfieler

"A few players, aware their names have been bandied about as possible replacements for hamstrung pair Shuey and Jamaine Jones, had a pep in their step.

Among them were forwards Jack Petruccelle, Jarrod Cameron and Nic Reid. Midfielders Jarrod Brander, Brayden Ainsworth and Hamish Brayshaw also trained enthusiastically."

McGovern to lead West Coast

The former rookie will lead the Eagles into battle against Adelaide while Luke Shuey is sidelined

www.westcoasteagles.com.au

Brander will never be a midfielder, until we trade him to geelong for their first pick and he ends up serving it to us on a platter.

 

[DanWCE]

Reid is getting plenty of mentions as well. Wouldn't mind him getting a game just for the Carbine Chaos melts

 

[Miguel Sanchez]

Also- How about the club now officially referring to Brander as a midfieler

He’s been playing midfield at WAFL level since last season, and on team photo day when they split into their lines he was in with the mids.

This is where they see him, for the time being at least.

 

[daddy_4_eyes]

Eh, hope it's not Reid.
Average WAFL quality at best from what I've been reading. Already 25 so not our future either.

Rather one of the young midfielders get a run, give the supporters a chance to see the future.
And yes, I realise footy is about winning games and not exciting the supporters. But I want what I want.

 

[Carbine Chaos]

Reid is getting plenty of mentions as well. Wouldn't mind him getting a game just for the Carbine Chaos melts

May as well delist Petch if he can’t get a game ahead of Reid.

 

[The wily weagle]

So draft 18 year old mids and throw them in the guts to get smashed?

So many keyboard warriors on here who think they know how to develop AFL player's.

When a young kid gets drafted it is common practice across all club's that they don't necessarily play straight away in their preferred position. They get developed and play as flankers instead of on ballers or part of the spine.

They need that time to develop physically and mentally before they are suitably prepared to play in the position they dominated at u18 level.

They also need to displace an older and most likely better credentialed player who has earned that spot.

True to a point.

In a club that's in the process of contending, kids are indeed played somewhat out of position in order to get games into them. If the club isn't immediately deemed to contending, the best young mids go straight into middle. Yes they can get "smashed" (Matt Rowell being an obvious example on the weekend) but thats a relative risk. A kid could just as possibly get equally smashed on the half back flank. Or on a wing. Or playing full forward. This is a contact sport and first year kids naturally tend to be more susceptible to damage irrespective to where they are positioned, because they are competing against bigger, stronger and more seasoned opponents.

The key here is, these clubs actually have the midfield talent on their lists to begin with.

With us, the cupboard is bare in terms of top young onballers. We have a wealth of talls, a wealth of half back flankers, a good assortment of forwards but an absolute obvious lack of quality mids. And where they can and should be plying their trade in the WAFL/reserves midfield, its grim viewing.

We have:
-braden ainsworth
-hamish Brayshaw
-Kurt mutimer
-Daniel venebles (whos career could possibly be over)
-josh Smith
-Ah Chee

Now of those, Ah Chee is the best of the bunch, and that's not hard when you look at who he's competing against. So what the club has done is looked at a young guy like Brander and said, "well, he's mobile and has good hands. We have a lot of tall forward options, and a lot of backline options so we can't really put him in the side in those spots. He's a high draft pick........maybe we can make him a midfielder?"

Kind of what the club attempted to do with Duggan for a while, who had always played at half back since his junior days and low and behold, when he was returned to half back where he had always played his best footy, he started to come on.

It's not an accident.

Off the top of my head, the last true first round mid that we have selected at the draft that we actually played in the middle is Sheed. But then as per aforementioned they tried hard for a while to play him as a half forward and again, naturally, for a long time he looked out of sorts too. We may even have to go as far back as Luke Shuey for a genuine midfielder we drafted that has actually always been played and developed in the middle.

Our stocks are scarily low in this area, and we can't even go to the draft this year to address this because we have given our first rounder to Geelong. So we resort to a degree of stop gaps: hoping kids like Brander, who have never been onballers, but have some talent and physical tools, and play them as midfielders in the hope they might end up as the next Patrick Cripps

The club must focus all their draft energies in the years to come selecting the best available onball talent, and be prepared to play them in the middle, rather then grabbing a forward or a half back flanker and hoping they might make the grade as an onballer

Otherwise, if you look at our lack of young midfield talent coming through, in the seasons to come we can, and will, fall off a cliff

 

[Miguel Sanchez]

True to a point.

In a club that's in the process of contending, kids are indeed played somewhat out of position in order to get games into them. If the club isn't immediately deemed to contending, the best young mids go straight into middle. Yes they can get "smashed" (Matt Rowell being an obvious example on the weekend) but thats a relative risk. A kid could just as possibly get equally smashed on the half back flank. Or on a wing. Or playing full forward. This is a contact sport and first year kids naturally tend to be more susceptible to damage irrespective to where they are positioned, because they are competing against bigger, stronger and more seasoned opponents.

The key here is, these clubs actually have the midfield talent on their lists to begin with.

With us, the cupboard is bare in terms of top young onballers. We have a wealth of talls, a wealth of half back flankers, a good assortment of forwards but an absolute obvious lack of quality mids. And where they can and should be plying their trade in the WAFL/reserves midfield, its grim viewing.

We have:
-braden ainsworth
-hamish Brayshaw
-Kurt mutimer
-Daniel venebles (whos career could possibly be over)
-josh Smith
-Ah Chee

Now of those, Ah Chee is the best of the bunch, and that's not hard when you look at who he's competing against. So what the club has done is looked at a young guy like Brander and said, "well, he's mobile and has good hands. We have a lot of tall forward options, and a lot of backline options so we can't really put him in the side in those spots. He's a high draft pick........maybe we can make him a midfielder?"

Kind of what the club attempted to do with Duggan for a while, who had always played at half back since his junior days and low and behold, when he was returned to half back where he had always played his best footy, he started to come on.

It's not an accident.

Off the top of my head, the last true first round mid that we have selected at the draft that we actually played in the middle is Sheed. But then as per aforementioned they tried hard for a while to play him as a half forward and again, naturally, for a long time he looked out of sorts too. We may even have to go as far back as Luke Shuey for a genuine midfielder we drafted that has actually always been played and developed in the middle.

Our stocks are scarily low in this area, and we can't even go to the draft this year to address this because we have given our first rounder to Geelong. So we resort to a degree of stop gaps: hoping kids like Brander, who have never been onballers, but have some talent and physical tools, and play them as midfielders in the hope they might end up as the next Patrick Cripps

The club must focus all their draft energies in the years to come selecting the best available onball talent, and be prepared to play them in the middle, rather then grabbing a forward or a half back flanker and hoping they might make the grade as an onballer

Otherwise, if you look at our lack of young midfield talent coming through, in the seasons to come we can, and will, fall off a cliff

Yes we’re very light on for young midfield prospects. However I have my doubts about an in-depth critique of our current young midfield stocks that for some reason includes Josh Smith (neither that young, nor really a midfielder, and in any event is now in the VAFA) and Kurt Mutimer (was going to play for Casey Demons this season) but neither of the O’Neills.

 

[The wily weagle]

Yes we’re very light on for young midfield prospects. However I have my doubts about an in-depth critique of our current young midfield stocks that for some reason includes Josh Smith (neither that young, nor really a midfielder, and in any event is now in the VAFA) and Kurt Mutimer (was going to play for Casey Demons this season) but neither of the O’Neills.

I havent seen enough of the O'Neils consistently to comment

What i have seen, i do see potential

What i have heard, sounds extremely promising

But, i just haven't seen enough consistently to make a more astute judgement

If they seem like they are shaping as AFL standards mids, awesome

 

[Miguel Sanchez]

I havent seen enough of the O'Neils consistently to comment

What i have seen, i do see potential

What i have heard, sounds extremely promising

But, i just haven't seen enough consistently to make a more astute judgement

If they seem like they are shaping as AFL standards mids, awesome

My point was, you didn’t include them at all in your list of our young mids, but for some reason included guys we’ve delisted. XON looks decent and is potentially in line for Shuey’s spot this week. MON seemed like a draft steal but has been injured and unsighted so who knows.

Since Sheed we’ve drafted those two, plus Partington, Mutimer, Brayshaw, Ainsworth, Foley, Cavka, Snadden, England and probably others I can’t think of as mids. None of those have come off to date and most of them are gone, but the club has certainly had a crack at finding midfield talent. They just haven’t done it very well.

 

[The wily weagle]

My point was, you didn’t include them at all in your list of our young mids, but for some reason included guys we’ve delisted.

After having worked at 12 hour shift in a hospital, I do have trouble recalling everyone on our WAFL list.

Its not selective naming, its a combination of fatigue and hypoglycaemia

 

[boondy]

My point was, you didn’t include them at all in your list of our young mids, but for some reason included guys we’ve delisted. XON looks decent and is potentially in line for Shuey’s spot this week. MON seemed like a draft steal but has been injured and unsighted so who knows.

Since Sheed we’ve drafted those two, plus Partington, Mutimer, Brayshaw, Ainsworth, Foley, Cavka, Snadden, England and probably others I can’t think of as mids. None of those have come off to date and most of them are gone, but the club has certainly had a crack at finding midfield talent. They just haven’t done it very well.

Cavka and Alec Waterman would have gone ok . Sadly it didnt happen .

 

[Jeeves]

If they leave Waterman out and bring in Brander, I’ll crack. Nothing against Brander, but he’s just... out of place (albeit improving weekly).

That is just not going to happen so you’re not going to crack.

 

[jesterwester]

Even thinking about Shuey, his first few games prior to his break out year were played on the HFF, with bursts in the middle. When they are ready to play AFL you find what you can to develop them at the top level. Even if it’s not going to be the end role.

Our young midfielders have been a bit unlucky. Although the midfield isn’t our strongest point, our midfielders had a good run with injury in that 2015-2019 period.
Guys who would be in the firing line to be replaced by our young mids (like Redden/Masto/Sheed/Hutchings etc) have played well enough to keep their spot. Even Ah Chee, who we recruited to play in the midfield hasn’t been able to break in.

So unless you are a Chris Judd kicking 5 and having 30 touches at the WAFL level leaving no choice but to play you; most will just have to settle making the most of the chance if and when it comes your way.