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So I've read a few articles this recent week on the back of about 90% of "experts" finally actually watching us play, and with that comes the usual over-hype: "real deal", "West Coast can win the Premiership" type articles - which, even for me a very positive person, feel is an unreal expectation.
But while this year I think is well beyond us for a premiership, we should start believing that we're in with a chance over the next few years. While this thread isn't meant to discuss what are our chances at a premiership, in terms of West Coast vs. the rest, it's more about what further improvement or changes do we need internally in order to build a premiership-worthy side.
Do we just need to recruit/trade one A-grade mid to top off our team, or is there more to it?
The forwards:
I believe what we have right now is a just about a "premiership" forward line in terms of their age, their ability and the dynamics in player attributes we have:
Kennedy
Le Cras
Darling
Cripps
McGovern (F/B)
Hill
With - Yeo, Naitanui, Sinclair, Lamb amongst others able to spend time up forward.
Not only have we consistently averaged high scores over the past few years, but we've got that hunger back in terms of defensive pressure - led by Cripps we lay the most tackles inside 50 and with Darling starting to find fitness this will only improve. Kennedy and Le Cras will be in their prime for the next 3-5 years depending on injuries.
Naitanui has proven to be a good goal kicker when resting forward and most of our rucks are good enough to hold a position or at least provide a contest.
Most pieces are in place in terms of our forwards, if there's any improvement to come, it may come from Lamb, Newman, Karpany (long shot) or a recruit filling in as that real X-factor small forward, not that we really lack in this area, but those guys could offer something very unique that will just complete the setup, as well as adding depth.
The weakness comes from perhaps an over-reliance on Kennedy - while this is probably true for most teams with such a dominant forward, we need Kennedy fit more than just about any player if a premiership is to be a possibility.
Midfield:
Certainly an area of further improvement, where off-season trades/recruits are again likely to be a focus. But the pieces may already be in place and it's just a matter of general improvement all round and a continued development of the gameplan.
The big factors of whether we really make it come down to Shuey turning from potential A-grade to out and out star. A player who is in brownlow contention, who's lifting the team with standout performances. I like what Shuey is doing this year, he's been great, but I think another one or two steps up to be elite could make a huge difference.
The other improvements are turning our hard running midfielders - Sheed, Gaff, Masten etc. into goal scorers - so far Masten has 0 goals, Sheed 3 and Gaff 5.
The last few years the best teams have had one of their wingman (Smith, Jetta, S. Hill) average a goal a game, so it's important for at least one to take on that more attacking role. While goals isn't all, it's getting involved with scoring through assists and the like as well.
Another factor is seeing just how good Sheed, Yeo and Duggan can get. We've seen a bit from all these guys to understand that the potential is certainly there, but it's whether we can get the best from them, and get that on a consistent basis and on the big stage. If one of these guys takes over as #1 mid with improvement elsewhere, then I think we'll be well on our way.
This is compounded with finding a diamond in the rough (Cavka, Waterman, Colledge or another recruit), the potential for another breakout player to add much needed depth will be very important.
Naitanui is a premiership player. The support he gets from Sinclair or Lycett will be very important, especially in their roles as forwards as well as providing impact when Naitanui is off the ball. I think that even if those players don't come on quite as we expect Naitanui is good enough to dominate and a 2nd ruckman isn't crucial to a premiership team.
Priddis - is he still around when we have our tilt? I think so, and if he plays like he is now, he'll be very important. Weaknesses aside, he is absolutely as reliable as they come in that centre square, if the tide is turning you can rely on Priddis to get that hard ball for a clearance or put the clamps on with a tackle to stop the momentum. Some may disagree, but he's premiership quality as is.
The Backs:
Big question marks here for mine - right now we're looking good based mainly on structure as well as most players playing out of their skin. Eventually, you expect this zone to break down and get exposed and that's when you've got to rely on player skill, especially from the talls and as much as I love Gov and Schoey, they aren't 1 on 1 beasts.
Even Emac may not be the same (I pray he will be), a knee reco is a huge recovery, Brown is having his 2nd and even if he's fine, I'm not sure he's quite the quality of a 2nd tall in a premiership team.
I think for this backline to become premiership worthy we need a few of the following:
Our structures can hold up
Schofield/Brown take another step up
Gov stays down back to provide assistance
Barrass/Powell or another recruit/trade jumps up
So it's all about the talls - Hurn, Wellers, Shep and Ellis are quality runners off half back, their good enough for mine with continued improvement to be premiership quality players (a couple already are premiership players). Rosa, Bennell and Butler may or may not be good enough in 2-3 years when we're really in premiership mode, but they do add decent depth.
While Nelson looks very composed, strong and skilled - if he fulfils his potential he could be a star on half-back and that extra bit of class that we'll need.
TL;DR
So basically, there are still a lot of ifs, buts and maybe, however I think a lot of the players are already on our list in order to have a tilt at a premiership, but it'll take some big leaps of form for some players, while others just need to continue to do what their doing on a consistent basis.
There is obviously the need to blood some quality youth and hope that 1 or 2 become A-grade to ease the burden on the older players.
The main concerns are having an elite mid, more scoreboard impact from mids, quality KPDs, a mix of players up forward and continued execution of the gameplan through the midfield and down back.
An experienced recruit - Coniglio, Motlop etc. may be a quick fix to some issues, but even they don't guarantee premiership success.
What are your thoughts?
But while this year I think is well beyond us for a premiership, we should start believing that we're in with a chance over the next few years. While this thread isn't meant to discuss what are our chances at a premiership, in terms of West Coast vs. the rest, it's more about what further improvement or changes do we need internally in order to build a premiership-worthy side.
Do we just need to recruit/trade one A-grade mid to top off our team, or is there more to it?
The forwards:
I believe what we have right now is a just about a "premiership" forward line in terms of their age, their ability and the dynamics in player attributes we have:
Kennedy
Le Cras
Darling
Cripps
McGovern (F/B)
Hill
With - Yeo, Naitanui, Sinclair, Lamb amongst others able to spend time up forward.
Not only have we consistently averaged high scores over the past few years, but we've got that hunger back in terms of defensive pressure - led by Cripps we lay the most tackles inside 50 and with Darling starting to find fitness this will only improve. Kennedy and Le Cras will be in their prime for the next 3-5 years depending on injuries.
Naitanui has proven to be a good goal kicker when resting forward and most of our rucks are good enough to hold a position or at least provide a contest.
Most pieces are in place in terms of our forwards, if there's any improvement to come, it may come from Lamb, Newman, Karpany (long shot) or a recruit filling in as that real X-factor small forward, not that we really lack in this area, but those guys could offer something very unique that will just complete the setup, as well as adding depth.
The weakness comes from perhaps an over-reliance on Kennedy - while this is probably true for most teams with such a dominant forward, we need Kennedy fit more than just about any player if a premiership is to be a possibility.
Midfield:
Certainly an area of further improvement, where off-season trades/recruits are again likely to be a focus. But the pieces may already be in place and it's just a matter of general improvement all round and a continued development of the gameplan.
The big factors of whether we really make it come down to Shuey turning from potential A-grade to out and out star. A player who is in brownlow contention, who's lifting the team with standout performances. I like what Shuey is doing this year, he's been great, but I think another one or two steps up to be elite could make a huge difference.
The other improvements are turning our hard running midfielders - Sheed, Gaff, Masten etc. into goal scorers - so far Masten has 0 goals, Sheed 3 and Gaff 5.
The last few years the best teams have had one of their wingman (Smith, Jetta, S. Hill) average a goal a game, so it's important for at least one to take on that more attacking role. While goals isn't all, it's getting involved with scoring through assists and the like as well.
Another factor is seeing just how good Sheed, Yeo and Duggan can get. We've seen a bit from all these guys to understand that the potential is certainly there, but it's whether we can get the best from them, and get that on a consistent basis and on the big stage. If one of these guys takes over as #1 mid with improvement elsewhere, then I think we'll be well on our way.
This is compounded with finding a diamond in the rough (Cavka, Waterman, Colledge or another recruit), the potential for another breakout player to add much needed depth will be very important.
Naitanui is a premiership player. The support he gets from Sinclair or Lycett will be very important, especially in their roles as forwards as well as providing impact when Naitanui is off the ball. I think that even if those players don't come on quite as we expect Naitanui is good enough to dominate and a 2nd ruckman isn't crucial to a premiership team.
Priddis - is he still around when we have our tilt? I think so, and if he plays like he is now, he'll be very important. Weaknesses aside, he is absolutely as reliable as they come in that centre square, if the tide is turning you can rely on Priddis to get that hard ball for a clearance or put the clamps on with a tackle to stop the momentum. Some may disagree, but he's premiership quality as is.
The Backs:
Big question marks here for mine - right now we're looking good based mainly on structure as well as most players playing out of their skin. Eventually, you expect this zone to break down and get exposed and that's when you've got to rely on player skill, especially from the talls and as much as I love Gov and Schoey, they aren't 1 on 1 beasts.
Even Emac may not be the same (I pray he will be), a knee reco is a huge recovery, Brown is having his 2nd and even if he's fine, I'm not sure he's quite the quality of a 2nd tall in a premiership team.
I think for this backline to become premiership worthy we need a few of the following:
Our structures can hold up
Schofield/Brown take another step up
Gov stays down back to provide assistance
Barrass/Powell or another recruit/trade jumps up
So it's all about the talls - Hurn, Wellers, Shep and Ellis are quality runners off half back, their good enough for mine with continued improvement to be premiership quality players (a couple already are premiership players). Rosa, Bennell and Butler may or may not be good enough in 2-3 years when we're really in premiership mode, but they do add decent depth.
While Nelson looks very composed, strong and skilled - if he fulfils his potential he could be a star on half-back and that extra bit of class that we'll need.
TL;DR
So basically, there are still a lot of ifs, buts and maybe, however I think a lot of the players are already on our list in order to have a tilt at a premiership, but it'll take some big leaps of form for some players, while others just need to continue to do what their doing on a consistent basis.
There is obviously the need to blood some quality youth and hope that 1 or 2 become A-grade to ease the burden on the older players.
The main concerns are having an elite mid, more scoreboard impact from mids, quality KPDs, a mix of players up forward and continued execution of the gameplan through the midfield and down back.
An experienced recruit - Coniglio, Motlop etc. may be a quick fix to some issues, but even they don't guarantee premiership success.
What are your thoughts?
