News Insightful and Inciteful - 2022 Media Thread

[bzparkes]

Really? The amount of "I've always supported Freo, I just never mentioned it" supporters to come out of the woodwork in the past fortnight is almost unmissable.

I can understand people wanting to hide their shame but I live in Brisbane and everyone in my office follows the NRL, so thankfully I'm not forced so socialise with any Cockburner.

 

[The Passenger]

Did you see this one last week?

How West Coast got their list management so, so wrong

West Coast may soon discover that the penalty for not looking to the future will far outweigh the ego massage of a couple of taken finals appearances, writes Rohan Connolly.

www.espn.com.au

Compares the Eagles list management to Geelong (last premiership 2011), Sydney (2012) and Brisbane (2003).

No one is denying we're falling off a cliff, but please, we won a flag, now comes our downturn and we're hitting it hard. Perhaps compare the state of our list to Richmond who we split up their 3. Just really weak analysis from someone whom I thought was a decent journalist.

Yes, there are certainly things we could have done better (as could have all clubs) but if you've won a flag with a group then there is no world in which you have got list management "so, so wrong".

If you play finals 6 years running with two top 2 finishes you lose access to premium draft picks and - no s**t - your group of under 24's are just not that good.

Every club aside from Geelong has spent some time down the bottom of the ladder. You nail those picks and you come back up quickly (e.g. us 1999 to 2001 and again between 2008 and 2010). You don't nail those picks and either you stay down longer (e.g. St Kilda up until 2020) or your rebuild results in nothing more than a few finals appearances before heading back down the bottom again (.e.g North Melbourne mid 2010's). It's not that complex.

That is an enormous imbalance, and unless your list management has been as shrewd as, say, Sydney's, the consequence of thinking you are around the mark, in flag terms, for longer than you really are can be catastrophic.

Conveniently ignoring Sydney had three top five picks across 2019 and 2020 and a couple of nice academy selections to go with.

Judge our list management in 2025 please when we've had access to top picks (and from what I believe some F/S and NGA picks in the pipeline). If those are looking like * ups, then yes, we deserve everything we get.

 

[Winky]

Kane Cornes
It's back to the future for West Coast, who are once again a club in crisis.
It's back to the future for West Coast, who are once again a club in crisis. Credit: The West Australian Sport
West Coast are where they vowed never to be again — a club in crisis. It is a deep crisis that will force much change, all long needed but repeatedly avoided.

This time the consequences appear capable of taking the Eagles to an even darker spot because the off-field dramas are derailing West Coast’s on-field aspirations.

West Coast were culturally bankrupt at the start of this century when the infamous illicit-drugs saga gave credence to the “rock star” image the Eagles players seemed to
Play hard, party harder was certainly a club theme, yet for all this West Coast remained a powerhouse on the field.

The Eagles played in consecutive grand finals against Sydney, still considered two of the most enthralling and gripping contests for the flag seen in the AFL era. They won the 2006 premiership. And the parties became wilder, as noted with the heavy toll on captain Ben Cousins.

To this day, there are still some from inside the West Coast camp who remain tormented by this dark chapter in the club’s 35-year story.

West Coast had a lot of success in the mid-noughties on the field and plenty of trouble off it.
If that era was bad, this season might just prove to be worse. And it is the on-field cost from the off-field dramas that makes this return to crisis more damaging for West Coast, in particular coach Adam Simpson.

AFL analyst David King questioned the club’s culture this week, in particular the honesty of the players embroiled in the scandal. He pondered the damage the lack of discipline from the players during the Hip-E Club nightclub affair has done to his North Melbourne premiership teammate.

King has asked whether Simpson would now be questioning the merit of staying with the Eagles to take on the inevitable rebuild.


West Coast must begin an internal review. The club board does not need to hire a retired judge to look over the ills the players developed off the field. But it does need some sound football advice.

West Coast require a review that covers all aspects of the football department. This time, the problems are very much about football.

Club chief executive Trevor Nisbett this week guaranteed Simpson will stay in the coaching job. But this should not excuse the premiership coach and his assistants from facing the big questions that need to be answered in a fierce review.

The medical department also needs to be scrutinised for failing to keep the club’s best players sound. This puts the spotlight on the high-performance team which has obviously allowed the West Coast players to take shortcuts with their fitness, diet and conditioning.

The list management crew led by Rohan O’Brien needs to endure the most stringent scrutiny. This group’s decisions will be at the heart of how quick the Eagles rebound from the bottom of the AFL rankings to be a finals contender. This is where West Coast have created their own pain — again.

West Coast’s recruiters have continually failed by ignoring the AFL national draft and by overpaying for underperforming players. They also have erred by refusing to move on ageing veterans, despite the signals being strong at the end of last year that many of these long-standing players were well past their best.

They cannot afford a repeat of the Tim Kelly trade from 2019 that today appears catastrophic and has set the club back many years rather than answer an urgent need for young blood and elite talent in the midfield.



The Eagles must resist the temptation to conjure a homecoming trade for Melbourne premiership player Luke Jackson, regardless of the chance to make him an instant replacement for 32-year-old ruckman Nic Naitanui.

Jackson is out of contract at season’s end and has delayed talks with the Demons. His Perth-based manager Jason Dover has been in Melbourne recently for face-to-face meetings with the Demons, but his client remains uncommitted on his future.

The 20-year-old ruckman is the most in-demand, out-of-contract player. He would earn a contract worth more than $1 million a season if he chose to leave the premiers.

Jackson is not a free agent, so West Coast would need to satisfy Melbourne in any trade. The Demons would rightly ask for West Coast’s first pick in this year’s draft, most likely No.1 — and they would want another first-round draft pick or an established player such as Oscar Allen.

Considering West Coast have not taken a top-10 pick in the draft since Andrew Gaff in 2010, it would be irresponsible to meet such a price for Jackson.

It also would be silly to pay Jackson $1 million each season when his performances so far do not warrant such a hefty pay
Jackson averages 14 disposals, four marks and 10 hit-outs and has booted only five goals this season.

These are hardly statistics worthy of such riches. Any suitor would be paying Jackson purely on potential, and that always is dangerous.

The Eagles can smartly navigate the ruck issue by targeting a more mature player who is seeking greater opportunity and would cost a quarter of the price, both in salary and compensation in a trade.

At North Melbourne, Tristan Xerri, pictured below left, has put contract talks on hold. At 23, he is perfectly suited for the Eagles. He should be the club’s prime trade target in October.

It has been confronting for all to witness the rapid demise of the once-powerful West Coast empire. But the club has created its own problems and it must be crystal clear in its decision making from here.

It starts with a full-blown review to ensure blunders — such as the Kelly trade — are not repeated by falling into the trap of being tempted to bring home Jackson.

No way this is the original goroyals.

 

[Has No Rules]

Bringing up the 06 off field stuff just automatically discredits any article/opinion piece for me

16 years ago ffs

and bringing it up YET AGAIN because a few players went to a nightclub and were well behaved is just gutter journalism

 

[JoshWoodenSpoon]

Not sure Xerri is seeking greater opportunity, having been played as North's lead ruck this season before getting injured.

Though I'm sure with his recent hot spot issue that slamming his foot repeatedly into the obsidian Optus surface while being backed by a S&C staff from the 80s must be mighty tempting.

 

[MeltMan]

Any hot goss in there on what canapes were served at Dean Cox's wedding?

Asking for a Freo supporting mate (jk, I have no Freo supporting mates.)

He commented specifically on what started the rumor, being aware of it, and a little over it. Legitimately worth a watch. Gives it back to schoey, and has alot of open-ness about some rules that he said he wished the afl would do more on. Pushing/hands in back, ruck contests, and dissent.

 

[bzparkes]

Yes, there are certainly things we could have done better (as could have all clubs) but if you've won a flag with a group then there is no world in which you have got list management "so, so wrong".

If you play finals 6 years running with two top 2 finishes you lose access to premium draft picks and - no s**t - your group of under 24's are just not that good.

Every club aside from Geelong has spent some time down the bottom of the ladder. You nail those picks and you come back up quickly (e.g. us 1999 to 2001 and again between 2008 and 2010). You don't nail those picks and either you stay down longer (e.g. St Kilda up until 2020) or your rebuild results in nothing more than a few finals appearances before heading back down the bottom again (.e.g North Melbourne mid 2010's). It's not that complex.


Conveniently ignoring Sydney had three top five picks across 2019 and 2020 and a couple of nice academy selections to go with.

Judge our list management in 2025 please when we've had access to top picks (and from what I believe some F/S and NGA picks in the pipeline). If those are looking like fu** ups, then yes, we deserve everything we get.

We don't do rational thinking here m8.

 

[Bender_]

We don't do rational thinking here m8.

Neither does Ro Han apparently.

 

[amazingjoshy]

Not sure Xerri is seeking greater opportunity, having been played as North's lead ruck this season before getting injured.

Though I'm sure with his recent hot spot issue that slamming his foot repeatedly into the obsidian Optus surface while being backed by a S&C staff from the 80s must be mighty tempting.

Tristan Xerri is definitely the solution to all our problems...

Just a bizarre article

 

[javaguice]

Kane is deflecting because Port are a rabble......

He can run our club down, but at least we won a premiership in the last decade.

Would suck being a Port Adelaide person given what they have achieved recently.

 

[KBLT]

WAFL coach’s dig at Eagles after borrowing his star player due to their own ‘lack of discipline’

‘It was their own doing’: Coach’s Eagles swipe as nightclub mess triggers bigger question

www.foxsports.com.au

 

[Cuzz09]

Kane is deflecting because Port are a rabble......

He can run our club down, but at least we won a premiership in the last decade.

Would suck being a Port Adelaide person given what they have achieved recently.

Clubs weve won a flag more recently than:

Adelaide x 2
Brisbane x 2
Carlton x 2
Collingwood x 1
Essendon x 2
Geelong x 1
Hawthorn x 1
North Melbourne x 2
Port x 2
Sydney x 1
W Bull x 1

StK havent won any since weve been in

Freo (n/a) never won s**t
GC (n/a) never won s**t
GWS (n/a) never won s**t

Were in a hole now but at least weve had success more recently than the majority of the whole AFL.



On SM-G925I using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Cuzz09]

Pfft Todd Curley

Thug umpire shover

On SM-G925I using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

This time the consequences appear capable of taking the Eagles to an even darker spot because the off-field dramas are derailing West Coast’s on-field aspirations.

West Coast were culturally bankrupt at the start of this century when the infamous illicit-drugs saga gave credence to the “rock star” image the Eagles players seemed to play hard, party harder was certainly a club theme, yet for all this West Coast remained a powerhouse on the field.

The Eagles played in consecutive grand finals against Sydney, still considered two of the most enthralling and gripping contests for the flag seen in the AFL era. They won the 2006 premiership. And the parties became wilder, as noted with the heavy toll on captain Ben Cousins.

To this day, there are still some from inside the West Coast camp who remain tormented by this dark chapter in the club’s 35-year story.

...

West Coast require a review that covers all aspects of the football department. This time, the problems are very much about football.

Yeah look if you think bottoming out after winning a flag is worse than everything that happened in the mid-2000s right through to now with some of those players, then you're a ******* idiot.

 

[Cuzz09]

Isnt the point of the draft and equalusation to give all clubs a chance at winning it... Weve won now we are reloading for a few years for our next one

On SM-G925I using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[shooshka]

WAFL coach’s dig at Eagles after borrowing his star player due to their own ‘lack of discipline’

‘It was their own doing’: Coach’s Eagles swipe as nightclub mess triggers bigger question

www.foxsports.com.au

We had 1 guy get COVID from the nightclub incident (presumably that is where he got it).

We used 2 top-up players

It just doesn't add up that was the issue - there are many, many areas to have a crack out our club - but 7 blokes going to the nightclub had all of zero correlation to our player availability crisis.

 

[KBLT]

We had 1 guy get COVID from the nightclub incident (presumably that is where he got it).

We used 2 top-up players

It just doesn't add up that was the issue - there are many, many areas to have a crack out our club - but 7 blokes going to the nightclub had all of zero correlation to our player availability crisis.

I get the feeling if Souths had won last weekend, we wouldn't have heard from Toddy boy about it.

 

[Miguel Sanchez]

I get the feeling if Souths had won last weekend, we wouldn't have heard from Toddy boy about it.

Especially since he made the comments in the immediate aftermath of the loss.

 

[amazingjoshy]

I get the feeling if Souths had won last weekend, we wouldn't have heard from Toddy boy about it.

He's going to love us even more if we take his best player at the mid season draft then

 

[bzparkes]

I get the feeling if Souths had won last weekend, we wouldn't have heard from Toddy boy about it.

From the way the article reads, it actually seems like the interview was before the Brisbane game.

 

[Goroyals22]

 

[Bender_]

Geez that was cringey.

 

[tigger_ferret]

Nothing to do with WCE but no surprise an LA team has a high quality social media team

 

[Tugga27]

Good article in The Age.
Even our Woosh gets a quick mention.

Violence of the lambs: Why placid men do brutal things on the football field

Neil Balme, Leigh Matthews and Shane Mumford, otherwise gentle people, explain why they did brutal things for their teams.

www.theage.com.au

 

[KERRPOW]

Good article in The Age.
Even our Woosh gets a quick mention.

Violence of the lambs: Why placid men do brutal things on the football field

Neil Balme, Leigh Matthews and Shane Mumford, otherwise gentle people, explain why they did brutal things for their teams.

www.theage.com.au

I like the claw, good journo.