News Offseason Staffing Changes - 2025 Edition

[Keys]

FYI - This is/was the 2025 coaching panel

• Senior Coach- Andrew McQualter

Andrew Mcqualter

Age

39

Ht

179cm

Wt

74kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.9

3star

K

5.6

2star

HB

7.2

4star

M

3.4

3star

T

3.6

5star

G

0.4

3star

No current season stats available

D

13.6

4star

K

7.6

3star

HB

6.0

4star

M

3.0

3star

T

2.4

4star

G

0.2

3star

• Midfield Coach - Jarrad Schofield

Jarrad Schofield

Age

50

Ht

178cm

Wt

80kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

16.0

4star

K

10.5

4star

HB

5.5

4star

M

3.4

3star

T

1.4

3star

No current season stats available

D

6.0

2star

K

3.4

2star

HB

2.6

3star

M

1.6

2star

T

0.8

3star

• Backline Coach - Luke Webster

Luke Webster

Age

43

Ht

186cm

Wt

91kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.2

3star

K

7.0

3star

HB

4.2

3star

M

4.0

4star

T

2.1

4star

No current season stats available

D

9.8

3star

K

6.6

3star

HB

3.2

3star

M

3.4

4star

T

2.0

4star

• Forwards Coach - Marco Bello
• Stoppage Coach - Luke Shuey

13

Luke Shuey

Age

35

Ht

184cm

Wt

89kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

23.7

5star

K

13.0

5star

HB

10.7

5star

M

3.3

3star

T

4.9

5star

CL

5.6

5star

D

18.7

4star

K

10.8

4star

HB

7.8

4star

M

2.8

3star

T

2.7

4star

CL

4.3

5star

D

17.0

5star

K

9.2

4star

HB

7.8

5star

M

3.0

3star

T

2.8

5star

CL

1.4

4star

• Ruck Coach - Ryan Turnbull

• Head of Development - Jamie Maddocks
• Development Manager - Steve Trewhella
• WAFL Coach - Kyal Horsley

Kyal Horsley

Age

38

Ht

182cm

Wt

89kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

16.6

4star

K

9.0

3star

HB

7.6

5star

M

3.2

3star

T

4.5

5star

CL

2.6

4star

No current season stats available

D

19.6

5star

K

11.6

4star

HB

8.0

5star

M

4.2

4star

T

7.2

5star

CL

3.0

5star

• Development Coach (Forwards) - Jacob Brennan

Jacob Brennan

Age

35

Ht

188cm

Wt

82kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

10.2

3star

K

7.4

3star

HB

2.8

2star

M

3.1

3star

T

2.6

4star

No current season stats available

D

9.2

3star

K

7.2

3star

HB

2.0

2star

M

2.6

3star

T

1.6

4star

• Development Coach (Game Fundamentals) - Shannon Hurn

25

Shannon Hurn

Age

38

Ht

187cm

Wt

95kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

20.9

5star

K

15.7

5star

HB

5.2

4star

M

7.0

5star

T

1.6

4star

MG

389.5

5star

D

16.1

4star

K

12.1

5star

HB

4.0

3star

M

5.3

5star

T

1.0

2star

MG

271.6

4star

D

19.0

5star

K

11.6

4star

HB

7.4

5star

M

6.8

5star

T

1.6

4star

• Indigenous Player Development Manager - Chance Bateman

Chance Bateman

Age

44

Ht

175cm

Wt

75kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

15.1

4star

K

8.8

3star

HB

6.3

4star

M

3.9

4star

T

2.1

4star

CL

1.1

3star

No current season stats available

D

18.6

5star

K

11.0

4star

HB

7.6

5star

M

4.6

5star

T

2.8

5star

CL

1.2

4star

• High Performance Manager - Mat Inness

New appointments for 2026:

• Sam Radford - Midfield Coach
• Mitch Duncan - Backline Coach
• Phil Merriman - High Performance Manager

 

[bzparkes]

People pay attention to Scott Watters's opinion?

Whoever has to write up 50 junk articles a week for the Worst apparently does. At least enough to transcribe it and palm it off as original content.

 

[Patron]

Wonder what happened with the Cotch and Mini meeting in Perth that someone here reported a few weeks ago.

This was me that reported them together. It was discussed in the thread (think Keyes mentioned) Cotch has a young family still and is consulting on leadership for Brisbane so may not be a realistic chance for assistant coach for us given he would need to move his family to Perth. I didn't overhear enough to report anything concrete, just that they were talking football, and about the eagles list structure, youth etc. Could just be looking to do similar consulting work for wce.

 

[Deepthroat]

Callan Ward

8

Callan Ward

Age

35

Ht

187cm

Wt

83kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

22.8

5star

K

11.2

4star

HB

11.5

5star

M

3.8

4star

T

4.3

5star

CL

5.4

5star

D

17.8

4star

K

9.0

4star

HB

8.8

4star

M

2.3

2star

T

2.3

3star

CL

3.3

4star

D

10.0

3star

K

4.4

2star

HB

5.6

4star

M

3.0

3star

T

1.8

4star

and Travis Boak

10

Travis Boak

Age

37

Ht

183cm

Wt

86kg

Pos.

M/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

23.7

5star

K

11.6

4star

HB

12.0

5star

M

3.7

4star

T

4.4

5star

CL

4.6

5star

D

22.0

5star

K

11.0

4star

HB

11.0

5star

M

2.4

3star

T

4.4

5star

CL

4.9

5star

D

16.4

4star

K

7.4

3star

HB

9.0

5star

M

5.4

5star

T

2.4

4star

for me.

But I reckon it will land on a few ex-WC players filling roles.

 

[Godfather32]

Callan Ward and Travis Boak for me.

But I reckon it will land on a few ex-WC players filling roles.

I don't think we really need any more inexperienced coaches.

 

[GoEaglesGoSGIO]

We dont need any seniority as Woosha provides that. Id go hard after Dyson Heppell myself. We really should have last off season and got him into our WAFL team to then coach it thereafter

I think Horsley had his time and needs replacing no matter what from here

 

[GoEaglesGoSGIO]

I don't think we really need any more inexperienced coaches.

We need players who are fresh out of the game. Shuey is the only one and he isnt going to bring any new ideas in

 

[ziad]

We need players who are fresh out of the game. Shuey is the only one and he isnt going to bring any new ideas in

This sidesteps the fact that coaching is a skill that is built with experience and practice like any skill.

 

[Deepthroat]

Sam Mitchell was terrible fresh out of the game.........

 

[BSD]

Nice, first one bites the dust. Webster was the obvious out.

Will be curious about who else leaves - schoey, bello (came from Crows recently)?

Keen to see Mini targets/brings in

The Crows improved significantly once Bello left. Hope the same happens at West Coast.

 

[BSD]

Credit where credit is due, we've had a decent forward line while Webster was in charge and our defense has probably been our strongest line over the last two years despite the scoreboard.

He was a protected species and got away with it for 10 yrs.
Gov and Barass made him look good as did Kennedy and Darling.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

He was a protected species and got away with it for 10 yrs.
Gov and Barass made him look good as did Kennedy and Darling.

Whereas on the flip side it's Webster's fault Duggan hit a Melbourne player on the chest after a kick in.

 

[bzparkes]

Ah, the life of a middle manager.

All of the blame, none of the credit.

 

[woosha24]

Sam Mitchell was terrible fresh out of the game.........

But did the right thing in going to "another club" to cut his teeth in a coaching role before heading off to greener pastures.

IMHO we should have done the same with a few ex-players instead of parachuting them into assistant coach roles at the club. Coaching staff should be drawn from "the best available" from across the league, not from blokes who were wearing your club's playing jumper 12 months prior.

 

[southcoast]

Callan Ward and Travis Boak for me.

But I reckon it will land on a few ex-WC players filling roles.

I think Callan's family is already back in Melb and have been so for the last 12 (?) months or so. Cannot see Callan now heading to WA as this year was his last hurrah at a premiership.

Otherwise good choice.

 

[Barrybran]

He was a protected species and got away with it for 10 yrs.
Gov and Barass made him look good as did Kennedy and Darling.

And he's had none of those players for most of this year

 

[Godfather32]

We need players who are fresh out of the game. Shuey is the only one and he isnt going to bring any new ideas in

Also have Hurn.
Either way I disagree, we need a mix of experience and fresh ideas. We need some guys with the proven ability to develop young players.

 

[southcoast]

A name that popped up in another thread from frenchconnection - Mark Stone

 

[Bender_]

Ah, the life of a middle manager.

All of the blame, none of the credit.

What're you talking about? Our last 2 GF appearances were coz of Dumb Puke and Gatorades Mitchell.

 

[BSD]

And he's had none of those players for most of this year

I'm also talking about the other nine yrs at West Coast.

 

[Keys]

But did the right thing in going to "another club" to cut his teeth in a coaching role before heading off to greener pastures.

IMHO we should have done the same with a few ex-players instead of parachuting them into assistant coach roles at the club. Coaching staff should be drawn from "the best available" from across the league, not from blokes who were wearing your club's playing jumper 12 months prior.

In part that’s a reflection of the difficulty in attracting football staff across to WA.

Assistant coaches are notoriously underpaid for the amount of work they put in so it’s difficult to get someone to move states when it’s not a highly paid position. Particularly when you consider assistant coaches more often than not have young families

It’s also not a job that comes with high security

We did well getting Mitchell across but that had him in a playing role and at a time when the soft cap was higher than it is now. Even then he bailed 2 years into a 4 year contract because of the challenges he had settling his family into Perth (although the rain is rumoured to be a factor in that)

Mitch Duncan is someone we should be talking to as he’s a WA boy with experience in arguably the best football program in the country

 

[RookiePick]

Credit where credit is due, we've had a decent forward line while Webster was in charge and our defense has probably been our strongest line over the last two years despite the scoreboard.

I still think it's the forward line. It's amazing we kick over 20 points most weeks with the amount of supply...let alone the quality of the supply.

The backs are a rabble. Not entirely their fault given the lack of support from the midfield and the volume of entries but the number of shots on goal we have conceded 30-40m out directly in front is wild. I'd describe our backs as most featured line rather than strongest line.

 

[darksquare]

A name that popped up in another thread from frenchconnection - Mark Stone

Yeah, we'd love him. Not sure he wants the job.

 

[southcoast]

Yeah, we'd love him. Not sure he wants the job.

Whoever we end up with will have to be up for the challenge.

 

[bzparkes]

But did the right thing in going to "another club" to cut his teeth in a coaching role before heading off to greener pastures.

IMHO we should have done the same with a few ex-players instead of parachuting them into assistant coach roles at the club. Coaching staff should be drawn from "the best available" from across the league, not from blokes who were wearing your club's playing jumper 12 months prior.

There's a reason we have so many ex-players/WA-based people in assistant coaching roles and it has to do with the soft cap.

Not that easy to get blokes to uproot their entire families for maybe $200k when they could be getting that already.

 

[GoEaglesGoSGIO]

Also have Hurn.
Either way I disagree, we need a mix of experience and fresh ideas. We need some guys with the proven ability to develop young players.

Mini, Woosha and Schofield is the experience. We now need fresh ideas

I dont really think coaching is some magical skill you need to fly to Wokevard in the US to learn either. It just takes understanding of the game really. A guy like Heppell doesnt need some US coaching badge crap. Just bring him in and let him use the leadership he had at Essendon here