Well it’s the off season, so what better time for a bit of reflection on the past.
The Best Eagles....Never!
....by that I mean those players that held a list spot at The Eagles, gained some small notoriety but never actually pulled on the jumper in a senior game.
I have hand picked my top 5 (in no real order) - each with their own story of their time at the Eagles and beyond - would love to hear some more thoughts and memories of guys that for whatever reason, never ended up running out in the blue and gold. The only qualifying factor being that had a spot on our list at some point - whether it be Senior or Rookie list, and never played a senior game - pre season is fine.
nb - I have excluded Tim Watson from my list, for the unfamiliar WCE selected him in the 1992 Pre-Season draft - he never intended to play for the Eagles, never signed a contract or travelled west. Plus ya know, he spent 2 years as an Essendon mouth piece during ‘the saga’ and that completely destroyed his credibility. Ew.
Brad Smith: 2005-2006
There was time before Josh Kennedy and Jack Darling
that WCE was a barren wasteland for key forwards over 5 foot 7. Phil Matera battled manfully as our chief target in the early Worsfold years but it was pretty obvious that we needed an actual full sized key forward to truly contend for the premiership. Enter back to back reigning Bernie Naylor Medallist Brad Smith of Subiaco - a 25 year old Superboot that was going to save our forward line and lead us to the promise land. It wasn’t to be. Brad went down with an ACL in his first pre season with West Coast and missed the 2005 season. The hope was still intact leading into 2006 - we had just narrowly missed out on a flag with a make shift forward line and Smith was due back. Then disaster strikes again - another knee for Smith and another season lost. The club appealed to the league for a special exemption to move Smith to the Rookie List in 2007 (rules were different back then) - this was denied and Smith’s AFL dream was over. To his credit, Smith went back to the WAFL and won 2 more Bernie Naylor Medals and played in another premiership - ending his WAFL career a 4 time leading goal kicker and a 3 time premiership player. The guy could play.
Lewis Broome: 2010-2011
Hailing from a remote Kimberly community, lightning fast goal sneak Lewis Broome was something of a long shot to make it at AFL level but he’s fondly remembered by Eagles fans for his starring efforts in a Pre-Season Derby circa 2011, combining with fellow diminutive forward Ryan Neates
to light up Subiaco Oval. Sadly that was as good as it got - Broome decided AFL life wasn’t for him and headed back to his home town Looma during the 2011 campaign without registering a senior game. He briefly re-emerged at Sydney reserves in 2012 but was unable to find his way back into the AFL.
Lee Walker: 1993-1994
The legend of Lee Walker has grown over the years - another victim of knee injuries, I can recall stories of transplanted tendons from motorcycle crash fatalities and all sorts of dramas for this genuine ‘Coodabean’. Walker was listed at the Eagles for 2 seasons - and suffered a major knee injury while at the club. An impressively sized key forward prospect, Walker was earmarked for a bright future - so much so that we traded him to Collingwood for Pick 12 in the 1994 draft (picked used on Shane Sikora, never mind..) - he went on to play senior footy at the Pies - but it was short lived as Lee went down with a further 2 knee injuries, ending his AFL career on 16 games, all for Collingwood.
Matthew Burton: 1990-1993
A memorable player in his own right - Matthew ‘Spider’ Burton was the tallest player in league history before Aaron Sandilands
came along. The 210cm ‘galloping hat rack’ went onto a respectable 147 game career in the ruck with Fremantle (an original Docker) and North Melbourne (during that weird period where they kept recruiting Dockers), but before all that, Burton spent his formative years on the Eagles list. Perhaps his greatest WCE achievements rank as being the tallest guy in each team photo and his moderately disturbing ‘Ventriloquist and Dummy’ act with club legend Dean Kemp sat on his knee at the Player Review shows. That said, few game-less Eagles went onto more successful careers elsewhere - good on him!
Alec Waterman - 2015-2016
As the years go by, we have seen a handful of ‘genuine’ Father-Son selections come through but few more held the excited of Alec Waterman, son of Premiership hero Chris. Considered something of a steal at the time, Waterman joined the club in 2015 but was sadly soon struck down by Glandular Fever - a debilitating condition that derailed his time at WCE before it had really started. After 2 years on the list and struggling with fitness, Waterman was delisted and stepped away from the game periodically to focus on his health. A sad story - but is it over?
Waterman returned to senior football at Claremont in 2019 and in 2020 played a key role up forward for the Tigers as they made their way to the GF. At the time of writing Alec is on the radar for an AFL return in 2021 - it’s unsure whether he will join his brother Jake at the Eagles or perhaps find a home elsewhere but either way, let’s hope he finds his way back to the big league and plays some senior football.
The Best Eagles....Never!
....by that I mean those players that held a list spot at The Eagles, gained some small notoriety but never actually pulled on the jumper in a senior game.
I have hand picked my top 5 (in no real order) - each with their own story of their time at the Eagles and beyond - would love to hear some more thoughts and memories of guys that for whatever reason, never ended up running out in the blue and gold. The only qualifying factor being that had a spot on our list at some point - whether it be Senior or Rookie list, and never played a senior game - pre season is fine.
nb - I have excluded Tim Watson from my list, for the unfamiliar WCE selected him in the 1992 Pre-Season draft - he never intended to play for the Eagles, never signed a contract or travelled west. Plus ya know, he spent 2 years as an Essendon mouth piece during ‘the saga’ and that completely destroyed his credibility. Ew.
Brad Smith: 2005-2006
There was time before Josh Kennedy and Jack Darling
PLAYERCARDSTART
27
Jack Darling
- Age
- 31
- Ht
- 191cm
- Wt
- 95kg
- Pos.
- Fwd
Career
Season
Last 5
- D
- 12.1
- 3star
- K
- 7.9
- 3star
- HB
- 4.2
- 3star
- M
- 5.0
- 5star
- T
- 3.0
- 5star
- G
- 1.9
- 5star
- D
- 8.0
- 2star
- K
- 4.3
- 2star
- HB
- 3.7
- 3star
- M
- 2.7
- 3star
- T
- 2.4
- 3star
- G
- 1.3
- 5star
- D
- 14.6
- 4star
- K
- 7.6
- 3star
- HB
- 7.0
- 5star
- M
- 6.0
- 5star
- T
- 4.0
- 5star
- G
- 1.4
- 5star
PLAYERCARDEND
Lewis Broome: 2010-2011
Hailing from a remote Kimberly community, lightning fast goal sneak Lewis Broome was something of a long shot to make it at AFL level but he’s fondly remembered by Eagles fans for his starring efforts in a Pre-Season Derby circa 2011, combining with fellow diminutive forward Ryan Neates
PLAYERCARDSTART
Ryan Neates
- Age
- 32
- Ht
- 169cm
- Wt
- 68kg
- Pos.
- Mid
Career
Season
Last 5
- D
- 5.0
- 1star
- K
- 2.0
- 1star
- HB
- 3.0
- 3star
- M
- 2.0
- 2star
- T
- 1.0
- 3star
- CL
- 0.0
- 1star
No current season stats available
- D
- 5.0
- 1star
- K
- 2.0
- 1star
- HB
- 3.0
- 3star
- M
- 2.0
- 3star
- T
- 1.0
- 3star
- CL
- 0.0
- 1star
PLAYERCARDEND
Lee Walker: 1993-1994
The legend of Lee Walker has grown over the years - another victim of knee injuries, I can recall stories of transplanted tendons from motorcycle crash fatalities and all sorts of dramas for this genuine ‘Coodabean’. Walker was listed at the Eagles for 2 seasons - and suffered a major knee injury while at the club. An impressively sized key forward prospect, Walker was earmarked for a bright future - so much so that we traded him to Collingwood for Pick 12 in the 1994 draft (picked used on Shane Sikora, never mind..) - he went on to play senior footy at the Pies - but it was short lived as Lee went down with a further 2 knee injuries, ending his AFL career on 16 games, all for Collingwood.
Matthew Burton: 1990-1993
A memorable player in his own right - Matthew ‘Spider’ Burton was the tallest player in league history before Aaron Sandilands
PLAYERCARDSTART
Aaron Sandilands
- Age
- 41
- Ht
- 211cm
- Wt
- 118kg
- Pos.
- Ruck
Career
Season
Last 5
- D
- 12.7
- 3star
- K
- 4.4
- 2star
- HB
- 8.2
- 5star
- CL
- 3.3
- 5star
- HO
- 31.4
- 5star
No current season stats available
- D
- 5.4
- 2star
- K
- 3.4
- 2star
- HB
- 2.0
- 2star
- HO
- 13.6
- 5star
PLAYERCARDEND
Alec Waterman - 2015-2016
As the years go by, we have seen a handful of ‘genuine’ Father-Son selections come through but few more held the excited of Alec Waterman, son of Premiership hero Chris. Considered something of a steal at the time, Waterman joined the club in 2015 but was sadly soon struck down by Glandular Fever - a debilitating condition that derailed his time at WCE before it had really started. After 2 years on the list and struggling with fitness, Waterman was delisted and stepped away from the game periodically to focus on his health. A sad story - but is it over?
Waterman returned to senior football at Claremont in 2019 and in 2020 played a key role up forward for the Tigers as they made their way to the GF. At the time of writing Alec is on the radar for an AFL return in 2021 - it’s unsure whether he will join his brother Jake at the Eagles or perhaps find a home elsewhere but either way, let’s hope he finds his way back to the big league and plays some senior football.