List Mgmt. Welcome to West Coast: Alex Witherden.

Shadow Minister

Senior List
Dec 2, 2008
174
314
W.A
AFL Club
West Coast
Birchall, Starcievic and another name (escapes me at the minute) took over from Witho. Starc really came into his own this season. Birchall had always been a good distributor- just injury prone AF

Fagan not a fan of his risky kicks in D50 from what I can tell.

He’s only young so he should get better.

I heard a stat from 2018-2019 that ranked him the worst in the AFL for points scored against, from his turnovers.
 

Lyyynnnchy

Norm Smith Medallist
Oct 10, 2007
9,890
5,415
London, UK
AFL Club
West Coast
I recall seeing a game and thinking gee this kid looks good.. Lions have got a beauty here ..
Then was very surprised to see Wce having a crack for him as it’s not the sort of thing we do on a contracted player ..
great work Glassy ..


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app
Have you read his interview? Don’t give much credit to Glassy, WC was approached by Withers’ team
 
Jan 19, 2017
1,534
4,072
AFL Club
West Coast
Have you read his interview? Don’t give much credit to Glassy, WC was approached by Withers’ team

On the contrary. He initially thought he would only go back to Vic, but was so impressed by WCE interview that he chose us. That is on Glass, the recruiting team and Simmo, for putting together such a good interview, after identifying that he suited a need.

I’m sure many managers ask around about players, so for WCE to focus attention to Witherdon, is a big tick from me.
 
Oct 8, 2007
13,270
8,908
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
AFL Club
West Coast
Other Teams
FLO-RIDA , PITBULL ,SEAN PAUL
Have you read his interview? Don’t give much credit to Glassy, WC was approached by Withers’ team

yes I
Have you read his interview? Don’t give much credit to Glassy, WC was approached by Withers’ team

I did , but maybe You think I should be thanking Withers team for negotiating a trade with Brisbane..
 

Trouto

Premiership Player
Jul 3, 2007
3,417
3,507
Bunbury
AFL Club
West Coast
Fantastic gain, absolute moneyball acquisition.

Big body with a serious amount of upside about him.


His current form guide in Player Ratings shows a player on the verge breaking into A grade territory despite only being aged 22. It makes little sense why Brisbane have let him go at all, let alone so cheaply - but very happy to be the beneficiary of their mistake.

View attachment 1011193

To take this a step further, of all the players exchanged this trade period, only Treloar is rated higher than Witherden.


Played off halfback for the Lions, but there is no reason that he cannot be used higher up the ground - indeed that is where I feel his best position in future will be, making use of his disposal to hit up forward targets.

A case could be made to argue that he is already the second-best outside midfielder on our list after Gaff:

View attachment 1011201


The way I see it, the club haven't procured just a defender that could replace Jetta/Hurn; but a player who can function higher up the ground on the wings that is also fully capable of providing an inside rotation when necessary.

I am a massive backer of him and have been for some time - absolutely stoked that circumstances have provided the opportunity for him to sign with the club. Knows how to find the ball and his disposal is a weapon. Get the impression that he will explode in the right environment and is given the confidence to back his abilities with ball in hand.

Can't help but feel that we have made out like bandits here.


Welcome to the Eagles Alex, may your time in blue and gold be long and successful.
Reminds me a little of when we got Yeo off Brissy - lets hope it turns out as good as that trade
 
Aug 14, 2004
5,131
20,192
Brisbane
AFL Club
West Coast
Other Teams
Cardiff City
Have you read his interview? Don’t give much credit to Glassy, WC was approached by Withers’ team

On the contrary. He initially thought he would only go back to Vic, but was so impressed by WCE interview that he chose us. That is on Glass, the recruiting team and Simmo, for putting together such a good interview, after identifying that he suited a need.

I’m sure many managers ask around about players, so for WCE to focus attention to Witherdon, is a big tick from me.

Brisbane canvassed him out, four clubs came back with immediate interest - one being West Coast, the three others Melbourne-based clubs.


From what I have heard Witherden went into interviews with the assumption that he would return to Victoria and didn't really view West Coast as much of an option, but was completely blown away by what Simpson, Glass and Vosso had put together as an offer.

Considering Witherden had issues being away from Victoria shortly after joining the Lions, credit needs to go to the team for putting together such a compelling offer to convince him to relocate across the country over any other move that would place him closer to his family.

They identified a player that would satisfy a need, did their homework and successfully brought a result that will improve the squad.
 
Oct 29, 2007
22,131
29,933
Perth Western Australia
AFL Club
West Coast
All they did was show Liam Ryan highlights and he was sold.
 

kerr87

Cancelled
Sep 22, 2016
1,626
2,947
AFL Club
West Coast
Looks to be a great kick with some drive. Nice to add with Cole Nelson Duggan
 

DanWCE

Brownlow Medallist
Apr 2, 2015
19,582
41,746
AFL Club
West Coast
Have I seen the right snippet of this Brent Daniels goal? Is it as bad as many are making out? Maybe there's another camera angle I haven't seen, but this guy is supposedly pretty slow, and it looks to me like he just got torched on a 50-50 ball and stood no chance of catching him.

I'm sure in future he'd try to be goal side of his opponent and work that ball out of play for a throw in, but to me it didn't look as bad as people were saying. If anyones got other vision then please share.
 
Have I seen the right snippet of this Brent Daniels goal? Is it as bad as many are making out? Maybe there's another camera angle I haven't seen, but this guy is supposedly pretty slow, and it looks to me like he just got torched on a 50-50 ball and stood no chance of catching him.

I'm sure in future he'd try to be goal side of his opponent and work that ball out of play for a throw in, but to me it didn't look as bad as people were saying. If anyones got other vision then please share.

No worse for mine than Zac Williams giving up this chase on Petrucelle


Sometimes you just have to know your limitations and concede you aren't going to get near someone far quicker than you
 

Doashuey

Premiership Player
Sep 13, 2017
4,814
11,578
AFL Club
West Coast
Have I seen the right snippet of this Brent Daniels goal? Is it as bad as many are making out? Maybe there's another camera angle I haven't seen, but this guy is supposedly pretty slow, and it looks to me like he just got torched on a 50-50 ball and stood no chance of catching him.

I'm sure in future he'd try to be goal side of his opponent and work that ball out of play for a throw in, but to me it didn't look as bad as people were saying. If anyones got other vision then please share.
Yeah its not that bad IMO. I reckon he sort of stumbled and got off balance at the start and realised he was no chance so gave up the chase. It was just the lack of intent that looked bad, but not really a red flag for me unless it becomes a pattern.
 

DanWCE

Brownlow Medallist
Apr 2, 2015
19,582
41,746
AFL Club
West Coast
Yeah its not that bad IMO. I reckon he sort of stumbled and got off balance at the start and realised he was no chance so gave up the chase. It was just the lack of intent that looked bad, but not really a red flag for me unless it becomes a pattern.

I don't know if he gave up or that was just him running full pace haha. Appeared he was miles from catching him. Petch cops a lot of s**t on here and he's made defenders look stupid like this before.

If GWS didn't win the game off that goal, which came from a pretty clear throw just prior, I wonder if anyone would actually care about it or remember?
 

Doashuey

Premiership Player
Sep 13, 2017
4,814
11,578
AFL Club
West Coast
I don't know if he gave up or that was just him running full pace haha. Appeared he was miles from catching him. Petch cops a lot of sh*t on here and he's made defenders look stupid like this before.

If GWS didn't win the game off that goal, which came from a pretty clear throw just prior, I wonder if anyone would actually care about it or remember?
Just rewatched it, he was cooked. Took off but was on jelly legs and then knocked off balance as he tried to stop the other bloke getting past. You could see he just didnt have much left in the legs at that point with a couple of minutes in the game. That said, 2 minutes to play and watching your bloke put through a goal to take the lead, even if he was spent, you would rather see him desperate and busting a gut even with no chance.
Aside from his pace, the other knock on him is his tank. Hopefully they put a big pre-season of running into him, put him with Ainsworth and Brander, who apparently have both really stepped up their running and endurance the past couple of years, and get him into shape.
 

jesterwester

Premiership Player
May 1, 2007
3,687
6,592
Australind
AFL Club
West Coast
I think we are in a much better place to handle a turnover by foot than Brisbane in 2018/19- we need someone prepared to back themselves in and make the kick. IMO Brisbane as a team haven’t been particularly at running both ways. Any turnover kick will hurt you in that situation.

Loved his interview. We haven’t over sold- Knows he isn’t guaranteed a spot and will have to work very hard to get into the side. And yet was still prepared to come across the country to make it work, even with no connections here.

Seems very level headed for a 22 year old. Even being on holiday with a bunch of his teammates when this all happened doesn’t seem to have really affected him all that much.

I think Brisbane have made a mistake letting him go. Given he was contracted for 2 more years I suspect he wasn’t high on our radar, but we improved our list position without much outlay.
 
Back