Season 2023 - West Coast

West Coast

Coach - Adam Simpson

2022 –

Points For – 17th
Points Against – 17th

Top 5 Best and Fairest

  1. Tom Barass
  2. Shannon Hurn
  3. Tim Kelly
  4. Jack Darling
  5. Liam Duggan

2022 Rising Star Noms

Nil

Ins – Jayden Hunt, Reuben Ginbey, Elijah Hewett, Harry Barnett, Coby Burgiel, Noah Long, Jordyn Baker, Tyrell Dewar

Outs – Josh Kennedy, Hugh Dixon, Tom Joyce, Jackson Nelson, Jack Redden, Patrick Naish, Junior Rioli, Zac Langdon

My Prediction

Talk about falling off the cliff. West Coast look like they made a decision to bring in a couple of pieces last year and have one more shot at a flag. They are the other end of the aging playing list experiment from Geelong. West Coast look to have run their list into the ground without the young talent coming through. For those of us that have lived in Western Australia surrounded by their chardonnay sipping bogan fans, long may it last.

The back line looks good in name. They are aging but Hurn, Barrass and McGovern are all very good players. They look to have decided that they have too many players with solid footskills back there and have inexplicably gone and added Jayden Hunt to their list. From him they will be looking for run from the backline followed by sprayed kicks that could go anywhere.

The midfield still looks pretty good on paper but lacks depth. Kelly has been a shadow of what he was at Geelong. Shuey, Sheed and Gaff look to have dropped off rapidly and would expect some come back from them this season. Yeo just has not been the same player since their premiership year and I cant see him finding that level again.

The forward line has been built around Kennedy forever and now it gets handed to his second banana in Darling. The question is, can they be productive with Darling as the number one forward. The answer to that question is probably not. They will be looking for Oscar Allen to keep producing and for Liam Ryan to do the brilliant stuff he does. All in all, looks pretty average.

NicNat is still one of the premier tap ruckman in the league when his body allows it. Unfortunately his body seems to a reminder that 110 kegs is a lot to carry around when your job is to jump for a living. The coach is safe for now as the word seems to be they are looking to rebuild with him but will be curious to see how long that lasts as they arent a club used to failure, even less so as their stablemates Freo look to push up and challenge.

Therre isnt a lot to like about West Coast. They arent that much further along the rebuild path than North (maybe actually behind North). They haven’t had a rising star nomination since 2019. They do however have more talent on their list and without the impact of covid, should be mildly more competitive this year. I think they will bounce back slightly and finish in the 14-16 range.

5 Likes

Shuey is interesting.
Why is he?
The dead will not die and the young cannot be born.

I reckon they win 10-12 games this year.

I’d be…stunned if that happened.
I don’t see where there improvement comes from.
Hurn, McGovern, Shuey, Gaff are good, but they’re not going to get better.
Kelly had a down year. I’d back him to bounce back.
Allen showed a bit early in his career but he is in no way a replacement for Kennedy.
Their list looks in as much trouble as North’s, and St Kilda’s five years ago, tbh. They just don’t get as much heat because who cares?

If someone sees the players that will take them to twice as many wins, I’d love to hear it.

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Could finish 19th.

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best 22

B: Liam Duggan, Tom Barrass, Rhett Bazzo
HB: Jayden Hunt, Jeremy McGovern, Shannon Hurn
C: Andrew Gaff, Elliot Yeo, Dom Sheed
HF: Jamie Cripps, Oscar Allen, Jack Petruccelle
F: Liam Ryan, Jack Darling, Jake Waterman
Foll: Nic Naitanui, Tim Kelly, Luke Shuey
I/C: Tom Cole, Campbell Chesser, Brady Hough, Jai Culley

Emerg: Bailey Williams, Xavier O’Neill, Josh Rotham, Jamaine Jones

Gee the team looks average without Kennedy and Rioli there.

My tip is Eagles bottom 4 again. Simpson may even walk, does he really want to be there for another rebuild

Hurn and McGovern and Darling to hang up the boots at year end

They were very unfit last year. Covid really hurt them.

Nope West Coast are cooked they are where Hawks were before Mitchell took over from Clarko.

They are in a for long rebuild like Hawks

It’s like a complete refusal to rebuild.
Their senior players are not taking them to a flag.
And their senior players are old.
They could definitely take a contending team there, though.
It’s just…but for why?

Unfit, ordinary and still turned us over

2 Likes

Thanks to Kennedy kicking 6 goals

I like your thinking

Rabble. If it weren’t for that home ground advantage they’d be fighting it out with Hawks for the spoon.

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They’re behind North at present. North have begun to turn their list over, West Coast are still relying primarily on their 2018 stars + Kelly if he’s ever healthy.

North have stagnated somewhat so I can see West Coast finishing above them this season, but it’s hard to find where any improvement will come from outside of a couple of players getting healthy.

Firmly in the bottom four for mine, probably bottom two

They will improve a lot more than people think. Like Collingwood, they have a history of rapid short term improvement after a dismal year.

West Coast:
1989: 11th, 1990: 3rd
2001: 14th, 2002: 8th
2010: 16th, 2011: 4th
2013: 13th by 2015: 2nd
2017: 8th (snuck in on the last day of the season), 2018: 1st

When they are bad, they are bad. But as a club they’ve shown an annoyingly admirable ability to rebound quickly and strongly from mediocrity. What’s their secret!?

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In the past they have had good players coming back from long term injuries.

Now, they’ve got nothing…even hard core fans, over here in WA, expect them to struggle for the next few years.

They wasted their chances of a swift recovery when they spent all those early picks on getting Kelly.

I eagerly look forward to them experiencing a sustained period of shitness.

2 Likes

Just want to say that l have been looking forward to this regular feature and was thinking only yesterday it was about time, that they made their appearance for 2023.

The WEagles aren’t cooked, they are shot. Shuey and Yeo are shadows of their former selves, when they can get on the ground. Pinning their hopes on young Oscar Allen isn’t going to help their cause, he is a good player but he can’t carry the entire team. The loss of Kennedy will hurt them big time, as Darling will now attract more attention from the #1 defender and he isn’t as mobile as he once was, he in particular will miss having his big mate in the forward line. Nic Nat is still a great tap ruckman, but will need to be managed across the season. Barass will appreciate having McGovern line up in defence with him, but they are in for a torrid time this season. Their home ground advantage will not be the vaunted fortress it once was. They are in decline and haven’t hit rock bottom yet.

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I hope you’re right but I think they could win 8-9 games this year.

They are nowhere near finals quality though.

Sold the farm for Kelly!

■■■■■■■ lol

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I’ll take a stab (though I more agree with you, than disagree) - a handful of elite players in a devastated side that rapidly reached the tipping point and submission really aren’t ever going to carry the team. Without the horrendous omissions they had last season, it would not surprise at all if they at least doubled their wins.

1 Like