West Coast
Coach - Adam Simpson
2022 –
Points For – 17th
Points Against – 17th
Top 5 Best and Fairest
- Tom Barass
- Shannon Hurn
- Tim Kelly
- Jack Darling
- 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.