West Coast
Coach - Andrew McQualter
2024 –
Points For – 17th
Points Against – 16th
Top 5 Best and Fairest
- Jeremy McGovern
- Elliot Yeo
- Jake Waterman
- Liam Duggan
- Brady Hough
2024 Rising Star Noms
Harley Reid (Rnd 5)
Ins – Bo Allan, Liam Baker, Malakai Champion, Hamish Davis, Jack Graham, Lucas Greggo, Tom Gross, Matt Owies, Jobe Shanahan
Outs – Jordyn Baker, Tom Barrass, Coby Burgiel, Jai Culley, Jack Darling, Luke Edwards, Andrew Gaff, Jamaine Jones, Josh Rotham, Zane Trew, Alex Witherden
My Prediction
You have to have lived in Western Australia to truly understand what a pathetic group the West Coast fans are. They are like Collingwood fans with money. Very few things in life bring me more satisfaction that them becoming entirely irrelevant. They just don’t matter any more. They aren’t the worst list (although you could make that argument) and they are zero risk to play finals. They have topped up on experienced talent to replace those they lost. They are trash.
The backline reads average enough on paper, they lost Barrass but honestly if teams weren’t desperate for tall people who can catch a ball, he wouldn’t rate a mention. He wasn’t even the best back in this team. McGovern won a best and fairest last year which is nice for him but also a sign of how bad they are positioned. Ginbey should be playing this year should his bladder allow him. I think Baker probably plays off half back where I suspect he regrets his life choices within a fortnight. Hough was a positive last year and I think Maric is likely to play back. It’s a dumpster fire.
The midfield is just a test of Harley Reids shoulders. How long can he carry the team before Essendon pay overs to bring him home. Yeo was good in patches last year. Tim Kelly has again had good patches but he needs better mids to make him look better and I am not sure Jack Graham is that. I think Jayden Hunt will be used for speed in the middle but he is more average than the West Coast backline. It may be the worst midfield in the competition despite hosting a player who within a season or two will be the best player in the comp.
The forward line looked dangerous with Waterman playing 5 or 6 weeks of really high quality football before remembering that he was a spud. Oscar Allen threatens to be a top line player (if the people paid for their opinion in the media are right). Owies comes in to continue the theme of being bog average. Liam Ryan is exciting and for the four things he does per game looks great. They have the bones of a reasonable forward line that could perform well enough if they actually get enough ball (which they wont).
They have a little depth in the ruck with Matt Flynn and Bailey Williams both looking at the number one ruck spot. They may even play two rucks (something only the stupidest of teams attempts). The coach is high rated but then again, they all until they actually coach a team half full of VFL standard players and try and produce AFL results.
West Coast and their self entitled supporters have Essendon levels of patience and are not willing to accept a long rebuild, propping up their rubbish list with fill in players from other clubs (unfair to Baker) which will help them avoid that long term pesky rise up the ladder). They are still dreadful and will have a slight new coach bounce in the first half of the season before crashing and burning. They finish somewhere between 15 and 17. Long may they crash and burn.
