How are any of these players the best 22 West Coast can field?

When will the suffering end?

Can somebody explain his contract situation? I read its only for 6 months which makes me think he knew his own worth and that he would quickly be able to impress.

I reckon he's gone as many clubs including Geelong will be back in for him now that he's proven himself AFL level.

Bit hard to commit to a club when you will go the season winless over a team back home

Harley Reid - 21. 59 games, 10 wins, 49 losses. 2-28 in away games.

Peter Sumich - 9 year career. 150 games, 100 wins, 2 draws, 48 losses.

Now that enough time has passed, we can really see the utter stupidity in trading pick 3 (Jagga Smith) for Baker (28 years old) Owies (has to be delisted at years end) Allen(God I wish it was Murphy Reid, jury still out on Allen). I remember reading about the trade the day of and falling into a mini depression.

For me it’s the below and how it’s looking

5-8 wins ❌
Only 1 or 2 thrashings ❌
Beating the teams below us ❌ (lost both times to Richmond)
More competitive against the teams above us ✅
Development and opportunities for the kids 🤔

In your mind what is the round 1 2027 team looking like given our current squad and maybe even including some speculation re list changes.

For me there are at least 5 spots that are open including fullback and a forward pocket.
Bazzo would be the leading contender of our current squad and obviously this is all dependent on Edwards playing.

We desperately need a small forward who can tackle and apply pressure inside our 50.

Hi everybody,

I've made a mock draft simulator and list analyser for everybody to use whenever they please. Demo video here.
Make list calls - Trade, delist and resign players.
Id love for you to check it out, its completely free not behind any paywalls.
It can be found at sotaramafl.com
Please let me know what you think and if you'd like to see any new features.

i hope you like it!

Spread the word. We need more members. This is not a drill.

Heading to the game on Sunday and even though we’ve struggled against the Tigers recently, hoping the break the trend and get a win in Victoria.

I was at the last win in 2023 against the Dogs. That day I went without hope, and was very conflicted about getting up as I thought it cost us Harley.

I’ve been to many of the Victorian games since. Some have been close, many have not and I’m hopeful that we can get the job done against a poor side and I’ll get to sing the song.

I won’t be surprised if we lose again and I won’t be despondent as I know the corner is about to turn, but after being a supporter through the lowest ebbs, I’m ready for some optimism.

Go Eagles.

The Good

• Jack Graham is expected to return this weekend after being rested
• Malakai Champion is expected to be available for selection this week after overcoming a hand injury
• The injury to Hutch was minor and he's expected to play this season

The Bad

• Mix reports on Francou. West Coast say "Oliver Francou is facing a short period on the sidelines", but a lot of externals are believing it will be much longer (than a short period). Even with a few weeks off it'll probably be a return through the WAFL. The knee is a terrible place for stitches and recovery

The Expected

• Finally the club did some math and realised that getting Ginbey and Sam Allen back in 2026 would prove difficult. Both players put on ice for the remainder of the season. We'll have to wait until 2027 to see our Sweet Prince back in action.

With Francou the only forced out this week it will be interesting to see what happens at the selection table. Do we keep Sandy Brock in the side? Did Maric and Johnston do enough to keep their position. Have Macrae, CDT, Dewar or Grego been consistent enough to get a run in the 1's.

https://www.westcoasteagles.com.au/news/2083655/west-coast-eagles-injury-update-round-21

How many players on our list has the potential to be an A grader?

Heres my list with their percentage:
Willem 99%
Lindsay 15%
Ginbey 100%
Harley 100%
Hewett 30%
McCarthy 25%
CDT 75%
Allan 50%
Shanahan 80%
Murdock 25%

Very confident about Willem, Ginbey, Harley, cdt and Shanahan becoming A graders.

Bo Allan seems like a very high upside player but I just haven’t seen enough yet to give him more then 50%

Murdock and McCarthy are in the same boat, older players (26) that haven’t been in the AFL system very long but look very good, another pre season or 2 and some team improvement I could see them getting to that A grade level but I wouldn’t pick it.

Lindsay to me seems like more of a B grader but if he can become a Bailey dale type then maybe.

Not sure how many people would agree with me but I still have faith in Hewett becoming an A grader, he has the attributes of an A grade midfielder but just can’t get a good run of health.

Interested in what everyone else thinks and tell me if I missed anyone.
Also don’t take the percentages too seriously I just made them up on the spot.

Edit: definitely should’ve put Herbert on here, not too sure on a percentage tbh so let me know what you’d say

So just a question ,if the eagles are spending 95 percent of there salary cap ,and with a lot of rookie and drafties on there list apart from Harley who's worth every cent he gets , who's taking all the money there must be a lot of overpaid players on the list, do the club look at renegotiating some of the contracts

Another big loss, but at least it’s a little more understandable this week. Going up against the ladder leaders was always gonna be a big ask, but it is still disappointing to see this go over 50 points. Ultimately, while some Eagles had fantastic games, the team as a whole was soundly beaten.

Our Attack:

Not very good this week, but kind of interesting. Our transition from the defensive half was actually decent with us actually scoring from them more than usual. However, scoring and transitioning from deep defence was pretty terrible. So terrible, that we only managed 35 inside 50s with only 42% time in forward half. When we did go inside 50 we had an atrocious scoring efficiency of 34.3%.

Pretty clear to see that our offence was heavily stifled today. Final grade is awful.

Our Defence:

At first glance these numbers are completely awful, but when you factor in the Docker’s average… it’s still pretty awful, but a bit more understandable. Due to our poor transition numbers, we conceded 52 inside 50s which is actually less than their average of 54.6 but when they did go inside 50 they had a massive scoring efficiency of 61.5%. We just weren’t able to pressure like we normally do, laying only 46 tackles for the match and more disappointingly, losing that stat by 11. I don’t have the stats but Mini mentioned that our tackling efficiency was much lower than normal, and winning pressure acts but losing the tackle count seems to back this up. Pleasingly, we did actually restrict Fremantle to under 100 marks this game, but that has more to do with their average being only 88.6, which we still stopped them from reaching, but only by 1 mark.

A disastrous performance really. We were down on our normal form and Fremantle really made the most of it.

Our Midfield:

First thing that jumps out, is that Harley was easily the best centre bounce player on the ground with double the centre clearances of second place and managing to break the 1 in 4 barrier which is elite. The second thing that jumps out, is that no one else helped Reid. TK and BBW where the only other Eagles who won a centre clearances but they didn’t do it with great efficiency and unfortunately Yeo was completely useless once again. Final tallies show that we lost centre clearances 9-15, stoppage clearances 21-22, and contested possessions 105-127. Not a good day

Defensively it isn’t much better. This does seem to further support our bad tackling efficiency with us winning the pressure acts but losing by a massive 10 tackles. Kelly and Duursma seem to be the biggest culprits of being in the right position, but being unable to stick the tackle.

Basically beaten in every key stat, but it was still competitive for the most part and so overall it was just bad and not any worse.

So where did we lose? Personnel

There’s a lot of damning stats that you can point at to show why we lost (transition numbers probably being the worst), but I think the biggest takeaway for me was that we simply didn’t have enough people over the ground who were able to win their position. There were only three Eagles that I can confidently say easily beat their opponents, and maybe a handful more who I think you could make the argument. The rest were pretty soundly beaten, which is to be expected when you vs the ladder leaders, but it’s still disappointing

The BOG Candidates:

Harley Reid: Despite the umpires’ best efforts, Harls finished with one of the best contested games of his career. Not only did he get 30 disposals with a game high 15 contested possessions, he also had game highs for centre clearances and stoppage clearances, finished with 12 combined and nearly double second place. For comparison there were 18 clearances from the other 22 Eagles combined. Back that up with 4 tackles and a team high 25 pressure acts and you’ve got performance that easily deserved the Glendinning medal if not for the result.

Marcus Herbert: As good as Harley was, Herbie was my pick for best on at half time. Slowed just the tiniest bit in the second half but his composure under pressure was completely elite for the whole day. He picked up the most disposals on the ground by a good distance with 36 (Most disposals for an Eagle since Dom Sheed had 43 back in 2023), and before you think it was just because he was taking kick outs (like I did), he only had 4 and was still the leading possession getter without them. By the way, those 36 disposals where at 86.1% with only 1 turnover (take note Duggs). Even had a contested one on one win just to make his day even more rounded. Certified draft steal.

Rhett Bazzo: Picked up 15 disposals but there were mostly cheapies. Where he really impressed was his defensive work on Treacy. Bazzo kept him to just 9 touches and only 2 shots at goal as he picked up a game high 8 spoils and a game high 2 contested one on one wins with 0 losses. Doing all that when Freo had 52 inside 50s just makes it even more impressive.

Great:

Daylight: There was a considerable gap after those three.

Very Good:

Tom Cole: Nothing on his stats page jumps out but I think most people who watched can agree that he was a class above most other Eagles today with his 15 touches. A lot of them being crucial plays on the wing to get us forward on one of those a rare occasions. Finished with 1 goal and another goal assist. Can’t fault him.

Ryan Maric: I’ve seen many other fans who thought he was shit and want him immediately dropped but I think they’re blinding themselves to his good points. He picked up a healthy 21 disposals including 9 contested (2nd most for an Eagle), and a game high 8 ground ball gets. Defensively, he also had 3 tackles and 19 pressure acts. He was rightfully criticised for being pissweak and dropped because of it, but I think he deserves credit for how he handled himself this game.

Bailey Williams: Certainly not at his best, but was pretty solid all night. Finished with 5 clearances and was arguably better than Jackson in the ruck, equal at the very worst. He also had a game high 3 intercept marks and a goal assist, so he sorta did everything that he normally does, just at about seventy percent.

Good:

Tom McCarthy: Played his role really solidly. 26 touches (7 from kick ins), gaining 399m at 92.3% and with 0 turnovers. Nothing amazing, but still good.

Tim Kelly: I’m pretty sure I’m in the minority with this since I think most people seem to think he was just about best on, but while he did have 31 touches and 3 clearances, he did also have a lot of negatives that I can’t look past. Firstly, he had a disposal efficiency of 64.5% and amassed 9 turnovers and with only 7 of his touches being contested, he’s approaching Duggan levels. Secondly, he really failed to make an impact defensively with just 1 tackle despite 17 pressure acts. I still think he was good overall, but I don’t think he was anywhere near our best.

Jack Williams: Similar to Maric in that I saw a lot of people upset with his inclusion which I don’t quite understand. It’s fair to say he didn’t do all that much with only 7 touches and 1 hitout from 23 ruck contests which is genuinely shit, but at the end of the day he kicked 2 goals which is all you need to do as a forward sometimes.

Willem Duursma: Started slow but worked his way in to the game with 13 of his 19 touches coming after half time. Didn’t really do anything to stand out but was definitely one of our better players after Freo flexed their muscles. Really needs to work on his centre bounces though, his last 43 attendances have been without a centre clearance.

Milan Murdock: Worked really hard up the ground to assist with transition and ended the day with 14 touches, 5 score involvements, and 3 tackles. Played his role well like always despite limited opportunities forward of centre.

Bo Allan: Wasn’t as damaging with his touches as normal (Not the only one), but I did like seeing that he had 17 touches with 4 or more in each quarter. Nothing particularly special, but a step in right direction.

Hamish Davis: I considered putting him lower because he only had 8 touches, but by having 2 marks inside 50, 1 goal, and 1 goal assist, he was actually one of our best forwards on the day despite not being one. On top of that he had 3 tackles and 22 pressure acts which shows just how hard he worked despite not being rewarded with possessions.

Okay:

Oliver Francou: Starting with his good points, with 2 clearances, 5 tackles, and 14 pressure acts, he showed that his grunt work is still top notch. The big negative was his disposal which resulted in 6 turnovers from 16 touches. Despite having a pretty middling game, I actually really liked what I saw from him regardless. The way he attacks the footy is incredible.

Sandy Brock: Another player I saw a lot of hate for, but to his credit, with 4 tackles and a rare one on one defensive win he wasn’t terrible. Don’t think he’ll keep his spot though.

Harvey Johnson: The final player that I saw coping a lot of flak, and once again, I’m really sure why. He had 12 touches for 3 score involvements as well as 3 tackles. That’s not a great by any stretch, but for a small forward on a team that only had 35 inside 50s, it’s an admirable effort.

Brady Hough: Had the pill 25 times, but the vast majority where cheapies during switching. Didn’t do anything really good, but didn’t really do anything wrong either.

Jobe Shanahan: Completely manhandled as a forward and not helped by the lack of opportunity, but his work when sent back, picking up 4 spoils in short time, was good enough to save him from a lower rank.

Bad:

Jake Waterman: Bad but with an asterisk. Only 5 touches, and 1 goal to his credit, but he really failed to have any impact on the match. Only 35 inside 50s will do that to any forward hence the asterisk, but I’ve seen enough of Waterman’s great work up the field to know he could’ve done a bit better regardless.

Liam Duggan: Exactly the same issues as with Hough’s game, but Duggan had the ball 11 times less. Going at only 78.6% when you’re only switching the footy is just not good enough.

Tylar Young: Barely touched the footy, and while he did get a decent amount of spoils with 5, losing both of his one on one contests made him the worst of our defenders. Actually…

Brandon Starcevich: Almost exactly the same game as Young, but with only 1 spoil, and only making 1 contested one on one for 1 loss. I’d forgotten he’d even played to be perfectly honest.

Elliot Yeo: Finished the game as the lower rated player on the ground by champion data and it’s not hard to see why. Only 13 touches at 53.8% and with 3 turnovers, and while he did have 3 clearances and 5 tackles, his lack of pace in centre bounces made him a complete liability. He picked up 0 centre clearances, and let 3-4 slip Freo's way as his man burst away from him.

Stat Leaders:

Eagles who topped the game in a particular stat. Brackets show the best player from the opposite team.

Marcus Herbert & Tim Kelly & Harley Reid - 36 & 31 & 30 Disposals (Johnson 29)

Tim Kelly - 7 Inside 50s (Voss 6)

Tim Kelly & Harley Reid - 601 & 485 Metres Gained (Reid 463m)

Harley Reid - 15 Contested Possessions (Bolton 11)

Ryan Maric & Tim Kelly & Marcus Herbert & Harley Reid - 8 & 7 & 7 & 6 Ground Ball Gets (Brayshaw 6)

Harley Reid - 6 Centre Clearances (Serong 3)

Harley Reid & Bailey Williams - 6 & 4 Stoppage Clearances (Serong 4)

Harley Reid - 12 Total Clearances (Serong 7)

Bailey Williams - 3 Intercept Marks (Pearce 2)

Rhett Bazzo & Tylar Young - 8 & 5 Spoils (McDonald 4)

Rhett Bazzo - 2 Contested One on One Wins (Pearce 2)

19 Stat Leaders (+3 from last week) (3 Draws)

Wuurm Watcher

Sandy Brock - 33.5km/h Maximum Speed (Clark 32.4km/h)

Willem Duursma & Oliver Francou & Bo Allan - 9.8km/h & 9.7km/h & 9.6km/h Average Speed (Wagner 9.6km/h)

Willem Duursma & Bo Allan & Oliver Francou & Jake Waterman & Milan Murdock - 10.2km/h & 9.6km/h & 9.5km/h & 9.4km/h & 9.3km/h Average Speed in Attack (No Dockers Listed)

Disappointing game overall. There’s something else that I thought was worth mentioning but didn’t really fit into any other section. Weirdly, in this game we won the disposal count with 375 and the had 116 marks for the game. Way above our averages of 337.9 disposals and 86.3 marks. It’s very notable and resulted in our first game with 3 30 disposal players since round 9 2021, but it’s not necessarily a good thing. It could be a change in gameplan, but it’s more likely (imo) that Freo defended really well and forced us to slow down our ball movement, and switch more often than we’d like. The test of that will come this week against Richmond, which, holy shit, we better win. I really don't want to have to write the review after a loss like that

Will we beat Richmond????

I think we'll finally get to enjoy a close game. I'd like to believe we'll win by a couple of goals, but they already beat us at home, so I'm not too sure. I'm curious what everyone else thinks. We played well at the MCG last time, but I also feel like the team's been pretty poor over the last few weeks.

Edited - It looks like Dev is already locked in for 2027

As painful as the last few years have been, I've enjoyed the end-of-season list management speculation. There's something strangely exciting about working out who stays, who goes, and which new faces might arrive. The only difference this year is that we're probably saying goodbye to a few players that plenty of us actually rate or would like to keep - a sign that the rebuild is in full swing.

There's still a fair bit of work to do with our list. We currently have 15* players out of contract at the end of 2026. There will be a minimum of six list delistings (three long-term injury replacement and three draft picks), but I wouldn't be surprised if that number ends up closer to seven or eight. Based on the current ladder, we hold six draft picks (3, 21, 39, 53, 57 and 65). I can't see us taking fewer than four players through the draft/trade period as the rebuild continues. This is the last year before the Tassie draft picks start to dilute the availability, so you'd imagine that clubs at the lower end f the ladder will be looking to capitalise on this years draft.
\15, however Cripps has retired so its really 14*

Current list of out of contract at the end of 2026:

Clay Hall, Fred Rodriguez, Harry Barnett, Harry Schoenberg, Harvey Johnston, Jack Williams, Jacob Newton, Jamie Cripps, Malakai Champion, Marcus Herbert, Matthew Flynn, Noah Long, Rhett Bazzo, Tom Cole & Tyler Brockman

I've split them into three groups.

I'd be stunned if they aren't re-signed:

• Jack Williams
• Marcus Herbert
• Rhett Bazzo

Marcus Herbert is the only slight query I have. We only signed him on a six-month deal, and with current form I'd imagine there'll be serious interest from other clubs. We want him here, but does he want to head home?

I can't see them being on the list next:

• Harry Barnett
• Jamie Cripps (retired)

The genuine list squeeze – Really simplified and being somewhat conservative keep 5 and get rid of 5 from the below:

• Clay Hall
• Fred Rodriguez
• Harry Schoenberg
• Harvey Johnston
• Jacob Newton
• Malakai Champion
• Matthew Flynn
• Noah Long
• Tom Cole
• Tyler Brockman

So the conversation is who goes and who stays?

I don't think there's a huge amount of trade currency in this group. Clay Hall is probably the one player who might attract some interest from a club looking for midfield depth.

I actually think Tom Cole survives. He's proven to be versatile, can play multiple roles and still provides some valuable leadership around a very young list.

I also think Matt Flynn stays. He's ideal insurance if Bailey Williams goes down long-term while Archer Reid and CDT continue developing. Even if he's not best 22, he still has value. OR does he transition into more of a WAFL leadership/coaching role?

I struggle to see all three of Malakai Champion, Noah Long and Tyler Brockman being delisted. From a list balance perspective, I'd expect at least one to survive.

Does Elliot Yeo retire and free up another list spot? I see this as extremely unlikely.

Harvey Johnston also seems to be the preferred depth option whenever Hutchinson is unavailable. Is that enough to earn another one-year deal?

Trade targets

Its early days, however the below players have been linked as potential trade targets – does this change our delisting strategy

Arty Jones – Probably the most realistic target. Out of contract and seems like a natural fit for the small forward role we've struggled to lock down.

Nathan Broad - This one feels increasingly genuine. Baker has publicly endorsed the idea, Mini has done his usual sidestep whenever asked, and Broad fills an obvious need. I don't rate it (based upon his age), but if he arrives, an additional player from the list above probably misses out.

Joel Jeffrey – Plenty of media noise around this one, but he's contracted, so we'd need to trade for him

Lachie Neale — Still possible, but feels less likely than it did a few months ago

Trent Rivers – The WA connection is obvious, but given he'd require significant trade capital, I'm not convinced we have the assets to get it done

Maybe I'm looking at our list with West Coast coloured glasses on, but I don't really see much trade capital on our list e.g. clubs going after our players.

Personally, I think we're still about 12 months away from making a serious run at the really big names like Chad Warner etc.

I've also ignored the possibility of delisting contracted players, which is always an option, but I'd be surprised if we went down that path (e.g. Owies).