Minutes after his side’s 122-point loss to Adelaide in June, West Coast coach Adam Simpson declared his club’s intentions at season’s end.
“We‘re going to transition the list pretty quickly, it’s going to be one of the youngest lists in the comp in a year or so,” Simpson told reporters at Adelaide Oval.
“We want to get some picks at the top end if we can.”
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It was a brief yet blunt insight into how the Eagles will approach arguably their most important yet delicate off-season in their history.
Premiership captain and dual All-Australian defender Shannon Hurn on Tuesday announced he would retire at season’s end after a decorated 18-year career.
You sense Hurn was the first domino to fall, with his retirement set to spark several West Coast exits over the coming weeks.
West Coast is one of the AFL’s strongest and richest clubs. Yet its fans – like any supporter group – will struggle to tolerate many more seasons anchored to the bottom-end of the ladder.
Eagles fans have already endured the worst year since the club entered the AFL. Yet it’s come amid a peculiar list situation.
While the Eagles sit on the bottom of the ladder with a 2-17 record and a paltry percentage of 50.6, they still have the seventh-most experienced and 10th-oldest list in the competition.
Essentially, the Eagles haven’t ‘bottomed out’ yet – even though their on-field results this season should reflect a team that has bottomed out.
As dual All-Australian Kane Cornes has persistently pointed out, West Coast’s on-field woes have derived from an “arrogant” list management strategy, with the club handing out questionable long-term contract extensions to some players and trading out of three consecutive drafts.
Now the reality is West Coast must become young – and quickly.
Clubs like Sydney, Geelong, Hawthorn and Richmond in recent years have all attempted to renovate and rebuild on the run – that is bringing in some young players while retaining a core senior group and topping up with a few acquisitions via trade and/or free agency – while remaining in the premiership window.
It worked for the Swans and Cats and fell flat for the Hawks, while the jury is still arguably out on the Tigers.
West Coast had a crack, too. But as evidenced by its past two seasons, it backfired spectacularly.
Yet you sense the Eagles can’t afford to head down the Hawthorn or North Melbourne route and cut ruthlessly hard, simply because the foundation of the list still isn’t there.
“The West Coast Eagles will evolve the list and bring in some top young talent. During that period, though, the older players still play such a significant role to make sure the younger players play at the right standards and they don’t get physically and mentally knocked around in this transition period,” triple premiership Lion Alastair Lynch told Fox Footy in June.
It means the Eagles will surely need to have a renovate-on-the-run attitude while being at the bottom-end of the ladder, purely because of the top-heavy nature of its list, both from a salary and experience viewpoint.
Simpson in June assured frustrated supporters his club had a clear plan to regenerate the playing list via upcoming national drafts. But rather than a ruthless cull this season, they’ll need to juggle a few list balls.
The Eagles are renowned for their loyalty to long-serving players and staff members. But considering the club’s plight, some brutal calls on veterans surely loom – as do some retention calls that’ll need to be justified to their fans.
The Eagles, according to multiple reports, quietly committed to four-time All-Australian Jeremy McGovern earlier this year, with the 31-year-old star defender extending his contract by two years despite his luckless run with injury in recent seasons.
And it appears 31-year-old Jamie Cripps, who was also initially out of contract at season’s end, has re-signed with the club. His two-goal, 18-disposal, 11-tackle performance against North Melbourne on the weekend amid his injury-interrupted 2023 campaign justified why it’s worth him staying on.
Perhaps the most uncertainty surrounds captain Luke Shuey, who looms as a 50-50 proposition to play on in 2024.
A dual best and fairest winner and Norm Smith Medallist in West Coast’s 2018 premiership triumph, Shuey has been a star for the Eagles across 15 seasons. But the reality is injuries have restricted the 33-year-old to just 33 of a possible 63 games across the past three seasons.
CODE Sports reported on Tuesday that if Shuey, who’s contracted until the end of the season, suffers another soft tissue setback between now and the end of the home and away season, he’d be more likely to retire. But the Eagles might be more inclined to keep Shuey if some of his older midfield teammates either move on or are forced to move on.
Superstar 33-year-old ruck Nic Naitanui is contracted until next year. Despite not playing a game this season due to a debilitating Achilles injury, Naitanui is determined to play on next year – and the Eagles appear keen to give him every chance to see out his contract.
The interest lies in three other veterans all contracted until the end of 2024.
Andrew Gaff, 31, appears to be the veteran Eagle under the most pressure, despite having a lucrative year to go on his contract.
Unlike many of his older teammates, Gaff has remained durable and available for selection most weeks over the past three seasons. But his form wavered in the middle of this season, leading to him being pushed out of the starting 22 last month against Richmond and starting as the sub.
Gaff has shown better signs in the past three rounds, but he’ll be a player of interest over coming weeks. Whether a rival club would have any interest in him remains doubtful.
Jack Darling, like Gaff, has remained fit across the past few years but has endured a subpar 2023 campaign, booting just 19 goals from 16 games. His average of 1.19 goals per outing is his lowest since his debut year of 2011.
Some rival clubs in need of firepower in attack surely would be interested in Darling, who turned 31 in June. But whether he’d be willing to leave the Eagles or whether the Eagles would be willing to let him go and whether Darling’s output would improve with a change of scenery is tough to gauge. But he’d certainly have more trade value than Gaff.
Elliot Yeo, though, would command even greater compensation than Darling.
A dual All-Australian and best and fairest winner, Yeo has had no luck with injury across the past four seasons, particularly last year and this year. But he’s shown glimpses of his spectacular and powerful best, most notably a two-game stretch against Geelong and Essendon across half-back in 2022 then a four-game stint in the midfield earlier this season.
Yeo doesn’t turn 30 until October. He also appears keen to stay and is arguably one of the few players a rebuilding West Coast could ill-afford to lose.
At the same time, Yeo is one of the few Eagles who could command a first-round pick from a rival club that thought it could get his body right and justify his salary (although the Eagles could help with the latter). A change of scenery for an injury-riddled player, too, can often release the shackles and help them extend their career.
Dockers champion Paul Hasleby on the weekend said it might be time for Yeo to look elsewhere to finish his career, saying it could be a “win-win situation” for both the player and the Eagles.
“It might be time that Yeo makes a bold decision and look elsewhere to avoid football mortality coming to him quicker than he deserves,” Hasleby wrote in The West Australian.
“There isn’t a club in the AFL that wouldn’t want or couldn’t use Yeo at full flight and if they think after doing due diligence think they can get his body right then he is worth a shot.”
TRADE CURRENCY
You sense the only true untouchables at West Coast – apart from its 2022 draft crop – are Oscar Allen and Tim Kelly. The former because he’s seen as one of the best key forwards in the competition at 24 years of age and the latter because of the Eagles’ significant investment in him nearly four years ago.
But there are other Eagles players that would command decent compensation from rival clubs.
List managers and recruiters believe Tom Barrass is highly likely to request a trade to Sydney at season’s end.
Despite him being West Coast’s vice-captain and contracted to the Eagles until 2027, there’s a growing belief Barrass is more likely to depart West Coast than remain at the 18th-placed club. He received strong interest from the Swans in 2021 before ultimately re-signing with the Eagles and penning a five-year extension.
Most pundits believe Sydney should target a key defender during the upcoming off-season, considering the uncertainty around Paddy McCartin’s future and the fact Dane Rampe will be 34 next year in his 12th AFL season. The answer for the Swans looms as Barrass, who was part of the Eagles’ 2018 premiership team and won the club’s best and fairest award last season. He’s regarded as one of the best key defenders in the competition.
The Swans currently hold Pick 9 in the draft after finishing Round 20 in 10th spot on the ladder. Pick 9 for Barrass – probably with something else from the Eagles – would be a decent deal, according to AFL pundits and recruiters spoken to by foxfooty.com.au.
The fresh name in trade whispers in the past week is premiership West Coast forward Liam Ryan, who’s reportedly attracted interest from Hawthorn.
Ryan, who’s been sidelined for most of this season due to a hamstring injury, signed a contract extension in April 2021 that ties him to West Coast until at least the end of the 2024 season.
The Hawks are reportedly exploring an approach for the 26-year-old as they’re keen on bolstering their front half. Although it’s understood no club has contacted Ryan’s management yet, while there’s a sense the star forward would be better suited to remaining in WA.
But should Ryan, who’s kicked 123 goals in 89 games and was named in the 2020 All-Australian side, express a desire to leave the Eagles, he’d surely have suitors willing to part with decent capital to get him to the club.
One other name that’s been thrown up in the media is premiership midfielder Dom Sheed – although this one seems more ‘pie in the sky’.
Sheed in 2021 signed a contract extension with West Coast. reportedly for a further four years. The 28-year-old, who famously kicked the match-winning goal for West Coast in the 2018 Grand Final, has endured an injury-interrupted past two seasons.
Speaking to The West Australian, former Dockers defender Lee Spurr said Fremantle should consider trading in Sheed, who was the type of player Fremantle needed.
“Is Dom Sheed a possible trade and would he fit at Freo, a cross-town rival?” Spurr told The West Australian last month.
“Inside-mid. Good skills. Experience. Big-game player. Can play wing, half-forward. He is not quick, so you don’t get speed with him, but you would get elite use.
“Does it get packaged into a deal? Is it a four-way club trade where Dom Sheed ends up at Freo? But how do they get a pick inside the first two rounds, what do they have to give up?”
Others who might not survive the cull
Several not-so-established West Coast players remain out of contract at season’s end and mightn’t find themselves on the club’s list next year.
Mature-aged midfielder Greg Clark has been a WAFL star for many years – both for Subiaco and the Eagles’ reserves side – but has struggled to hold down his spot in the AFL team.
Connor West and Luke Foley have both struggled with injury this season, whether they’ve done enough with the opportunities they’ve been given to earn new contracts remains doubtful.
It seems less likely than likely Zane Trew and Isiah Winder will be on West Coast’s 2024 list, while Luke Edwards and Xavier O’Neill would be on the cusp too despite both showing some promising signs at stages this year.
Both Harry Edwards and Josh Rotham have a year to run on their respective contracts, but are tall defenders who could appeal to rival clubs should either the Eagles or the players themselves wish to pursue a fresh opportunity.
To hold or split?
Perhaps the biggest call the Eagles will make this off-season, though, is around whether they hold their first pick or trade it away to acquire multiple selections.
‘Splitting’ Pick 1 means the Eagles would lose the right to have first crack in the draft to recruit, who they believe, is the top prospect in the pool. But they’d get a juicy deal back – likely an array of early picks in both this year’s and next year’s draft – to help accelerate their rebuild. And the fact there are several WA-based prospects in the top-20 mix this year – key defender Daniel Curtin, ruck Mitch Edwards, medium forward Koltyn Tholstrup, rebounding defender Riley Hardeman, versatile small forward Koen Sanchez and on-baller Clay Hall – would make the split option more enticing.
Powerful 185cm Bendigo Pioneers star Harley Reid is considered the best prospect in this year’s draft class by most recruiters. There has been ample speculation in recent weeks Reid would prefer to stay in Victoria, although his manager Nick Gieschen insisted on SEN his client would “go wherever the draft takes him”.
If the Eagles received Sydney’s first-round pick in exchange for losing Barrass, it’d leave them with Pick 1, 9 (at this stage) and 19. But the more games Sydney wins in the back-half of this season, the later that first pick slides – it was Pick 5 after the Swans’ Round 18 to the Bulldogs – and the more enticing it becomes perhaps to trade Pick 1.
Multiple clubs suggested to foxfooty.com.au last month the Eagles might be prepared to slide down the order if they could ‘guarantee’ they could still draft versatile 195cm defender and WA’s national championships MVP Daniel Curtin – the state’s top prospect from Claremont who West Coast has strong interest in, according to rival clubs.
Curtin has now established himself as a top-five talent, so if the Eagles are keen to acquire the local star and prepared to part with Pick 1, they couldn’t afford to slide too far down the order. In fact North Melbourne, which holds Pick 2, indicated it was keen to draft a key defender this year, with list boss Brady Rawlings saying he was “aware we haven’t picked very tall over recent seasons”.
But while rivals could see the Kangaroos taking Curtin with one of their top picks, they also wouldn’t be surprised to see North make a play for West Coast’s No. 1 selection and, subsequently Reid. The Kangaroos, along with Melbourne, are seen as the teams that would be best placed to trade with the Eagles and acquire Pick 1, should West Coast wish to part with the prized selection.
The Dees, after Round 20, hold one of the strongest hands in this year’s draft. Not only do they hold their natural first and second-round picks (Picks 15 and 34), they also have 15th-placed Fremantle’s first and second-rounders, which are currently Picks 4 and 23.
But North could be just as appealing for West Coast to trade with. Not only do the 17th-placed Kangaroos hold their natural first-rounder (Pick 2, at this stage), they’re also tied to Port Adelaide’s first selection (Pick 17, at this stage). There’s also the prospect of the Roos acquiring Pick 3 during the early stages of the AFL exchange period as compensation for losing free agent Ben McKay.
The established
The Eagles, too, will have an eye towards the end of next year, with two WA-based stars out of contract.
Star Bulldogs duo Tim English and Aaron Naughton are contracted until the end of 2024 but remain on the radar of several clubs – in particular the Eagles.
West Coast remains on the lookout for a successor to Naitanui, with English – a strong chance to be named the 2023 All-Australian ruck – expected to be the club’s top focus.
English is a free agent in 2024, whereas Naughton would just be out of contract.
Speaking on Fox Sports News’ AFL Tonight, premiership Eagle Will Schofield said his former club should be doing “everything in their power” to convince English to join them.
“They’ve been spoken about, both Aaron Naughton from a key-position sense and Tim English is the best ruckman in the competition right now. English is the one, he’s the free agent (next year),” Schofield told AFL Tonight.
“Naughton you’d have to spend a fair bit and some of those really high draft picks to get him, whereas Tim English you get him for free.
“I think if he wants to move, he’ll be moving to West Coast. That’s not saying the Western Bulldogs won’t be able to keep him, but the West Coast Eagles should be doing everything in their power to get someone like Tim English to the footy club.”
Schofield, who played 194 games across 14 seasons for West Coast, also said the Eagles “need to scour high and low” for WA-raised players at rival clubs, pointing to players like Hawthorn’s Denver Grainger-Barras (contracted until 2024), Deven Robertson (2023) and Jeremy Sharp (2023).
Port Adelaide key forward Mitch Georgiades, who’s sidelined with an ACL injury, is off-contract at the end of the season and has yet to indicate his plans with the Power. The talented Subiaco product would, who was drafted with Pick 18 in 2019, reportedly has interest from WA and Victorian clubs.
There’s a bit to think about for West Coast’s list management team. No wonder it looms as arguably its most important off-season ever.
Originally published as West Coast Eagles’ defining off-season after horror AFL campaign