West Coast 2015 Season,Discussion

[Ricochet]

So same ankle?

[elephants]

So same ankle?

Yup, so flowered. I reckon we write-off Darling and Scooter for the year, get their bodies 500% right for next season and ensure this shower never happens again.

[LF]

http://www.westcoasteagles.com.au/news/2015-04-11/simmo

DAM Simpson didn't even know Josh Kennedy had kicked 10 goals against Carlton, as the coach was more focused on his team's midfield performance.

Kennedy kicked his ninth goal after the three-quarter-time siren and his 10th early in the last quarter but Simpson was more interested in the supply his midfielders gave to the power forward in the Eagles' 69-point win over the Blues, after a dismal midfield showing against the Western Bulldogs.

"I didn't even know," Simpson said.

"I just wanted to get it in there. Last week we had 40 inside 50s. We think if we can give our forwards a good opportunity then they'll get to work. The most important thing is getting it in there."

Simpson was nonetheless pleased with his vice-captain's performance. He revealed that Kennedy had added some size over the summer to help maintain his strength in one-on-one battles longer in games.

"He's put on some size," Simpson said.

"He looks stronger for longer now in games. He didn't come off today, and in the last minute he was trying to chase down small defenders.

"I'm not surprised. I'm happy he's kicked 10. But I don't expect him to kick 10 every week."

Aside from Kennedy's haul and the dominance of the Eagles midfield, the move of Matt Rosa to tag Chris Judd after quarter-time was a masterstroke.

Judd had 12 possessions in the first term and the Blues led by 12 points, but after quarter-time, Rosa held Judd to just seven touches and the Blues kicked only three more goals for the match.

Simpson said the Eagles had planned for Rosa to fill that role in the absence of Scott Selwood and Mark Hutchings.

"There weren’t too many others to go with Juddy," Simpson said.

"We didn't start with a run-with player at the start of the game.

"We gave Rosa the challenge. We gave him a few goes at it pre-season just in case Selwood or Hutchings weren't playing. He did the job really well so we're really pleased with that."

Selwood was withdrawn on Thursday after experiencing soreness in his troublesome ankle. Simpson said the soreness was in a different part of the ankle that has been operated on twice, but the midfielder is in doubt to face Fremantle next week.

"It's the same ankle he hurt last year but it's a different area," Simpson said.

"We're hoping it's not too long. But it'll be touch and go next week."

Simon Tunbridge injured his ankle in the win but Simpson did not know the extent of the injury.

The Eagles have nine days to recover before facing Fremantle in the first Western Derby of the year next Sunday at Domain Stadium.

[Ricochet]

Well done on Friday boys, your pressure and your kids played very very well. Carlton were dead after half time and stopped running but it was still positive signs from your young group.

And JJK... wow

[elephants]

Rosa a tagger? Interesting. I mean hes got great athletic ability and he's super versatile. I don't mind it!

[Ricochet]

Rosa a tagger? Interesting. I mean hes got great athletic ability and he's super versatile. I don't mind it!

You should hate it!

AVXs...

[elephants]

Rosa a tagger? Interesting. I mean hes got great athletic ability and he's super versatile. I don't mind it!

You should hate it!

AVXs...

And EXV :P

[LF]

He still scored reasonably well tho,I have him in BXV and will take the score he got considering he was tagging

[elephants]

He still scored reasonably well tho,I have him in BXV and will take the score he got considering he was tagging

Decent in SC, showere in DT.

[LF]

http://www.westcoasteagles.com.au/news/2015-04-13/press-conference-qa-hurn

Shannon obviously a big week, I imagine you saw Freo yesterday they were pretty impressive weren’t they?

Yes I watched bits of them yesterday and they certainly played quite good footy. They play consistent footy over the period of the game and their first two games this year have been quite impressive.

Are they better than last year do you think?

It’s always really hard to tell this early in the year, but it certainly looks like they’ve improved. But everyone tries to improve every year; they are one of the clubs that has improved this year.

Is it a bit scary coming up against their midfield? Fyfe yesterday, Mundy had 39 touches…

It’s just going to be a great challenge. They did, they certainly played well and their best players play well, that’s why they’re such a good side. I certainly think we can handle that; it’ll be a good challenge as I said before, their contested ball is excellent. So we want to play against good teams and see how we go and it’s something we’ll look forward to this week.

Does your recent record against Freo frustrate the players a little bit?

Every team we play we want to win. So certainly I suppose for the fans they enjoy the bragging rights for the year, but it doesn’t frustrate us. We go out to win every game regardless of who it is, it’s just the fact that Fremantle have been a good side the past few years, and we just haven’t been able to match it with them for the whole game.

You talk about being well equipped to deal with their pressure- what do you think is different that makes you better equipped than in the past?

I just think over the years players have matured more, our pre-season has been quite good, but we understand about the game. Everyone that’s practised and practised over this year has been about contested ball, how you use it, your decision making and I think every team does that. Wee been fortunate enough to face the Western Bulldogs, and certainly Carlton were good there for a period, I think we can handle it.

How did you guys recover from Friday night? Simon (Tunbridge) has a slight ankle tweak how’s he going?

We’ll have to see how it goes on the weekend, but I don’t think it’s great. I think it’s just going to be a rolled ankle hopefully, but it’ll tell how we go back to the club today.

How’s Scotty (Selwood) going?

His ankle is just a bit sore, pulled up from the Bulldogs game. He’ll be monitored this week and hopefully get up, if not, hopefully it’s only a couple of weeks after that.

Any other concerns?

No there’s not.

Matty Rosa was brilliant against Juddy on the weekend, Freo’s midfield yesterday were amazing can you see him getting another role this weekend?

Possibly, as I said before Fyfe, Mundy, Barlow, Hill are all good players, then they have other players that can pop up and do a good job. There will be a player we’ll probably put time into, who that’ll be we’ll find out later this week.

You said they’re so consistent and so well structured- do you almost need to throw a curve ball in there to catch them off-guard?

No, see I don’t think you need to play tricks, I don’t think tricks really win you games and certainly finals they don’t win. We’ll be about what we’ve done last year, what we’ve worked on this pre-season and the first two games which is about playing four quarters of consistent effort. Trying to get the ball going our way and using it, and then making the most of your opportunities.

Seems like they’ve given you a bit of extra attention in the last couple of derbies, are you expecting the same?

Look mate, it’s something you always take into consideration when you go into the game. Whether or not they do, it’s not really an issue, we’ll prepare either way. But they’re such a good forward line, and they work really well together as a team, I don’t think they need to do that too much.

Because you’re not getting a hard tag every week, is it hard to adjust when you do?

It’s just learning to adapt, it’s just learning to adapt in the game. Different sides go man-on-man, zones, so as a team you have to adapt and as an individual you have to adapt. So that’s something I’ve been working on for the past few years.

Josh Kennedy been up and about the last couple of days after his big haul?

He’s been quite excited. It’s obviously pleasing, it just shows his work rate and he gets that reward. It’s what we keep trying to mention to everyone in the team, especially the forwards, you keep working. So ‘Crippsy’ (Jamie Cripps) kicked five the week before, just from hard work, so the harder you work the luckier you do get. It’s just been lucky for Josh he got on the end of 10 on the weekend.

Nic’s (Naitanui) form has been very, very good in the first two weeks- how important is his match up with him and Sandilands on the weekend?

Midfield matchups, doesn’t matter what competition you’re in playing country or AFL, they’re always important. Rucks can give you the first look at it; we know Sandilands is such a dominant player with his hit-outs, but I think Nic and Scotty Lycett have been going quite well the last couple of weeks. We’ll look for them to continue to compete, as long as they do that they’ll be in with a good chance.

Sandilands dominates most people, but Nic’s leaping ability means he’s one of the players who can actually get up there and compete with him?

Certainly he can, everyone has their different strengths and they play to them, and Nic’s is jumping. So if he can get in a bit of a jump, hopefully he can get up there and reach that high as Aaron (Sandilands) can, we’ll look at that. We might have to read his taps, but also keep working together for what Nic does.

[RaisyDaisy]

Darling inching closer

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-04-13/darling-inches-closer

WEST Coast key forward Jack Darling could be available for selection in three weeks, coach Adam Simpson says.

Darling has been undergoing a painfully slow rehabilitation from a foot stress fracture he suffered in round 23 last year.

The 22-year-old has scarcely trained over the pre-season and been held back as the Eagles try to ensure the bone in his foot heals properly before he returns to play.

Darling was out on Domain Stadium on Monday afternoon as the Eagles went through a very light stationary skills sessions. The key forward trained away from the main group at the Subiaco end of the ground.

He went through a serious of leads and marks at a lower intensity with several changes of direction involved. He also practised goalkicking from various spots on the ground.

Simpson would not normally appear on the track at a stationary skills session but came out from his office to see how Darling was progressing and he told 6PR on Monday night he was encouraged by what he saw.

"He's still running off his own program but he's running and he's kicking and he's probably just about ready to come into skills next week," Simpson said.

"So I would've thought he probably needs another two or three weeks of training and get that base up, and then hopefully we've got a decision to make whether we bring him straight back in or we get him through at a lower level.

"At the moment he's tracking exactly where we want him to in terms of his progress.

"There hasn't been any hiccups for probably two months now. So fingers crossed on that one."

Simpson was a little less optimistic about Scott Selwood's chances of playing against Fremantle on Sunday. The Eagles' vice-captain missed the win over Carlton last Friday due to soreness in his ankle and Simpson said he is in doubt.

"We'll find out probably later in the week," Simpson said.

"He'll be touch and go. Fingers crossed, he's responded pretty well. It's just a delicate area his foot. He's come off a couple of operations over the break, albeit it's a different area around his ankle, it's still around that area.

"So we're really cautious and we won't be taking any risks if he's not right."

[LF]

http://www.westcoasteagles.com.au/news/2015-04-15/wafl-return-on-the-cards

Forwards coach Justin Longmuir has flagged the possibility of Jack Darling returning to football through the WAFL.

The key forward is recovering from a stress fracture in his foot and could return to full training in as little as two weeks, aiming to make himself available for selection a fortnight later.

Although Darling was unable to train during this year’s pre-season, Longmuir said there was also a chance the 22-yaer-old could come in as a substitute player while the coaches manage his workload.

“He’s played a lot of footy and he’s naturally a really fit player, but we don’t want to throw him into the deep end,” Longmuir told SportFM on Wednesday morning.

“We might have to see how we’re going as a team and how many soldiers we have left and he could come on as a sub player.

“He’s that type of player who can have an impact as a sub because he’s got high speed obviously do some damage in short periods of time.”

With the focus shifting quickly from Friday night’s win over Carlton to this weekend’s clash with the Dockers, Longmuir said West Coast would be concentrating on Fremantle’s “scary” midfield.

“They’re just an outstanding side across the board,” Longmuir said.

“If you just look at the raw numbers, it’s quite scary. The two teams they’ve beaten this year have been touted for top four as well, and they made pretty light work of Geelong on the weekend.

“I think the game will be won and lost in the midfield and I thought our midfield after quarter-time on the weekend really clicked.

“I think our barometer is Nic [Naitanui], and Scotty Lycett really put in a good performance on the weekend after not being so great the week before that.

“More than likely, it’ll come down to the ruck battle, so hopefully [ruck coach Dean] Coxy can put his head into the computer and come up with a strategy against [Aaron] Sandilands.”

[elephants]

WHATEVER YOU DO WEST COAST DON'T MISMANAGE HIM LIKE YOU HAVE DONE WITH SCOOTER.

[LF]

WHATEVER YOU DO WEST COAST DON'T MISMANAGE HIM LIKE YOU HAVE DONE WITH SCOOTER.

You tell them LE hahaha
But yeah they need to make sure he is fully fit before playing him and a few WAFL games wouldn't hurt.

[elephants]

Haha I'm still showerty about it :p

Yeah I agree, make sure he's 200%.