West Coast Draft Discussion,Re-Signings and Offseason Thread

[Phasir]

My heart cries a little bit every time I see Sarah Chalke :[
Had a chance to date a look-a-like 26yo cardio-physo / paramedic.. I went back up north to work & we lost touch over the course of a few months.. never got to have our 3rd date :[
She was an eagles fan too..

[j959]

if you had got Varcoe without losing any key pieces it would've been worth the punt ...

I cannot see anything pointing to Hill > Varcoe but moot now anyway ...

What would help you guys (aside from the obvious class and/or speed on the outside) is a genuine crumbing small forward that you haven't had since Phil Matera retired ...

you couldn't do much in the trade period because as someone said earlier, you've got mainly B-graders or potential A-graders who haven't taken the next step ...

that is, you'd have to give up too much to get that one A-grader that would make a difference to your team and then your depth and probably structure would be shot ...

you're just going to have to wait and see if Simpson's game-plan gels and your 2nd-tier step up to the plate ...

[Phasir]

I'm pretty happy with our list right now to be honest, we have got fast mid/forwards, they're just in the 18-20 age bracket and not getting games ahead of our solid 25yo's who are only B grade.  Karpany is coming through and will probably start getting some games, Cripps is fast and a solid HFF/FP selection & still very young. (21 iirc)  The spine is as good as any team,

The call for size in the mids seemed dumb too, Priddis plays like a bulldog, then we've got Rosa, Colledge, Yeo, Tunners all high 180's to early 190's and weigh in around 85-90kg, Darling looks to be playing 25% - 35% time in the mids too now, and they're all bigger than JPK.. we've got elite foot skills in Gaff, Ellis, Shuey, Hurn, Wellingham(when he can be bothered) and Masten & Selwood are more than serviceable by foot.

I have complete faith in Simpson's game plan, if Woosha could get the club to the prelim in 2012 with a game plan "of bomb it to the square" you'd imagine a better strategist could do wonders with educating the guys in some actual structural stuff.  We'll have a few really good, pacey fellas in this year's draft too, so with them added to Karpany, Cripps, McGinnity, & LeCras, the forward pocket & HFF spots will be in pretty hot contention once you take into account guys like Masten, Shuey, & Yeo etc will be resting up there too for big chunks of the math.

[eg6914]

I'm pretty happy with our list right now to be honest, we have got fast mid/forwards, they're just in the 18-20 age bracket and not getting games ahead of our solid 25yo's who are only B grade.  Karpany is coming through and will probably start getting some games, Cripps is fast and a solid HFF/FP selection & still very young. (21 iirc)  The spine is as good as any team,

The call for size in the mids seemed dumb too, Priddis plays like a bulldog, then we've got Rosa, Colledge, Yeo, Tunners all high 180's to early 190's and weigh in around 85-90kg, Darling looks to be playing 25% - 35% time in the mids too now, and they're all bigger than JPK.. we've got elite foot skills in Gaff, Ellis, Shuey, Hurn, Wellingham(when he can be bothered) and Masten & Selwood are more than serviceable by foot.

I have complete faith in Simpson's game plan, if Woosha could get the club to the prelim in 2012 with a game plan "of bomb it to the square" you'd imagine a better strategist could do wonders with educating the guys in some actual structural stuff.  We'll have a few really good, pacey fellas in this year's draft too, so with them added to Karpany, Cripps, McGinnity, & LeCras, the forward pocket & HFF spots will be in pretty hot contention once you take into account guys like Masten, Shuey, & Yeo etc will be resting up there too for big chunks of the math.

This

I think everyone has also overstated the improvement of all the other teams after the trade period, the only teams that have really improved that will still make top 8 are Port ,Hawks and maybe even Brisbane but i highly doubt it. Due to our inactive trade period most people are putting us to finish in the 8-12 range, but with our list there is no reason why we wont make top 8

[GoLions]

I'm pretty happy with our list right now to be honest, we have got fast mid/forwards, they're just in the 18-20 age bracket and not getting games ahead of our solid 25yo's who are only B grade.  Karpany is coming through and will probably start getting some games, Cripps is fast and a solid HFF/FP selection & still very young. (21 iirc)  The spine is as good as any team,

The call for size in the mids seemed dumb too, Priddis plays like a bulldog, then we've got Rosa, Colledge, Yeo, Tunners all high 180's to early 190's and weigh in around 85-90kg, Darling looks to be playing 25% - 35% time in the mids too now, and they're all bigger than JPK.. we've got elite foot skills in Gaff, Ellis, Shuey, Hurn, Wellingham(when he can be bothered) and Masten & Selwood are more than serviceable by foot.

I have complete faith in Simpson's game plan, if Woosha could get the club to the prelim in 2012 with a game plan "of bomb it to the square" you'd imagine a better strategist could do wonders with educating the guys in some actual structural stuff.  We'll have a few really good, pacey fellas in this year's draft too, so with them added to Karpany, Cripps, McGinnity, & LeCras, the forward pocket & HFF spots will be in pretty hot contention once you take into account guys like Masten, Shuey, & Yeo etc will be resting up there too for big chunks of the math.

This

I think everyone has also overstated the improvement of all the other teams after the trade period, the only teams that have really improved that will still make top 8 are Port ,Hawks and maybe even Brisbane but i highly doubt it. Due to our inactive trade period most people are putting us to finish in the 8-12 range, but with our list there is no reason why we wont make top 8

It's very difficult to have you finishing higher than about 8th tbh. Granted, it's more than possible, but you're competing with teams like the Tigers, Crows, Bombers, Suns imo which have all shown that they can also make the 8. Suns will be very hard to beat with Malceski added to the team, and a non-injured Ablett. Tigers were terrible for the first half of this year and still managed to make the 8. The Crows dropped a few games this year that they should've won. Bombers kinda depends on a number of factors, but they have the players to get them to finals. It's gonna be very tight for who gets those last 1-2 spots in the 8 next year, and it's got nothing to do with people underrating the Eagles/overrating improvement of other teams.

And FTR, I'd definitely prefer to see you make the 8 over the Bombers and the Crows especially, just really don't know if you will. It's gonna be close.

[j959]

I'm pretty happy with our list right now to be honest, we have got fast mid/forwards, they're just in the 18-20 age bracket and not getting games ahead of our solid 25yo's who are only B grade.  Karpany is coming through and will probably start getting some games, Cripps is fast and a solid HFF/FP selection & still very young. (21 iirc)  The spine is as good as any team,

The call for size in the mids seemed dumb too, Priddis plays like a bulldog, then we've got Rosa, Colledge, Yeo, Tunners all high 180's to early 190's and weigh in around 85-90kg, Darling looks to be playing 25% - 35% time in the mids too now, and they're all bigger than JPK.. we've got elite foot skills in Gaff, Ellis, Shuey, Hurn, Wellingham(when he can be bothered) and Masten & Selwood are more than serviceable by foot.

I have complete faith in Simpson's game plan, if Woosha could get the club to the prelim in 2012 with a game plan "of bomb it to the square" you'd imagine a better strategist could do wonders with educating the guys in some actual structural stuff.  We'll have a few really good, pacey fellas in this year's draft too, so with them added to Karpany, Cripps, McGinnity, & LeCras, the forward pocket & HFF spots will be in pretty hot contention once you take into account guys like Masten, Shuey, & Yeo etc will be resting up there too for big chunks of the math.

This

I think everyone has also overstated the improvement of all the other teams after the trade period, the only teams that have really improved that will still make top 8 are Port ,Hawks and maybe even Brisbane but i highly doubt it. Due to our inactive trade period most people are putting us to finish in the 8-12 range, but with our list there is no reason why we wont make top 8

It's very difficult to have you finishing higher than about 8th tbh. Granted, it's more than possible, but you're competing with teams like the Tigers, Crows, Bombers, Suns imo which have all shown that they can also make the 8. Suns will be very hard to beat with Malceski added to the team, and a non-injured Ablett. Tigers were terrible for the first half of this year and still managed to make the 8. The Crows dropped a few games this year that they should've won. Bombers kinda depends on a number of factors, but they have the players to get them to finals. It's gonna be very tight for who gets those last 1-2 spots in the 8 next year, and it's got nothing to do with people underrating the Eagles/overrating improvement of other teams.

And FTR, I'd definitely prefer to see you make the 8 over the Bombers and the Crows especially, just really don't know if you will. It's gonna be close.

+1

with the draw you had this year, new coach, new game-plan or not, WCE should have made the finals - season was a 'fail' in that regard imo ... I don't see how any supporter can spin it as a 'successful' season ...

i'll grant it wasn't bad, but top 8 should've been a given with the draw they had alone ...

improvement wasn't there (ie 2nd-tier did not stand up) and now Glass/Cox retirements, I just don't see where you're improvement is going to come from to make the 8 this upcoming season. I mean it could happen but if it didn't happen this season, why would it all of sudden happen in 2015?

having said that, I do reckon a fair bit of it was attitude and psychological - lack of effort is too easy to say and over-simplistic, but it was more lack of urgency at the contest, some poor decision making at crucial stages of games and poor kicking for goal (but that un-did a lot of teams and especially apparent in a number of finals) - basically, imo more than half your team I reckon don't want to run both ways ... just not going to cut it in the modern game ...

[elephants]

improvement wasn't there (ie 2nd-tier did not stand up) and now Glass/Cox retirements, I just don't see where you're improvement is going to come from to make the 8 this upcoming season. I mean it could happen but if it didn't happen this season, why would it all of sudden happen in 2015?

This points get me :P

I'd argue our best football was played in the last month or so of the season. Well after Glass had retired and while Cox was well and truly on ice. In fact, our best game of the season (against Adelaide) neither Cox/Glass played. Sure its a wealth of experience lost but both players were really slowing down.

Brown, Mackenzie, Schofield all stepped up when Glassy called it quits and I'd argue that along with Bennell, Ellis, Hurn, Sheppo and at times J-Gov, our backline is actually looking fairly sturdy.

As for Coxy, well he's a legend but NicNat was starting to get into things but the biggest one was Lycett. Oh boy was he clunking them. Very promising signs for the future, and I predict a very smooth transition.

Where will our improvement come from? I'd say the huge portion of our 22 that are in that age range of 22-25 :P

NicNat, Lycett, Shuey, Gaff, Masten, Sheppard, Yeo, Cripps, SSelwood, Darling, Hutchings, Bennell and McGovern.

I can see at least 2-3 breakouts from these players next season and I'd argue than none of them have peaked in performance at this stage.

Then we have the proven performers who we can always bank on... Lecca, JJK, Mackenzie, Priddis, Hurn and even Butler started to play his role wonderfully late in the season.

I see improvement, in fact I've gone from saying we need a complete rebuild mid-season to actually looking toward next season with confidence! :P

[Phasir]

improvement wasn't there (ie 2nd-tier did not stand up) and now Glass/Cox retirements, I just don't see where you're improvement is going to come from to make the 8 this upcoming season. I mean it could happen but if it didn't happen this season, why would it all of sudden happen in 2015?

This points get me :P

I'd argue our best football was played in the last month or so of the season. Well after Glass had retired and while Cox was well and truly on ice. In fact, our best game of the season (against Adelaide) neither Cox/Glass played. Sure its a wealth of experience lost but both players were really slowing down.

Brown, Mackenzie, Schofield all stepped up when Glassy called it quits and I'd argue that along with Bennell, Ellis, Hurn, Sheppo and at times J-Gov, our backline is actually looking fairly sturdy.

As for Coxy, well he's a legend but NicNat was starting to get into things but the biggest one was Lycett. Oh boy was he clunking them. Very promising signs for the future, and I predict a very smooth transition.

Where will our improvement come from? I'd say the huge portion of our 22 that are in that age range of 22-25 :P

NicNat, Lycett, Shuey, Gaff, Masten, Sheppard, Yeo, Cripps, SSelwood, Darling, Hutchings, Bennell and McGovern.

I can see at least 2-3 breakouts from these players next season and I'd argue than none of them have peaked in performance at this stage.

Then we have the proven performers who we can always bank on... Lecca, JJK, Mackenzie, Priddis, Hurn and even Butler started to play his role wonderfully late in the season.

I see improvement, in fact I've gone from saying we need a complete rebuild mid-season to actually looking toward next season with confidence! :P

Its actually almost starting to feel like there's a big part of the AFL community that're trolling WCE fans tbh, haha..
I'm 100% with elebro here, [except I never supported a rebuild] very keen for 2015 to stick it to all the anti-WCE trolls out there wrong.

I'd be amazed if the Eagles didn't finish top eight.. There's no teams below 9th where the eagles finished this year that would leapfrog them.  Add to that teams like North, Essendon, Tigers are going to struggle to perform as well as they did this year.
Top 3 are pretty settled in Hawthorn, Sydney, Port Adelaide for me, the next three will probably be Geelong, Freo, North, rounding out the top 8 Gold Coast & WCE, although WCE could easily jump up into top four if the game plan really clicks and a good run of injuries.

Ross Lyon's first season at the Dockers saw a terribad start to the year then came sorta good, then the following year really blew the other teams out of the water with a good team with a good game plan.  If Simpson can keep the key injuries down in 2015 they'll probably finish ahead of Fremantle due to the fact WCE have a better list overall.  (Even though a lot of opposition fans don't rate the squad.)

This squad is basically the same as the prelim team in 2012 except a lot more experience in the young guys.  We've only lost Glass, Lynch, Cox, Kerr out of our "best" 22, but Kerr was on his last legs and has been replaced now, I'm very confident Glass & Cox will be seamlessly replaced by Mackenzie, Brown, & Schofield, with McGovernator as a swingman.  Lynch was frustrating as hell & has been replaced with Lycett/Darling which is a huge improvement.

[Ricochet]

they'll probably finish ahead of Fremantle due to the fact WCE have a better list overall.  (Even though a lot of opposition fans don't rate the squad.)

Lol...

[elephants]

they'll probably finish ahead of Fremantle due to the fact WCE have a better list overall.  (Even though a lot of opposition fans don't rate the squad.)

Lol...

Yet to see an issue myself? ;)

[eg6914]

they'll probably finish ahead of Fremantle due to the fact WCE have a better list overall.  (Even though a lot of opposition fans don't rate the squad.)

Lol...

Yet to see an issue myself? ;)

IMO i do think the eagles list is strong and is definitely capable of finishing in that 4-8 range, but i still think that freo has a better list. I understand what u are saying because ross lyons game plan makes their list look better, but thats because it compliments their play style, much like Collingwood when they won the premiership. I dont really have much faith in simpson but next year will be crucial, i can easily see the eagles having a new coach this time next season if we dont make the 8

[LF]

I`ll chuck this link here just some pics of what the boys have been up to in the offseason

http://www.westcoasteagles.com.au/news/2014-10-21/eagles-fly-the-nest

[j959]

they'll probably finish ahead of Fremantle due to the fact WCE have a better list overall.  (Even though a lot of opposition fans don't rate the squad.)

Lol...

Yet to see an issue myself? ;)

IMO i do think the eagles list is strong and is definitely capable of finishing in that 4-8 range, but i still think that freo has a better list. I understand what u are saying because ross lyons game plan makes their list look better, but thats because it compliments their play style, much like Collingwood when they won the premiership. I dont really have much faith in simpson but next year will be crucial, i can easily see the eagles having a new coach this time next season if we dont make the 8

ah West Coast supporters ... highly optimistic!  ;)

look, i'm not saying your list is 'bad' but it is 'average' at best - I wasn't one who agreed with the agreeably ridiculous 're-build' comments, though you are lacking line-breaking (whether burst from the guts or the long-kicking variety) quality of which you've got one imo (Hurn - Gaff is ok but he ain't up there with Suckling, Birchall, Hanley, etc)

you could make the eight but I reckon it'll take re-focused 'concentration of effort' and a 'run both ways' attitude.
if you do make the eight, who's spot are you taking is the question i'm asking - again if you couldn't make it this year with the draw they had, why would next season be any easier??

[jvalles69]

A lot of teams lost a lot of games that they should have won this past season, West Coast were prob the worst offenders by not finishing games off strong.  They lost a bunch of games by less than 10 pts all year.  If we can learn from these fade outs and play more consistent football next year we are better than Richmond, Adelaide, Gold Coast, North and Essendon who are on the fringe of the 5-8 positions.  Even Geelong I think are going to take a further tumble this year, but prob still ahead of West Coast.

Hopefully we can suprise some people and patch up all these areas as we have great fwd and back lines, just need the midfield to take it up a level or 2.

[LF]

Another one I`m chucking here
http://www.westcoasteagles.com.au/news/2014-10-22/glass-to-adelaide

Former West Coast captain Darren Glass has joined Adelaides coaching panel in a part time leadership position.

Reuniting with Phil Walsh, who was employed by the Eagles as an assistant coach for four years, Glass told afc.com.au that he was looking forward to working with the new Crows coach.

Crows are getting a good one there
Good luck to Glassy hope he does well but not too well ;)