Gary Buckenara analyses West Coast’s list after 2019 season
West Coast is a leading contender for the premiership in 2020 — and beyond. Recruiting expert Gary Buckenara explains how the Eagles have set the gold standard for trades and drafting.
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West Coast’s list is in a really powerful position and this club is on the verge of creating a dynasty.
The 2019 season will be viewed by those at the club as a wasted one given the Eagles were widely regarded as a team that should have played off in the Grand Final. I’m sure the club will review what went wrong in the final few rounds and whether they just took their eyes off the ball slightly, which ultimately cost them a top-four finish.
I take my hat off to West Coast’s recruiting and list management staff because they have one of the most balanced lists in the competition with a very nice spread of talent across all lines. They have four genuine A-graders and have just added another – Tim Kelly – during the trade period, 10 B-graders and five players aged 21 or under who I believe have the talent to develop into A or B-graders in the near future.
What the Eagles have done so well is plan for the future while being a regular finalist (last missed the finals in 2014), winning and contending for premierships. Some clubs can fall into the trap of ignoring the draft while they see themselves in the flag window but the Eagles are the complete opposite. They’ve managed to bring in good players via trades, including Lewis Jetta, Elliot Yeo and Jack Redden, but kept early picks in drafts for the types of players they need to fill positional needs in the future.
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For example, in 2017 the Eagles drafted key-position players Jarrod Brander (pick 13) and Oscar Allen in 2017 (pick 21) and draft slider Josh Rotham (pick 37 in 2016) with an eye to developing them for 3-4 years before the likes of Josh Kennedy (32) and Will Schofield retire. They’ve drafted them early enough to rotate them through the senior team and give them a taste of football at senior level while Kennedy and Schofield are still playing, so they know what’s required to become good AFL players rather than drafting them to fill immediate needs. That’s not what the draft is for — the draft is to look 2-4 years down the track, and the Eagles have done it beautifully.
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They did the same thing with Tom Barrass, who is now entering his prime (he’ll turn 24 in December), who was drafted back in 2013 and developed in the WAFL while the likes of Darren Glass, Eric Mackenzie and even Mitch Brown held down key defensive positions.
The midfield is dynamic with Luke Shuey, Andrew Gaff and Elliot Yeo the stars and now you add in another A-grader in Tim Kelly and it rivals Richmond’s (given they are the premiership midfield) as the best midfield in the competition. It’s got serious depth of talent with Nic Naitanui the ruckman and Jack Redden, Dom Sheed, Lewis Jetta, Mark Hutchings and Jack Pretruccelle all able to roll through there.
Willie Rioli’s provisional drug suspension is a massive blow but the great news is, and it comes back to that smart recruiting once again, that they’ve got Jarrod Cameron waiting in the wings to come in and fill that role next year. He showed fantastic signs as an exciting small forward this year, booting 11 goals in seven games, including two bags of four.
The Eagles paid a high price in the trade to get Kelly in the end but for a club in the premiership window, what he adds now is just too valuable to pass up. The club has also invested in the draft in recent years, so it can afford to trade out early picks in this draft as they have been big players at the draft table in the last 2-3 years.
LIST NEEDS
Nic Naitanui will be 30 in May next year and while he still has a few more years left, the Eagles need to start planning for life after him by drafting a young ruckman who can learn and develop under Nic Nat before hopefully taking over in 3-4 years. Tom Hickey (28) and Nathan Vardy (28), who has had his own injury problems, are good back-ups but will also be nearing the end of their careers when Naitanui eventually retires.
After the Kelly trade the Eagles have only picks 52 an 64 in the draft.
LIST BREAKDOWN
A: Andrew Gaff, Josh Kennedy, Jeremy McGovern, Shannon Hurn, Tim Kelly
B+: Elliot Yeo, Luke Shuey, Jack Darling, Tom Barrass
B: Liam Ryan
B-: Dom Sheed, Brad Sheppard, Nic Naitanui, Jamie Cripps, Willie Rioli
C+: Jack Redden, Liam Duggan, Lewis Jetta, Mark Hutchings, Tom Hickey
C: Nathan Vardy, Francis Watson, Jackson Nelson, Will Schofield, Kurt Mutimer, Brendon Ah Chee, Josh Smith
C-: Keegan Brooksby
Developing*: Oscar Allen, Jack Petruccelle, Tom Cole, Luke Foley, Jarrod Cameron
Developing: Jarrod Brander, Daniel Venables, Hamish Brayshaw, Brayden Ainsworth, Josh Rotham, Matthew Allen, Jake Waterman, Xavier O’Neill, Bailey Williams, Harry Edwards
DRAFT STRATEGY
The Eagles won’t be big players in this year’s draft given most of their early selections have gone to Geelong in the Kelly deal. Later picks are used to target positional needs, so should look at drafting a young ruckman or two to develop under Naitanui, Hickey and Vardy.
CRYSTAL BALL
West Coast will be one of the teams to beat in 2020. The addition of Kelly means this club is so well set up for a tilt at the premiership over the next 2-3 years at a minimum that I can see them creating a dynasty. The list has stars across all lines and has depth too, so even if they have some bad luck with injuries I’m confident the Eagles will be able to cover them. The Eagles are going to be very hard to beat for the foreseeable future.
Originally published as Gary Buckenara analyses West Coast’s list after 2019 season