West Coast set to ask for draft assistance package from AFL but is the club’s plight it’s own doing?

The AFL industry is split over West Coast’s pursuit of draft assistance. Do the Eagles deserve it or should they bear the brunt of some recent horrific decisions for a few more years?

The AFL industry is split over West Coast’s pursuit of draft assistance after chief executive Don Pyke confirmed the club was in the process of making a formal application amid a one-win season.

The Eagles are all but certain to collect their second wooden spoon in three seasons, and West Coast has won just 11 games in the past four years.

Be it bad luck, bad management or a combination of both, it’s a dramatic tumble from a premiership in 2018 to potential draft concessions.

Just five players – Jamie Cripps, Tom Cole, Liam Duggan, Liam Ryan and Elliot Yeo – from the West Coast’s premiership side remain on the list following the retirements of Dom Sheed and Jeremy McGovern.

While it’s unclear exactly what West Coast will ask for, veteran AFL list guru Chris Pelchen believes the club’s predicament isn’t worthy of AFL assistance.

“I think it’s inappropriate for them to get draft assistance given they’ve won a premiership in the last seven years,” Pelchen told this masthead. “There’s some clubs that have waited a lot longer than that.

“There’s too many contributing factors that explain why the Eagles are where they’re at.

“It’s part of the cycle that is the AFL. I applaud them for wanting to get better and get better quickly.

“They just have to suck it up. They will get better. It will take time. But they need to look forward.”

Pelchen pointed to West Coast’s financial strength, the club’s list demographic and the current 2025 draft hand as three “compelling reasons” the AFL should reject the Eagles’ request.

“They’re one of the strongest clubs in the AFL,” Pelchen said.

“It’s not a matter of survival or existence. They still have a strong membership and sponsorship base.

“They’ve only been in this position for five years. The last three years have been confronting, particularly for a successful club. It’s a short-term predicament.

“They have the second-youngest list in the AFL right now. That comes about by design. They could’ve pursued more experienced players if they had chosen to.

“I don’t think they’ve done the wrong thing going after youth. The bottom five teams on the ladder right now are five of the youngest teams in the competition. It’s not a coincidence.

“West Coast aren’t an exception, so I don’t think they can be singled out for special assistance. The draft is already compromised enough.

“They do already have three selections inside pick 19 in the draft this year, which, outside of Essendon, is probably the strongest position early in the draft this year.”

AFL greats Tim Watson and James Hird are also vocal critics of West Coast’s pursuit of priority picks.

Premiership Eagle Will Schofield believes his former club is well within its rights to ask for assistance, given the request won’t instantly solve West Coast’s woes.

“I don’t know if a priority pick fixes much really,” Schofield told this masthead.

“They might get one extra player or they might on-trade it for another player. There’s a fair bit of fuss around it but they’ve got a lot of things to fix that aren’t just their list.

“This would be one part of it, but I don’t think a priority pick will make West Coast instantly competitive again. It won’t move the dial too much.

“It’s important to note that I don’t particularly feel like they deserve it or that it’s the right thing to do.

“But if you’re the Eagles and this is the system you live in, of course you should ask for one, and of course you should get one. Whether or not they’re a rich club like West Coast or a poor club like the Kangaroos, this is how the system works.

“I’d be surprised if they don’t get one. They’re in an absolutely terrible state in a number of parts of their football club.”

It’s been tough sledding for Andrew McQualter in year one. Picture: Daniel Carson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Since winning the flag, West Coast has lost three players – Daniel Venables, Brad Sheppard and Jeremy McGovern – to career-ending concussions.

The Eagles have also been routinely smashed by injury, losing both emerging and key players to long-term injuries.

While some believe West Coast’s plight is its own doing, former Eagle Karl Langdon says it would be remiss of the AFL not to take into consideration the club’s rotten luck.

“They’ve been dealt a very harsh card,” he said. “Why they are where they are is because of injuries to talented young players and injuries to their talented senior players.

“Last week, they lost their first-round draft pick Bo Allan at training. They lost Harley Reid in a game on the weekend, and he didn’t do most of the pre-season because he was injured.

“They lost Campbell Chesser back in 2022 to a serious ankle injury during pre-season, and he’s never recovered. Elijah Hewett likewise. Noah Long hurt his knee. Rhett Bazzo has been battling shin splints for two years.

“For the most part, that group of players are either first-round or second-round picks. You can say they haven’t developed them well, but a number of them haven’t had a chance to develop because they still haven’t recovered from serious injuries.

“I don’t need to go through all of the old blokes, but they’ve had the double whammy. They’ve lost all of their young blokes and their old blokes.

“If other clubs have gotten assistance, why shouldn’t West Coast, even though they’ve been a successful club for a long period of time.”

The legendary Jeremy McGovern was forced to retire this year. Picture: Daniel Carson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Pyke revealed West Coast had already staged “initial discussions with the AFL” around draft assistance, believing the Eagles’ recent plight was not dissimilar to clubs who have previously received AFL handouts, such as Gold Coast and North Melbourne.

West Coast will also argue the compromised nature of this year’s AFL draft will make it harder for the club to rebuild, with any second-round pick likely to fall in the early 30s due to NGA and father-son bids.

“The unfortunate situation we find ourselves in, looking at our numbers – whether it be games won, quarters won, percentage over the last five years – we find ourselves right in the position where if you apply it across clubs who have recently received assistance … we’re well and truly in the window for that,” Pyke said on SEN.

“We’ll have those discussions and we’ll proceed with some sort of request. We feel like as disappointing as it is, we are where we are, and with the draft as compromised as it’s been, we feel like we can benefit from some assistance to get ourselves out of where we’ve been.”

The Kangaroos were granted three extra end-of-first-round draft selections spread over two years, which they were able to trade for established talent. North Melbourne also got two extra rookie list spots.

Back in 2019, the Suns’ assistance package included the No. 1 pick in the upcoming 2019 draft, the first pick of the second round in 2019 (No. 20), a first-round pick in 2020 (No. 11) and the first pick of the second round in 2021 (No. 19).

Gold Coast also received expanded Academy access for three years that included Darwin in its zone and allowed it to pre-sign Academy players without having to match bids.

Pyke also had a message for critics of West Coast’s request. For the good of the AFL, West Coast can’t continue to be uncompetitive.

“I’m also mindful of people saying, ‘well, West Coast got into this problem, so they should just work their way out of it’,” he said.

“But this is the essence of equalisation. The equalisation across the comp is designed to allow clubs to not spend a long period of time either at the top or at the bottom.

“With the draft as compromised as it is, there’s no other measure we have. We can’t say ‘we’re a big club, we can spend our way out of it’. The soft cap and salary cap is all designed to equalise the comp.

“I think we’d be not doing our duty if we didn’t ask the question about ‘how do we get any assistance we can?’ if it’s available to help us get out of this and get back to playing competitive, strong footy week on week.”

Originally published as West Coast set to ask for draft assistance package from AFL but is the club’s plight it’s own doing?