Eagles blindside veteran recruiters Trevor Woodhouse, Stephen Nash and Neil Ross in sudden cull
West Coast has quietly axed veteran recruiters – two of whom had been at the club three decades – after the Eagles traded out pick 3 ahead of the draft, with new list boss Matthew Clarke now in full control.
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West Coast Eagles have blindsided some of its most experienced recruiters as part of a complete overhaul of its talent identification team.
One year after parting ways with list boss Rohan O’Brien, the Eagles have recently sacked highly-respected scouts Trevor Woodhouse, Stephen Nash and Neil Ross.
Woodhouse, a former list boss who contributed heavily to the 1992, 1994, 2006 and 2018 premiership teams, was surprisingly let go shortly before October’s draft. He had served at the club for 32 years.
Ross and Victorian recruiting officer Nash, two popular and respected figures in the football department, were dumped on the back of this year’s draft without forewarning.
Nash had also worked at West Coast across 29 seasons.
It’s understood the lack of recognition and communication surrounding their departures has raised eyebrows across the club as West Coast enters a new era under new CEO Don Pyke and new coach Andrew McQualter.
The recruiters’ swift exits allows new list boss Matthew Clarke, who was poached from Richmond, to hand pick a new recruiting team at West Coast to continue the club’s rebuild.
The Eagles controversially traded out pick three to Carlton for picks 12 and 14.
West Coast great Peter Sumich recently labelled the pick three trade “the worst deal I’ve seen for a long time” even though West Coast was still able to land local playmaker Allan and secure Richmond premiership star Baker amid strong interest from Fremantle.
There has been significant change at West Coast over the past 18 months with a new high performance boss, new coach and list manager and CEO.
The Eagles have won only 10 games over the past three seasons on the back of the 2018 flag, but remain excited by the young talent at the club including 2023 No.1 pick Harley Reid.
McQualter took over from premiership coach Adam Simpson who was let go this year amid the team’s continued poor form.
In the 2006 premiership side the Eagles had five rookie-pick gems, Brett Jones, Chad Fletcher, Quinten Lynch, Dean Cox and Steve Armstrong.
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