Gary Buckenara analyses West Coast’s list after the 2020 season
West Coast are clear flag favourites for 2021 but over the off-season the players and coaches must ask themselves some serious questions.
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West Coast has one of the best lists in the competition and despite not winning this year’s premiership will enter 2021 as my flag favourites.
But talent alone doesn’t win flags and it doesn’t guarantee success. It requires a huge amount of hard work, dedication, selflessness and team work to bring it all together and the Eagles discovered that the hard way this season.
While the club and the players have done a mighty job since 2018 to bring all those characteristics together to win a premiership three years ago, having one of the best lists on paper doesn’t mean anything on game day.
Coach Adam Simpson would be regretting his team’s inability to adapt to hub life. They failed miserably and it ultimately cost them the opportunity to win another premiership with this group. What a waste of a year. The Eagles should never have been in an elimination final – they should have been playing a qualifying final with the opportunity to win straight through to a prelim. The early-season loss to Gold Coast (by a whopping 44 points) as well as thumping losses to Brisbane (30 points) and Port Adelaide (48) ultimately cost them because their percentage (117.0) was the difference between finishing fourth compared to fifth. Richmond finished two points clear in third – so how costly is that Suns loss now.
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West Coast has seven A-grade players, led by Nic Naitanui, Jeremy McGovern and Elliot Yeo (whose hardness they desperately missed in the elimination final against Collingwood), 11 B-graders and six developing players aged 21 or under that I believe will develop into A or B-graders. It’s a real credit to the list management and recruiting teams who have put together such a strong list. This group should have at least made a preliminary final. That’s where those four aspects – hard work, dedication, selflessness and team work – come into play.
Why did they fail so miserably to adapt to hub life, travel and the different circumstances and challenges the COVID-19 pandemic presented? Is it a lack of mental toughness? Does this group lack a killer instinct? Were they as dedicated as they could be in the hub compared to when they were at home in Perth? Can they cope with the pressure of being the hunted every week, where opposition teams throw everything at you because they want a big scalp?
While there are some hard questions that need answering and some off-season soul-searching to be done, the quality of this list means West Coast is my premiership favourite for 2021.
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LIST NEEDS
The Eagles have a very well-balanced list with a strong defence, elite midfield and very dangerous four-pronged forward line with Josh Kennedy, Jack Darling, Oscar Allen and Liam Ryan. That means they can continue to add young talent to develop alongside these terrific players and target a free agent or two along the way to shore up needs that present.
What the Eagles have done extremely well is plan for the future by drafting and getting games into players such as Allen, Josh Rotham, Jarrod Brander and Jake Waterman and giving more responsibility to Liam Duggan, Tom Cole and Ryan who will take over from the likes of Kennedy (33), Shannon Hurn (33), Lewis Jetta (31) and the newly-retired Will Schofield.
TRADE TARGETS
The Eagles are keen to secure Alex Witherden from Brisbane who’d be a brilliant acquisition if they can get it done. I rate Witherden really highly and despite falling out of favour this year, he’d be on my list of untouchables at the Lions. He’s an elite kick off halfback and given the way West Coast play, he’d fit right in. He has two years to run on his contract, so if the Eagles are to get him in a trade they’ll need to pay up. I’d have no hesitation offering next year’s first-round pick but I think the Lions would want more. Jarrod Cameron is an exciting young player and an untouchable in my book at the Eagles, but if they could trade Cameron and their first pick next year to get Witherden, given they just brought in another small forward in Zac Langdon from GWS, then I’d do the deal. Not sure how many senior opportunities Cameron will get and I’m sure he’d love to play with his brother Charlie at Brisbane.
UNTOUCHABLES
Kelly, Kennedy, Ryan, Hurn, Allen, Brander, Rotham, Cole, Duggan, McGovern, Naitanui, Darling, Yeo, Tom Barrass, Andrew Gaff, Luke Shuey, Jamie Cripps, Dom Sheed, Brad Sheppard, Brayden Ainsworth, Jarrod Cameron, Jack Redden and Xavier O’Neill.
TRADE BAIT
Do they need both Nathan Vardy and Tom Hickey on the list? Given other clubs are desperate for ruckmen I’d shop both players to see if any club is willing to offer a late second-round or early third-round pick. Experienced ruckmen have currency even if they haven’t played regularly. It appears the Eagles intend to develop Bailey Williams to assist and eventually take over from Naitanui.
RATING THE LIST
A-grade: Gaff, Kelly, Kennedy, McGovern, Naitanui, Shuey, Yeo
B: Barrass, Cole, Cripps, Darling, Duggan, Hurn, Jetta, Redden, Ryan, Sheed, Sheppard
C: Ah Chee, Hickey, Hutchings, Nelson, Rioli, Rotham, Vardy, Venables, Waterman
Developing (with A-B grade potential): Ainsworth, Allen, Brander, Cameron, X. O’Neill, Petruccelle
Developing: Edwards, Foley, Jamieson, Johnson, Jones, Williams
What the ratings mean:
A-grade: Elite player on any AFL list
B: Top 10-18 player on most lists
C: An 18-30 player on a list
Developing: Aged 21 or under
CRYSTAL BALL
The Eagles will be the team to beat next year given the quality and depth of their list and should create a powerful legacy by winning multiple premierships from 2021-2025 to add to that 2018 flag. But nothing in football is guaranteed and West Coast know this better than most clubs, given it had a list in the 1990s that should have won more premierships than it did. Everything needs to go right, but it’s ultimately up to the playing group to come together and make individual and team sacrifices to achieve the ultimate success.
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