Eagles CEO Don Pyke says Oscar Allen should not have to give up West Coast captaincy

Amid growing calls for Oscar Allen to give up the captaincy of the West Coast Eagles after meeting with Sam Mitchell, CEO Don Pyke is standing by his skipper.

West Coast has backed star spearhead Oscar Allen to stay captain in the face of calls to stand down over his meeting with Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell.

Chief executive Don Pyke told officials at the club on Wednesday the key forward did not need to relinquish the captaincy, in the belief his meeting with a rival club was a part of modern day free agency talks.

While the club has acknowledged Allen’s get-together was an awkward look and not ideal, the Eagles accept their out-of-contract star is entitled to make a fully informed decision on his future whether he is captain or not.

Further, West Coast was aware there was strong interest in him from across the border when the club made him co-captain in March.

Eagles CEO Don Pyke. Picture: Daniel Carson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Coach Andrew McQualter is expected to strongly support Allen at his press conference on Friday, adamant he is still the best man for the job alongside co-captain Liam Duggan despite the public fallout.

Allen has strong interest from premiership favourites Hawthorn and Brisbane Lions as well as Essendon, Collingwood and Melbourne.

AFL greats including Melbourne’s Garry Lyon, Collingwood legend Nathan Buckley and St Kilda’s Nick Riewoldt questioned whether Allen should continue in the job after his meeting with Mitchell became embarrassingly public.

In particular, Buckley said some teammates would be “seething” with the goal kicker.

“This would be his (Allen’s) nightmare rocking up to the football club this week and having to front his teammates,” Buckley said on SEN.

It came in the wake of a terrible Western Derby loss to Fremantle on Sunday night when Allen, 26, managed only one possession to three quarter time before he was swung to half back.

But West Coast bosses have resisted calls to stand Allen down as skipper and will instead attempt to help him return to form in Sunday’s clash against GWS Giants.

Mitchell has been on the front foot in Hawthorn’s recruiting mission over the past 12 months after meeting gun defender Tom Barrass in Perth in similar circumstances last year.

He also spoke with Eagles’ No. 1 pick Harley Reid at Barrass’s wedding, fueling speculation the Hawks were prepared to swoop on Reid as well as Allen at season’s end.

The Eagles are also in the market to attract top-line talent as part of their full list rebuild.

West Coast is currently courting superstar Sydney Swans’ midfielder Chad Warner and has also met the West Australian ball-winner who is out of contract at season’s end.

But Allen’s contract negotiation remains tricky considering his knee injury history.

West Coast is believed to have offered him only a five-year deal which is significantly less than what rivals clubs including the Lions and Hawks will offer him to leave.

The Eagles could also be tempted by the free agency compensation which could deliver the club a top-three pick.

Melbourne great Garry Lyon said Allen had made the wrong call meeting Mitchell.

“I can’t have the elected leader of the football club — who represents the players, who needs to set an example, and before they run down the race eyeballs them and asks for a commitment and an effort and all that sort of stuff — then be meeting with an opposition coach,” Lyon said on Fox Footy.

“It’s hard now for those players to look at him, (who will ask) ‘Are you with us or not?’

“Players are doing it (meeting with rival clubs) all the time, but not captains … I see it as it’s almost letting down the captaincy brethren — that’s the way I look at it.”

Buckley said the relationship between the captain of a football club and the rest of the playing group was an important one.

“You trust that your captain is there for you. You trust that he has your back,” Buckley said.

“You are in it not just for the now but for the indefinite future and the good, the bad and everything in between,” he said.

“You look like – not that you have got one foot out the door – but it looks like you are thinking about jumping.

“That is not a great cloud to be hanging over any situation or any relationship. That is exactly where they are at.

“You don’t want to be in that situation.

“If you have that meeting or you are looking, it cannot be done in the manner it was done and it cannot be in the public sphere.”

Originally published as Eagles CEO Don Pyke says Oscar Allen should not have to give up West Coast captaincy