By Michael Gleeson and Jake Niall
New West Coast coach Andrew McQualter will not only arrive at the Eagles with at least two Tigers premiership players alongside him, but will also bring a game style that leans heavily on Damien Hardwick’s successful Richmond game.
“I’m really clear on the way I want the game to look and to play, and it will be different from the way West Coast have played for the last little while,” McQualter said after he was unveiled as the Eagles next senior coach in Perth on Monday.
That game, McQualter added, would borrow from the Richmond and Melbourne systems where the assistant coach has worked since his playing days at St Kilda and, briefly, Gold Coast ended.
“Damien [Hardwick] has been enormous in my coaching journey … [He taught me] it’s OK to stand up and say I don’t have all the answers. It’s OK to be vulnerable … This job can’t be done well by one person.
The McQualter family - Andrew, wife Jane and daughters Emily, Alice and Georgia - are moving to Perth.Credit: Getty Images
“Clearly it [the three premiership years at Richmond] is a significant influence but also watching and being a part of Melbourne this year and knowing the success they have had and just watching the league in general and the way the game is being played, there is a pretty clear formula for what wins games of football.
“And there’s no secrets, there are no shortcuts to success so we are going to have to do the work build clarity around the plan.”
McQualter edged out Collingwood assistant Hayden Skipworth and Geelong’s Steven King for the job, replacing Adam Simpson and taking up a three-year deal with the Eagles.
Tigers premiership midfielder Liam Baker asked Richmond on Monday to trade him to the Eagles, the club he supported growing up in WA. Teammate Jack Graham is likely to exercise his free agency rights in a move to the Eagles but his manager Marty Pask said his client had yet to make that call.
“No decision has yet been made and Jack is still working through a process,” Pask said.
Contracted Tigers match-winner Shai Bolton has asked the club to be traded back to Perth but has yet to nominate which club.
Bolton is viewed as likely to seek a trade to Fremantle. He has four years remaining on his contract and the Tigers will demand significant trade compensation in any deal, but the Dockers have the draft capital – three first rounders including picks nine and 10.
West Coast could gain Hawthorn’s first pick (currently 13), which would assist them in potentially doing a deal for Baker. The Eagles already have a Richmond feel, having already secured long-term recruiter Matt Clark from Punt Road as their new list manager.
McQualter baulked at putting timeframes or expectations on the Eagles’ climb up the ladder, choosing instead to channel Collingwood coach Craig McRae, who was at the Tigers with McRae as an assistant.
“I don’t live in that space, we just need to get better every day,” McQualter said.
The 38-year-old McQualter joked that he first realised he wanted a future in coaching “probably the three times I was delisted before I was 25, I realised I wasn’t going to make too much of a career at that”.
Andrew McQualterCredit: Getty Images
He was at his brother’s place at Inverloch on Sunday morning when West Coast CEO Don Pyke rang to tell him he had the job. On Monday he flew with his wife and three young daughters to Perth and straight into a press conference.
McQualter had crossed to the Demons after the 2023 season, having been runner-up for the Richmond senior coaching position vacated by Hardwick.
Richmond’s Liam Baker is set for a move to the Eagles.Credit: AFL Photos
McQualter was caretaker coach at Richmond when Hardwick stepped down in the middle of 2023 and impressed with his people-management skills, but the Tigers opted for Adem Yze as an outsider (from the Demons) who brought fresh perspectives.
McQualter is a former St Kilda player who was drafted with a first round pick (17) in 2005 and played in the Saints’ 2009 and 2010 grand finals, including the draw of 2010, under Ross Lyon. He was rookie listed by the Gold Coast and played five games there in 2012.
He had been an assistant coach at Punt Road from 2017-2023 and worked in a development role under Hardwick for several years and it is this background that helped win him the position at a club with so many young players.
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