Restricted Free Agent Oscar Allen

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That's really going to depend on Waterman having another career season and Yeo turning back the clock again. The most casual observer saw WC lose one of their two AFL proven key defenders and the other one is thirty three next year.

If national development of the younger players takes over, then it's going to be a better year for WC but their best performers were still their very mature players, indicative of a reliance on them and if they have injury seasons the result will suffer:

2024 WC B&F (current age):
McGovern (32y 8m)
Yeo (31y 2m)

Waterman (26y 7m)
Duggan (28y)
Hough (21y 9m)
Cripps (32y 7m)
Barrass (29y 2m)
Cole (27y 6m)
Reid (19y 7m)
Kelly (30y 4m)

3 under 27. Or to put it another way, of all the guys on WC's list in 2024 who were above thirty are either in that list or traded or retired now


And because someone will expect to see it, here is Fremantle's:

Serong (23y 10m)
Brayshaw (25y 1m)
Young (23y 8m)
Treacy (22y 4m)
Switkowski (28y)
Clark (24y 2m)
Ryan (28y 2m)
Pearce (29y 6m)
Jackson (23y 2m)
Walker (22y 1m)

None over thirty. Also didn't play finals.

Point is that every other team also believes they will be better next season and WC needs to have more than Reid and Hough contributing at a top ten B&F level, replacing the grand dads, before the progression for them can speed up.

How a team fares next season is subject to where they finished and where clubs are heading that finished near them.

Eagles finished bottom 3 past three seasons and improved their player availability. Recruited youth and experience and already had a number of developing kids.

The true KPI is games played by the kids. When will they hit 50.

Ginbey and Hough are there already or very close. In the next two seasons more of these kids will start hitting 50 plus games.

Richmond will be last. Guaranteed.

I expect to finish 16th to 14th but with a couple more wins and being more competitive in 2025.
 

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You used total attendance instead of Home attendances.
Can you point to the part of my post where I said anything about home attendances?

I said we had a higher average and a higher total attendance, which is exactly what my screenshot shows.

Are you stupid, or dishonest?
 
Waterman
Oscar Allan
Reid
Warner;)
Hewett
Ginbey
Hough
Bo Allen
Shannahan
Archer Ried
J Williams
Baker ;)

Plus another 5 years of drafting and trading.
If you are banking on a guy who isnt here, 4 players yet to even kick a ball in our jersey and two guys who have had a very tough run with injuries like Allen and Hewett you know we are in a bad spot

I mean in the above age bracket of 26 if Baker is included, Brisbane have

Jarrod Berry
Hugh McCluggage
Brandon Starcevich
Noah Answerth
Zac Bailey
Jack Payne
Cam Rayner
Keidan Coleman
Kai Lohmann
Darcy Wilmott
Jaspa Fletcher
Will Ashcroft
Logan Morris
Levi Ashcroft
Sam Marshall

And thats not adding guys like Shadeu Brain, Henry Smith, James Tunstil who shown a bit

In other words, we doomed
 
A lot of faith being shown in players who have shown little to literally nothing yet at AFL level there.

Goes to highlight that a known player, Oscar, is better than the pick in compensation for him, even if it's a top four pick.

Well when rebuilding and the question is "what's the outlook 5 years into the future. "

That's what you get.

Asking how a team will contend in 5 years isn't something anyone can say with any certainty about any list.
 
Whats WCE got to do with this? West Coast are past their worst now, and retention has always been a huge strength of the Eagles.
I’m not sure WCE are past their worst.

Yeo and McGovern are soon to retire. Kelly isn’t the on field leader type, and Ryan doesn’t look the player he was due to continued hamstring injuries.

Your traded in players are role player types, best suited to supporting better players, who as mentioned above are likely to retire in the next two years.

Harley aside, none of your recent draftees have looked convincing, certainly not as prime movers in the midfield.

Honestly it’s not hard seeing WCE ending up like North, treading water at the bottom of the ladder, as you keep drafting young kids, and unable to attract the top tier type players needed to climb the ladder faster than what we’ve seen from Gold Coast and North in recent years.
 
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Well when rebuilding and the question is "what's the outlook 5 years into the future. "

That's what you get.

Asking how a team will contend in 5 years isn't something anyone can say with any certainty about any list.

The basic maths on it is that the mostly as yet discovered/proven talent need to replace most of the current top ten players at West Coast within two to three years just to stay where they are, let alone improve.

If WC wasn't carried by the senior players, very senior players, in 2024 for the few wins they had - then it would make more of a case for natural progression lifting the side. I think the challenge for WC is that current output from Yeo, McGovern, Cripps, Kelly etc needs to be replaced and sidelined by their junior talent over the next two to three years.

Given that talent is at best "emerging" it's more likely WC dip a bit more before their rise up.
 
Exactly.

How many guns are found in a single draft?

Richmond fans drinking the bath water a tad assuming 7 1st rounders = 7 guns.

And they picked them all and everyone else dipped out.

Most drafts have 2 or 3 guns.
7 throws at the dart board in one draft is better than 7 throws at the dart board across 4 drafts, and WCE are still yet to take two of those throws in next year’s draft, where Richmond likely have two of the top 3 picks thanks to the North trade.

Don’t pretend like WCE fans don’t talk about all of Ginbey, Hewett and Allan all being guns and leading the biggest, baddest bash and crash midfield the league has ever seen on your own board.

**** sake, you’re all still arguing if Chesser might still make it.
 

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Waterman
Oscar Allan
Reid
Warner;)
Hewett
Ginbey
Hough
Bo Allen
Shannahan
Archer Ried
J Williams
Baker ;)

Plus another 5 years of drafting and trading.
If you’re going to start including players in your future team, that haven’t even requested a trade from their current club yet, then Brisbane fans can start including Oscar Allen in their 2026 flag team.
 
WCE's 2027 flag team is looking pretty elite, not gonna lie. Pretty handy bench that.




Backline:

  • Jordan Clark | Harris Andrews | Liam Jones
Half-Back Line:

  • Nick Blakey | Jeremy McGovern | Liam Baker
Centre Line:

  • Errol Gulden | Nick Daicos | Josh Daicos
Half-Forward Line:

  • Gryan Miers (Geelong) | Jesse Hogan | Christian Petracca
Forward Line:

  • Matt Owies | Charlie Curnow | Izak Rankine
Followers:

  • Tristan Xerri | Harley Reid | Chad Warner
Interchange:

  • Tom Stewart | Zach Merrett | Marcus Bontempelli
  • (sub) Max Holmes
 
The basic maths on it is that the mostly as yet discovered/proven talent need to replace most of the current top ten players at West Coast within two to three years just to stay where they are, let alone improve.

If WC wasn't carried by the senior players, very senior players, in 2024 for the few wins they had - then it would make more of a case for natural progression lifting the side. I think the challenge for WC is that current output from Yeo, McGovern, Cripps, Kelly etc needs to be replaced and sidelined by their junior talent over the next two to three years.

Given that talent is at best "emerging" it's more likely WC dip a bit more before their rise up.

What's every other team doing that finished around the Eagles?

They lost oldies in Gaff, Darling and to a lessor extent Barrass.

Added mature players Graham, Baker and Owies.

Those mature players added this year, last year and next year will replace the 30 year olds. That has been well documented.

The kids improving and developing then need to force the established players out.
 
I’m not sure WCE are past their worst.

Yeo and McGovern are soon to retire. Kelly isn’t the on field leader type, and Ryan doesn’t look the player he was due to continued hamstring injuries.
We have Yeo and Gov playing good footy for at least 1 more year, Yeo more but not as a pure mid id imagine. Gov depends what he wants to do at the end of the year, he hasnt looked even remotely like slowing down though, could easily see Gov winning another AA in 2025.
Yeo actually is contracted for 3 more years.

In 2 years we will have other options for the backline to cover Gov, its too early to tell who thatll be. Most of our talls are in their first couple of seasons.
To cover Yeo we will have Reid, Hewett, Allan, probably Warner, and a couple more first round picks..
People discount the effect not having a balanced mix of players on the list has affected the results of recent times. Just adding Baker and Graham to the midfield/defence will make a big difference, bigger than their own ability would suggest.
Your traded in players are role player types, best suited to supporting better players, who as mentioned above are likely to retire in the next two years.

Harley aside, none of your recent draftees have looked convincing, certainly not as prime movers in the midfield.
Our best one, Hewett has had injury issues, I have very little doubt he will be an A-grade prospect very quickly.
Most of the kids are in their first 4 seasons, its premature to say they havent looked convincing.
Honestly it’s not hard seeing WCE ending up like North, treading water at the bottom of the ladder, as you keep drafting young kids, and unable to attract the top tier type players needed to climb the ladder faster than what we’ve seen from Gold Coast and North in recent years.
We are likely the frontrunners for a guy like Warner right now, if not him then we will get someone else. We are not North or gold coast.

Incredibly pessimistic look at the list
 
The basic maths on it is that the mostly as yet discovered/proven talent need to replace most of the current top ten players at West Coast within two to three years just to stay where they are, let alone improve.

If WC wasn't carried by the senior players, very senior players, in 2024 for the few wins they had - then it would make more of a case for natural progression lifting the side. I think the challenge for WC is that current output from Yeo, McGovern, Cripps, Kelly etc needs to be replaced and sidelined by their junior talent over the next two to three years.

Given that talent is at best "emerging" it's more likely WC dip a bit more before their rise up.
For the record, only McGovern carried 'WCE' this year, as evidenced by his AA and B&F win.

Yes, Yeo came second and whilst he was very good at times, I'd hardly say he was beast mode.

Kelly = Meh
Cripps = About to retire, probably headed for WAFL this year.
Darling = Cooked
Gaff = Barely played
Sheed = Cooked

It's basically McGovern, Barrass and Yeo that need replacing from the senior cohort. The rest aren't exactly a huge loss once they're gone and yes, that includes Kelly.
 
WCE's 2027 flag team is looking pretty elite, not gonna lie. Pretty handy bench that.




Backline:

  • Jordan Clark | Harris Andrews | Liam Jones
Half-Back Line:

  • Nick Blakey | Jeremy McGovern | Liam Baker
Centre Line:

  • Errol Gulden | Nick Daicos | Josh Daicos
Half-Forward Line:

  • Gryan Miers (Geelong) | Jesse Hogan | Christian Petracca
Forward Line:

  • Matt Owies | Charlie Curnow | Izak Rankine
Followers:

  • Tristan Xerri | Harley Reid | Chad Warner
Interchange:

  • Tom Stewart | Zach Merrett | Marcus Bontempelli
  • (sub) Max Holmes
I respect the Merrett respect
 
For the record, only McGovern carried 'WCE' this year, as evidenced by his AA and B&F win.

Yes, Yeo came second and whilst he was very good at times, I'd hardly say he was beast mode.

Five wins for WC in 2024:

Richmond:
Kelly 29d
Yeo 27d 2g

Fremantle:
Yeo 26d 1g
Kelly 24d

Melbourne:
Kelly 30d

Gold Coast:
Kelly 31d
Yeo 26d

North:
Kelly 19d
Yeo 17d

All five wins had Kelly, Yeo or both in the top three highest impact players.
 
Five wins for WC in 2024:

Richmond:
Kelly 29d
Yeo 27d 2g

Fremantle:
Yeo 26d 1g
Kelly 24d

Melbourne:
Kelly 30d

Gold Coast:
Kelly 31d
Yeo 26d

North:
Kelly 19d
Yeo 17d

All five wins had Kelly, Yeo or both in the top three highest impact players.

Kelly was putrid.

Prime example of why possession numbers don't mean all that much.

We won those games because first-year player Reid dominated out of the middle.

Well, apart from the North game, where OAllen carried us.
 
Kelly was putrid.

Prime example of why possession numbers don't mean all that much.

We won those games because first-year player Reid dominated out of the middle.

Reid was good. Yeo was good. Yeo was so good he turned his retirement end of 2024 into a long term and very well paid extension. Yeo against Gold Coast I believe was one of the better midfielder clearance to inside fifty games all season from anybody.

Yeo is also 31, but let's pretend he is replaced by Reid long term.

Still looking for another two midfielders. At least. And Graham, Owies and Baker don't combine to replace Barrass in a structural sense.

I hope WC do better this year because it will make my house hold happier but WC have really just begun the rebuild, similar to Fremantle in 2016/2017. There are a lot of games to be lost by playing young, yet to be good, players in prime roles while the senior guys retire.

WC are good for key forwards but I think there is a hole in the ruck and key defenders which will mean stoppage games become clearance against games, which result in heavy scores against. As per the games a couple of years ago when one or both McGovern and Barrass were missing.
 
Reid was good. Yeo was good. Yeo was so good he turned his retirement end of 2024 into a long term and very well paid extension. Yeo against Gold Coast I believe was one of the better midfielder clearance to inside fifty games all season from anybody.

Yeo is also 31, but let's pretend he is replaced by Reid long term.

Still looking for another two midfielders. At least. And Graham, Owies and Baker don't combine to replace Barrass in a structural sense.

I hope WC do better this year because it will make my house hold happier but WC have really just begun the rebuild, similar to Fremantle in 2016/2017. There are a lot of games to be lost by playing young, yet to be good, players in prime roles while the senior guys retire.

WC are good for key forwards but I think there is a hole in the ruck and key defenders which will mean stoppage games become clearance against games, which result in heavy scores against. As per the games a couple of years ago when one or both McGovern and Barrass were missing.
Hewett should be replacing Kelly in midfield this year and pushing Kelly out to HFF/mid by the end of the season, where he plays his best footy anyway.

With all the injuries we had, Kelly had to play inside mid the past few year. If he can go back to playing that role he had a Geelong, then that would be a different story.

McGovern's injuries have luckily(?) been impact other than last year, where everyone was getting soft-tissue injuries. He's also showing no sign of slowing down.

The end can come quick, for sure, but his best is still AA calibre and he's showing no sign of decline. Being able to read the play better than anyone goes a long way to being able to play for longer as an older player, because you're not relying on your declining physical prowess.

Presuming the 2-3 year players step up next year, there's no reason to expect a decline, considering Owies, Baker and Graham are far better than most of the blokes being gifted games the past few years.

Adapting to a new coach is the question though.
 

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Restricted Free Agent Oscar Allen

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