Training Pre-Season 2023 (First game 18/3 v North)

[Dark Sharks]

Don't worry gaiz, we're going to win the flag according to ShueyKent.

Forget the fact we've come off being the worst team after the bye in 2021, then backed that up by dishing up the worst season in 35yr club history in 2022.

We've been contenders all along, we've just had an unprecedented amount of bad luck that no other club has had, or dealt with. Injuries are exclusive to West Coast. So is Covid. Also, the Hubs only affected West Coast and no other teams. Then there was the soft cap. Also it rained a couple of times. Also Scott Morrison.

 

[Shueygod]

Ok mate, so assuming we have an average run with injury in 2023 how do you think the season is going to go for us?

At this point it’s a 6-12 team with a good injury run, I think Yeo/Shuey are passed it at this point.

2020 was the year things should have gone differently if they were fully fit.

Kelly as a #3 mid would’ve been lethal.

Nice to hypothesise but I just don’t buy into it being the boys phoning it in when no club in the league is having a good season without their two best mids for most of it.

 

[Shueygod]

Don't worry gaiz, we're going to win the flag according to ShueyKent.

Forget the fact we've come off being the worst team after the bye in 2021, then backed that up by dishing up the worst season in 35yr club history in 2022.

We've been contenders all along, we've just had an unprecedented amount of bad luck that no other club has had, or dealt with. Injuries are exclusive to West Coast. So is Covid. Also, the Hubs only affected West Coast and no other teams. Then there was the soft cap. Also it rained a couple of times. Also Scott Morrison.

Did I ever say that muppet?

Injuries obviously aren’t exclusive to eagles but to act like they haven’t had a huge impact is ****ing stupid.

Other than us in 2018 none of the other grand final clubs have missed multiple elite players for extended periods.

Bulldogs, Port and Carlton all had a few key injuries this year and underperformed. Do you think that’s a coincidence?

Name me a club that’s had as bad an injury run since 2019? You can’t, it’s us and then massive daylight.

I get you’re a sooky campaigner that melts about the draft before it’s happened but have a think before posting ffs

As much as everyone in here loves to say it’s just an excuse so they can continue their hatred circlejerk, continuity of a best 22 would be the number one factor in winning a premiership imo

 

[Shueygod]

Don't worry gaiz, we're going to win the flag according to ShueyKent.

Forget the fact we've come off being the worst team after the bye in 2021, then backed that up by dishing up the worst season in 35yr club history in 2022.

We've been contenders all along, we've just had an unprecedented amount of bad luck that no other club has had, or dealt with. Injuries are exclusive to West Coast. So is Covid. Also, the Hubs only affected West Coast and no other teams. Then there was the soft cap. Also it rained a couple of times. Also Scott Morrison.

Also this year quite literally was an unprecedented amount of bad luck, or have you seen other clubs needing to play WAFL players recently?

 

[flamingEMBERS]

Is shueygod stocksy? Is asterix under notice?

 

[Cuzz09]

Hoping we can win min. 3-4 games by the bye and if we can match that coming home that's not a bad year considering.

On SM-S908E using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Godfather32]

At this point it’s a 6-12 team with a good injury run, I think Yeo/Shuey are passed it at this point.

2020 was the year things should have gone differently if they were fully fit.

Kelly as a #3 mid would’ve been lethal.

Nice to hypothesise but I just don’t buy into it being the boys phoning it in when no club in the league is having a good season without their two best mids for most of it.

10 is our absolute ceiling imo and that's if we're relatively fit. We just don't have the midfield to get it done anymore.
But I also think as a whole club we 100% took the foot off the pedal after 2018. That's from the administration right down to the players

 

[Cornelius Roy]

Yeah a huge exception and because we had the clear best list in the year. Despite they were all there for the majority of the season and contributed to the premiership.

Not the equivalent of our current injury issues.

Pies were $1.65 to win the GF against us. Nic Nait, Gaff and Shep bring us closer into line but I think it’s more accurate to say Collingwood and us had fairly comparable lists than us being a clear stand out like say Essendon in 2000

 

[Cornelius Roy]

At this point it’s a 6-12 team with a good injury run, I think Yeo/Shuey are passed it at this point.

2020 was the year things should have gone differently if they were fully fit.

Kelly as a #3 mid would’ve been lethal.

Nice to hypothesise but I just don’t buy into it being the boys phoning it in when no club in the league is having a good season without their two best mids for most of it.

I agree with 6-12. I think with a better preseason we’ll surprise some. Im also a little more bullish on Yeo also in his few games this year he provided a lot of badly needed rebound off half back and wasn’t anywhere near fully fit.

I’d be fairly confident in saying some boys absolutely were taking the piss at the end of 2021. There was a comment from an insider about something going on internally at the club from memory so everyone should consider some leeway.

 

[RookiePick]

Don't worry gaiz, we're going to win the flag according to ShueyKent.

Forget the fact we've come off being the worst team after the bye in 2021, then backed that up by dishing up the worst season in 35yr club history in 2022.

We've been contenders all along, we've just had an unprecedented amount of bad luck that no other club has had, or dealt with. Injuries are exclusive to West Coast. So is Covid. Also, the Hubs only affected West Coast and no other teams. Then there was the soft cap. Also it rained a couple of times. Also Scott Morrison.

I thought this was another DS piss-take but then I read the bolded and realised he was being dead serious.

 

[Goroyals22]

I agree with 6-12. I think with a better preseason we’ll surprise some. Im also a little more bullish on Yeo also in his few games this year he provided a lot of badly needed rebound off half back and wasn’t anywhere near fully fit.

I’d be fairly confident in saying some boys absolutely were taking the piss at the end of 2021. There was a comment from an insider about something going on internally at the club from memory so everyone should consider some leeway.

The worst thing that can happen is we rebound to win 12 games encouraging the credit crew to all gets new deals and delay the rebuild further.

 

[shooshka]

The worst thing that can happen is we rebound to win 12 games encouraging the credit crew to all gets new deals and delay the rebuild further.

Not really.

NN is already signed for 2 years
Shuey and Hurn almost certainly don't go on
Gov, Cripps, Darling, Gaff are the other oldies - Gaff is contracted for 2024 already, Dalring until 2025.

So it is only 4 players who could/might have tough decisions around playing on - and we have a heap of other dead-wood to cut also (O'Neill, SPS, Foley, LEdwards, Waterman, Clark, West - all look to have their contracts up a the end of next season. Hopefully some improve into B22 players or more consistent players, but there are doubts about all also).

I can't see us making finals (12 wins is probably a finals year), so it is a moot point, but I do see us being very competitive against other bottom 6 teams whilst likely struggling against the top 6. That probably means 8-10 wins for the year but if we were to win most games against the bottom 6 from this year (probably 8 games total - assuming the 'Magic Round' opponent is from the 2022 bottom 6) then that could be even higher.

 

[Shueygod]

Obviously everyone in here will disagree but I still believe we have a top 6 forward and backline in the comp.

Doesn’t take a big shift in the mids to get us back to top 8 in that regard (literally a firing Naitanui and yeo gets it there).

Granted Naitanui and Yeo to come back fit and firing is extremely hopeful, but it’s not as dire as the sooks in here will have you believe.

 

[WCErevival]

Obviously everyone in here will disagree but I still believe we have a top 6 forward and backline in the comp.

Doesn’t take a big shift in the mids to get us back to top 8 in that regard (literally a firing Naitanui and yeo gets it there).

Granted Naitanui and Yeo to come back fit and firing is extremely hopeful, but it’s not as dire as the sooks in here will have you believe.

Yeah I think you are right with not many agreeing.

With JK and Rioli gone our forward line is definitely not top 6. Only Darling and Ryan are proven A graders and they aren't always conistent. Cripps is ok but he has half a season of soap handling football to get out of the way before he settles.

Our backline is actually rubbish atm. Outside of Barrass, we get pantsed most of the time in defence. It is too slow.

 

[Seadog]

I thought this was another DS piss-take but then I read the bolded and realised he was being dead serious.

I don't think it is any coincidence we went from Premiers at the start of his term as PM and were a laughing stock shitshow at the end of his rule.

 

[Balls In]

Obviously everyone in here will disagree but I still believe we have a top 6 forward and backline in the comp.

Doesn’t take a big shift in the mids to get us back to top 8 in that regard (literally a firing Naitanui and yeo gets it there).

Granted Naitanui and Yeo to come back fit and firing is extremely hopeful, but it’s not as dire as the sooks in here will have you believe.

Our top six potential forwardline ended when Kennedy and Junior left I reckon. Our backline is unbalanced and one dimensional, centers around two gun intercept key defenders and a 35 year old "quarterback". Lacks speed, groundball winning ability, overlap run carry and creativity. Our key defenders struggle when isolated in a lockdown situation.

 

[bh90210fan]

I don't think it is any coincidence we went from Premiers at the start of his term as PM and were a laughing stock shitshow at the end of his rule.

Worst Wildcats coach ever

 

[Big_Tony]

Good to see everyone back in here early for 2023 match day thread training!

 

[Wooshaaaa]

So do the work before you embarrass yourself.

Let's focus on 2021and the 9 losses in a row after the bye. Your grand statements make me think that we were desperately unlucky with injuries. Let us dig.

In 2021, here are the following games by our 6 top ranked midfielders

Kelly - 19
Gaff - 21
Redden - 18
Sheed - 22
Shuey - 7
Yeo - 12

Dig deeper and you will find out that Yeo played in all of those 9 losses and Shuey played in 6 of the 9 losses.

In other words, out midfield was pretty close to "As strong as could be".

Just as an aside, why do you think Simpson was so sensitive about the second half of 2021? He responded very tersely in a couple of interviews "we have dealt with that". Do you think this might be more attitudinal or we that we are just the unluckiest of clubs.

Spot on. Attitude was shit, game style found out and when all the injuries and covid hit us in 22 it exposed our lack of depth.

Total rebuild required asap. Play as many of the kids as we can and if gaff plays in the wafl for half a yr so be it.

On Pixel 6 Pro using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Nuffington Post]

Spot on. Attitude was s**t, game style found out and when all the injuries and covid hit us in 22 it exposed our lack of depth.

Total rebuild required asap. Play as many of the kids as we can and if gaff plays in the wafl for half a yr so be it.

On Pixel 6 Pro using BigFooty.com mobile app

We might be paying Gaff $900k per year for two years to play in the WAFL


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Chris_6678]

Any 2023 news or we talking bout 2018-2020?

 

[Dark Sharks]

Top 6 forward line of

Darling (34 goals) ,
Allan (0 goals),
Ryan (19 goals)
Cripps (22 goals).

From the team ranked 17th for goals in 2022. Now I've heard everything.

 

[shooshka]

Our top six potential forwardline ended when Kennedy and Junior left I reckon. Our backline is unbalanced and one dimensional, centers around two gun intercept key defenders and a 35 year old "quarterback". Lacks speed, groundball winning ability, overlap run carry and creativity. Our key defenders struggle when isolated in a lockdown situation.

Jones, Hunt, Hough all provide varying levels of speed, groundball ability, run and carry and creativity.

Cole is a massive addition (and was a massive loss in 2022) to that group also. And if Yeo plays back that is another player who can provide attack as well as attack-on-the-ball.

Not sure if Chesser plays back there or not (maybe pause for the not sure where he plays as he is constantly injured crowd - fair statement at this stage though).

I think the back 6 is fine. We lack a little in the forward half, but plenty of premiership teams have had worse forward lines that what we will (or at least hope to) trot out in 2023.

Our midfield (and especially midfield depth) is very thin though (not literally of course - they are all fat - but metaphorically). Redden retiring, whilst good for the mid-term squad balance opens another hole in an already swiss-cheese midfield group.

 

[shooshka]

Top 6 forward line of

Darling (34 goals) ,
Allan (0 goals),
Ryan (19 goals)
Cripps (22 goals).

From the team ranked 17th for goals in 2022. Now I've heard everything.

Get Ryan Daniels on the case. Team ranked 18th for inside 50's was ranked 17th for goals scored..... That is front page news....


I'm not saying that they are top 6, but fit and firing with a decent midfield our forward line would be top half of the league.

 

[Dark Sharks]

Get Ryan Daniels on the case. Team ranked 18th for inside 50's was ranked 17th for goals scored..... That is front page news....


I'm not saying that they are top 6, but fit and firing with a decent midfield our forward line would be top half of the league.

I just don't get the statement.

"With... if they had... could be..."


Sure, if our midfield pulled the digit out our forwards could be anything, even at a stretch I'm not really disputing that.

It's just that I find it so extremely unlikely. We don't flat track teams anymore, we're often non competitive in general. I just don't see where these big bags of goals are supposedly going to come from? Especially with the clubs greatest ever goal scorer JK gone and Allen having plenty of question marks over him.

Add in Rioli going, Cripps approaching 31, Ryan seemingly losing his hunger, and us having no real bright forward talents on our list to pick up the slack (yet). Petch is a bust.

Personally I'd give it a couple years at least. Might turn up some forward talent in the next couple drafts.