New normal?

Wouldn’t mind a buck for every time that phrase has been uttered in the last two years. Wish someone could explain exactly what that means. Define it.

Having experienced the last 24 months or more, nothing is normal. Certainly not the lead-up to this AFL season. And definitely not at our footy club.

When the main training session was held at Optus Stadium on Thursday, there were five players on the track who have never had a direct link to the Eagles; three blokes who had never even donned a West Coast training jumper.

This for the main hit out before the first game. And all were more than a silly chance of playing in tomorrow’s season opener against the Gold Coast Suns.

Logan Young and Ambrose Ryan were selected from the WAFL Eagles as NGA draftees to a Covid Contingency List announced on Wednesday. West Perth star Aaron Black, Claremont midfielder Declan Mountford and Subiaco forward Stef Gyro were drafted under unique circumstances to the list.

While they will remain with their WAFL clubs, they can be called up in the event of a player emergency where numbers are thin. There are another 17 in that group who could be promoted in an emergency.

Three more – forward Hugh Dixon, ruckman Luke Strnadaca and wingman Patrick Naish –were added to the roster as rookie list players only a week ago. Dixon and Naish will play against the Suns.

Throw in three AIS Academy youngsters and there were myriad fresh faces.

Naish, who played nine games with Richmond, was training at St Kilda until two weeks ago but has slotted in seamlessly since his arrival in Perth. He is neat, composed and smart.

The Covid Contingency List is a new innovation to ensure the competition can proceed if/when clubs are hit by the pandemic. The WA clubs are at greater risk than their rivals because the east coast has already worked through the worst of it, while west of the border the expectation is that the peak is on the horizon.

Of the three covid contingency players on the track on Thursday, two had already played at the level. Giro played 14 games with Fremantle before being de-listed last year while Mountford played a dozen games for North Melbourne before being cut loose at the end of the 2018 season.    

Mountford has been named on the emergency list for tomorrow’s game and what appeared a long shot a week, is now a distinct possibility – a debut for the Eagles.  

And that leaves Black.

A remarkable servant of West Perth he has often in the past been spoken of in AFL circles as a potential mature age recruit Sadly, it never happened for him. Until now.

Nothing may materialise for the 29-year-old midfielder. Part of me hopes it doesn’t because that would mean half of our players are unavailable. But there is also the romantic notion that it does.

He has been exceptional at the next tier; a great ambassador for both his club and the WAFL more broadly. He is a Sandover medallist, a premiership player and a dual Breckler medallist. He could have done no more in his distinguished career to draw the attention of recruiters.

That now he is at least recognised as a player with AFL credentials should offer a degree of satisfaction.

Until this week I had never met Black. Admired what he did on-field, impressed by his demeanour of it. Always appeared humble and articulate in media interviews be that in WAFL finals’ series or at a Sandover Medal count.

A brief encounter on the boundary line post training would suggest what you see is what you get.

Of course Black is not a unique case in the WAFL. There are countless players in that historic competition who, but for unfavourable sliding doors, could have impacted at the top level.