Premiership hero Dom Sheed knows that the return of household names to the West Coast Eagles line-up does not necessarily translate to immediate success.
As he prepares for his first senior game of the season against Geelong on Saturday, combined with the likely inclusion of several other big names, he understands it might take time to gel.
“We know that just because you bring back premiership players or stars of our team it doesn’t mean you are going to win games,” the midfield accumulator said. “You still have to execute your role and you need to play well for the team.
“When you have a long-term injury and your team’s losing you want to be out there helping them and when they’re winning you want to be alongside them winning. I’m back now and hopefully we’re looking forward to the second half of the year, having some success and trying to shape the top eight teams.
“Every week we plan against opposition and we plan to win. As much as we talk about the small wins – winning a quarter, winning a patch of footy or winning a half – deep down our big picture is to win games.
“We haven’t done that so we have had to scale it back to play out quarters together so we can have that win. Geelong are up and about, they are a good team so they are going to be tough to beat.
“When we are on top we are going to have to make the most of our opportunities and really try to stem the flow when they come at us.”
Sheed’s pre-season was severely disrupted when he suffered a serious ankle injury in the first minutes of the first pre-season warm-up game against Fremantle.
After winning the ball at a centre bounce he was preparing to send it forward when a pursuing tackler landed on his ankle, resulting in the worst outcome.
He has worked diligently to return, completing a mini pre-season before building match fitness with three games for the WAFL Eagles.
“Absolutely I put my hand up for selection, I got through training today my body feels good and I have had three weeks in the WAFL so I’m ready to go,” Sheed declared.
“You can do as much running as you want out on the track but playing competitive footy against opposition is a lot different, so having the opportunity to play three weeks has hardened my body and made me ready to play AFL.
“Mine was a 12-15 week injury so I don’t think I could have slotted straight back in.”
The return of Sheed is expected to be one of a handful of important inclusions for the Eagles with forwards Willie Rioli, Liam Ryan and Jack Petruccelle, midfield powerhouse Elliot Yeo and champion defender Jeremy McGovern all giving the match committee reason to consider them.
“Match committee are in there now thinking about Willie, Liam, Yeoy and a few others,” Sheed said. “I think they will spend a fair bit of time in there on selection and hopefully it’s like that for the rest of the year.”
