Adam Simpson has praised the club’s WAFL side for helping lift the spirit and camaraderie amongst the entire playing group.
Speaking earlier in the week at his weekly press conference, Simpson talked about the role the WAFL Eagles had played in helping build team chemistry.
“We’ve been really proud of our boys at WAFL level,” Simpson said.
“Fraser McInnes is our captain and the spirit that they’ve been playing with has really fed our senior players.”
“The last couple of weeks we’ve had some good wins and it’s just lifted the whole vibe of the club.”
Simpson spoke of the benefits of having a WAFL team, which included having the entire playing group training together throughout the week.
“We had a good partnership with East Perth but to have our own team and our own trademark players and all those type of things that you do internally, it’s probably elevated the tight-knit group that we’ve got,” he said.
“We might not be winning every week but it’s helping our culture within for sure.”
As the AFL side strives to qualify for finals, the WAFL Eagles will be looking to boost their own finals aspirations when they take on premiership favourites Subiaco at Leederville Oval today.
The Eagle’s WAFL side currently sit seventh on the ladder with a 6-7 record, on the back of a four-game winning streak.
A win against the Lions would put the Eagles in prime position for a finals berth and bolster the club’s chances of having two sides feature in the September action.
Speaking to SportsFM earlier this month, Drew Petrie said the prospect of having both sides featuring in finals football was exciting.
“It would be a big help. It’s not spoken about but to have our WAFL side playing in September would be great,” Petrie said.
“If our AFL side qualifies for finals, we want our WAFL boys to be able to play competitive football and finals football.
“It would just mean that if anyone needs a call up at the business end of the year we will have players with good match practice who are ready to go.”