West Coast will take positives from key players progressing towards round one and some valuable learnings from the club’s pre-season practice matches, General Manager – Football Gavin Bell says.
Building towards the season-opener against North Melbourne, the Eagles’ skipper Luke Shuey was back in action against Adelaide, while Dom Sheed, Oscar Allen, Tom Cole, Elliot Yeo and Campbell Chesser featured in both games following long-term injuries last year.
After defeating Port Adelaide in match simulation, the Eagles were beaten by the red-hot Crows last Friday night, and Bell told SEN WA the players and coaches would take a balanced approach to reviewing the second warm-up match.
“Whether we win or lose we’re very methodical with our approach to our review. We try and remain really consistent,” Bell said.
“Last week, we got the scoreboard result against Port and we identified a number of things we did well, but also that we needed to improve.
“This week so far, with our review work this morning with match committee it’s been very much the same.
“There’s some things we did well and there’s some things that we really need to improve before we head into the North Melbourne game.”
The Crows’ pressure and intensity around the contest was first-class and the undersized Eagles struggled to get their game flowing.
Emerging ruck Bailey Williams (hamstring tightness) joined star Nic Naitanui (Achilles soreness) on the sidelines before the bounce, leaving youngster Callum Jamieson to combat experienced big man Reilly O’Brien.
“We thought Jamo did a wonderful job to really fight out against a very good opponent in big O’Brien from Adelaide,” Bell said.
“He was undersized Jamo but he continues to show us his competitive instinct and his desire to work hard for the team and do the very best he can. He was a positive out of the night.
“Unfortunately we had to remove Bailey from the game prior to the game with some hamstring awareness. We’ll continue to work through with Bailey to give him the best chance to be available for North as well.
“Nic is progressing. We’re missing him but we also know we need to get the work into Nic to set him up for the season.”
The Eagles lost utility Josh Rotham to a fractured arm after a heavy collision against Adelaide, with a timeframe for his return to play still to be mapped out.
“It was brave of Josh. There was guys really putting their body on the line on the weekend and Josh came off second best with that,” Bell said.
“We’re not sure of the timeframe with it being a public holiday we need to get everything done over the next couple of days to check in with him, but x-rays confirmed a fracture and we’ll work our way through it.”
On Monday morning, there were positive signs with gun forward Jack Darling completing running work and kicking exercises at Mineral Resources Park as he increases his rehabilitation program.
“He’s making really good progress. He’s a fast healer, he’s a real pro with his body to get himself right. Day by day for us but he’s trending in the right direction,” Bell said.
Darling has not been ruled out of the season-opener, while another Eagle hoping to be there is prized top draftee Reuben Ginbey who excelled with 17 disposals and six clearances in his first game against an opposition.
“It was wonderful to see the approach Reuben took to the game. He was strong in the contest, he certainly worked his backside off for the team, so he was really pleasing,” Bell said.
“We got another game into Campbell Chesser as a younger player as well which was good, and we saw a little bit more from Elijah Hewett.
“With regards to round one, we’ve still got a week and a half … to go until selection, so we’ll work our way through it but he certainly didn’t do his chances any harm by the way he went about it and the performance that he gave.”
