Emerging West Coast Eagles defender Brady Hough has put in a mountain of work since his arrival to the club in 2021.

The WA local and Peel Thunder product has added over 10 kilos of muscle to his frame and is shaping up to be an important pillar in the Eagles’ backline.

“Around 10-12 kilos I think,” Hough said about his increase in weight.

“My first year I jumped up quite a bit, and now gradually building from there.

“I’m at a weight now that I’m happy at, and confident to go out there and match it with the big boys.”

Despite a regular size difference between himself and his opposition, Hough said his athleticism plays an important role in creating a more even matchup.

“I do give up a bit of size when I’m on those taller forwards, but I think my athleticism can get it done sometimes,” Hough said.

“Just being able to work off their body and then try and get a jump at it is going to help me, reach the ball at its highest point, try and get it to ground and then I can go from there.

“Once I can get it to ground, I think it’s a good match up.”

Hough has shown his versatility after being tasked to play as a tall defender lately and is learning from his teammates. 

“It’s a bit of a challenge, it’s something I’m definitely working on,” Hough said.

“I’ve got great support down there with ‘Gov’ (Jeremy McGovern) and ‘TB’ (Tom Barrass) so I’m really enjoying it.

“To have that versatility to play small and on talls, I think it’s going to be good for me in the future.”

Retaining a positive mindset after a tough couple of years, Hough said the team remains focused on being competitive.

“We obviously want to win, that’s the goal, so a few wins on the board would be great,” Hough said.

“We’re just chasing our identity at the moment, just getting it down in the front half, we just want to be a competitive team.

“We don’t want to be walked all over, so we’re going to chase that, and we’re going to be an aggressive team and go hard at the opposition.”

West Coast faces Adelaide on Saturday in the AAMI Community Series and Hough said the players will need to do their homework on a damaging Crows forward line.  

“Obviously they’ve got a tall, strong forward line,” Hough said.

“We’ll work our way through that, they’ve got three strong forwards, (Riley) Thilthorpe, (Darcy) Fogerty and ‘Tex’ (Taylor) Walker, that we’ll have to work through and we’re not sure what that will look like yet with our team selection.

“But we’ll do our homework and I think we’re confident we will be able to put in a strong showing.”