It’s been approximately two years since senior coach Adam Simpson has had to make some tough selection decisions in the lead up to a game.
With the squad consisting of a number of veterans, along with a fresh new crop of talented youngsters hungry to play, Simpson said team selection will be purely based on performance.
“We don’t shy away from those conversations, we just haven’t had them for a couple of years,” Simpson said.
“I think we had 41 players train yesterday, and yeah there’s some disappointment around Oscar (Allen) and Elijah (Hewett), and there’s four or five players who aren’t ready to play, but they’re training.
“Having some selection pressure is great, every club has it, we just haven’t had it the last couple of years.
“Performance gets you opportunity, performing well, and if you don’t perform well then, we’ve got to look at who’s next, so whether it’s old or young it doesn’t matter.
“We don’t want to just give games away, but we’re also aware that we’re rebuilding, and we want to get some games into some of our players, but we’ve got to be ready for it as much as we can, and that’s just where we’re at.”
As West Coast’s 2024 campaign commenced, it’s been noted how positive the energy has been around the team and the club.
Following the unfortunate injury news of co-captain Oscar Allen (knee) and Elijah Hewett (foot), who are both set to spend extended periods of time on the sidelines, Simpson said the group is disappointed, but will keep moving forward.
“One thing we’re learning is resilience, that’s what we’ve been living with for a couple of years,” Simpson said.
“I’m sure there’s an element of disappointment, a bit like when (Matt) Flynn went down a few weeks ago, they’re pretty important players.
“But we’ve got to keep moving forward, we’ve got the Giants this week, the Giants and Port are probably the two in-form sides as we see it at the start of the year so, it’s a massive challenge for us.
“But we’re looking short term, we’re looking this week and being competitive and playing to win, and we’re looking long term as well.”
The Eagles will battle the Giants at Optus Stadium on Sunday, and Simpson said the team is focused on trying to keep the ball in their front half.
“It’s a goal of ours to get better at that, it doesn’t matter who we’re playing, we want to be better,” Simpson said.
“Last week, I thought we did some things that we saw a little bit of improvement from, with the stoppage work, the contest work, but there’s still a lot of work to do.
“But keeping the ball in our front half, getting it there is the first thing you’ve got to do, we’re still a bit low on those numbers.
“But that’s what we’re working on, it’s not going to be the finished product, but as we develop and grow, we need to be good at these things so we should start that now.”
After spending time in the ruck last weekend in the absence of Matt Flynn (knee), emerging tall Bailey Williams looks set to move his game into the forward line this weekend.
“We’ve been thinking about Bailey (playing forward) for a while,” Simpson said.
“He did more than ok in the ruck on the weekend, but we’re still minus 20-odd in hitouts and hitouts to advantage are important, but I thought as a unit we did a pretty good job.
“And that’s why we got Flynn, and as much as Harry (Barnett) is a bit raw, we want to see what Bailey can do forward at stages as well.
“We were initially planning for Bailey, Oscar (Allen) and (Jack) Darling to be together, if you look at the front half of the Giants, it’s pretty tall, it’s pretty dynamic as well.
“So, we’re just evolving our list, giving exposure and Bailey will get a chance to play forward for a bit this week.”
