Interim coach Jarrad Schofield is determined West Coast keeps pushing to get better and make progress in the final seven matches of the season after taking the reins from premiership coach Adam Simpson.
A three-time WAFL premiership coach at Subiaco and experienced AFL assistant, Schofield was looking forward to the opportunity to develop his coaching across the remainder of the campaign, while respectful of the difficult week for the club.
“Not ideal circumstances but one (opportunity) that I’m really looking forward to. (It’s an) opportunity to further my experiences as a coach,” Schofield said.
“I’m on a journey so this is part of that journey. When I started coaching it was back in 2009 coaching under-18s. I’m still on a path and I love the game.
“This is one of those parts of my journey.”
Schofield accepted players would handle the emotion of Sunday’s clash with Brisbane differently, and hoped for a strong showing against the in-form flag contender to honour Simpson’s remarkable contribution over 11 years.
The 2018 premiership coach will attend Sunday’s match at Optus Stadium to acknowledge West Coast’s incredible members and supporters pre-game.
“I’m very respectful for the work that he’s done for this footy club and hopefully we can go out and perform and honour and send him off in the right way, because he deserves that,” Schofield said.
“I really hope the boys honour that and respect that, without getting too wound up in it as well.
“I don’t think ‘Simmo’ would ask any more than that than just to go out and play the way we want to play.
“Really for our supporters to see parts of our identity for longer periods so we can chase those wins.
“Every week is about getting better, but the emotion side of things is going to be interesting.
“There’s going to be players that it will affect more than others, but that’s up to us as coaches and us a team to stay tight and just go out and just perform and try to remove that (emotion) a little bit.”
Continuing to develop young players will be a focus over the final seven rounds, with an emphasis on rewarding WAFL Eagles form and keeping high standards.
“For me, I just want to reward players for how they perform at WAFL level, how they train and are they meeting the standards that I value as a coach along with the other coaches within our program,” Schofield said.
“I think we’ve played the young fellas this year. We’ve been able to expose players to AFL and we’ll continue to look at that in the next six weeks.”
In an ironic twist, Schofield steps up in the same week as one of his Subiaco success stories, Liam Ryan, plays his 100th game in blue and gold.
The premiership Eagle and 2020 All-Australian has grown enormously since moving from Geraldton to pursue his football dream with the Lions in 2016.
“He was special. You just knew he had something,” Schofield said of his early impressions of the high-flying star.
“His 100th game, it’s ironic just to be part of it with him, to let alone be his head coach.
“When he first came down from Geraldton he was a young man that I sat across a table in the board room and he spoke about five words in half-an-hour.
“But the one thing I sold to him was that I had his name tag at full-forward, and I sold it to him that I’d seen all this vision on him. I reckon I’d probably seen maybe a two minute video and that was enough.
“From that day one I’ve just loved how he’s gone about his football. He reminded me the other day how he was very good out of the square, taking hangers, kicking 70-odd goals.
“It’s fantastic to see the work that he’s done for himself to get to this stage, 100 games, father, he’s just grown up so much from that young man who walked down to our rooms and spoke five words.”
