There might not be any fans at Optus Stadium on Sunday, but West Coast skipper Luke Shuey says the Eagles’ motivation is at an all-time high ahead of its scheduled round one clash with Melbourne.
Speaking to journalists via video link from the club’s broadcasting studio, Shuey said he was supportive of the AFL’s decision to cut the home and away season to 17 games.
In short, he was just thankful to have some certainty about taking the field this year following a gruelling pre-season slog.
“From a footy sense we want to play because we love the game,” Shuey said.
“At this stage it seems like it’s all okay to go ahead and that’s exciting for us. We’ve trained for three months and we’re ready to crack in.
“We’re preparing to play and the worst thing that can happen is that it gets cancelled and we’ve prepared for nothing, which is never a bad result.
“I think once we get into the nitty gritty of the season and we get underway, hopefully the fact that it’s only 17 home and away games is put on the back burner and we can just get on with the year as usual.”
As excited as he was to get the club’s 34th campaign going, Shuey acknowledged that it would be a surreal experience playing in an empty stadium.
But he did not think that would affect the team’s desire to perform.
“I guess (we are) acknowledging that it’s going to be different to every other game we’ve played,” Shuey said.
“But I think of why we fell in love with the game as kids; we weren’t playing in front of 50,000 people back when we were seven, eight, nine or 10 years old. I’m sure once we flick into game mode this week we’ll be okay.
“Obviously from a West Coast point of view we’ll certainly miss our fans as much as I’m sure they will miss us. But fingers crossed we can put on a good show for them on Sunday and see them very soon.”
If West Coast does get the green light to play on Sunday, Shuey expected reigning leading goal-kicker Jack Darling to be charging out of the Eagles’ attacking 50 despite missing the club’s Marsh Community Series fixtures with a minor cheek fracture.
He said the 2019 all-Australian would be a huge inclusion given how well he performed in Friday’s intraclub match.
“He had a good hit-out Friday; he was probably our best player on track to be honest in our intraclub,” Shuey said.
“It’s a really good sign for us, so I’m looking forward to having him back. I think we missed him over the Marsh Series.
“Obviously we didn’t perform at our absolute best in the Marsh Series, but we are not too worried about that. We had a few things we wanted to fix up, but we feel like we’re in a really good position that if we are to play this week then we can perform at our best.”
