West Coast is preparing for an all-out battle when it takes on Gold Coast at Metricon Stadium tomorrow night, according to Adam Simpson.
The Eagles’ senior coach said his side was wary of the youthful Suns, who registered convincing wins over Geelong and Adelaide during the Marsh Community Series.
Gold Coast defeated the Cats by 68 points in their first official pre-season hitout and ground out a hard-fought seven-point triumph over Adelaide a week later.
Simpson was particularly complimentary of the local side’s contested game, which he said might be crucial in the wet conditions forecast for the fixture.
“They should take a lot of confidence out of their Marsh Series,” Simpson said of the Suns.
“I know they were disappointed with themselves after round one, but their evidence in their last three games that they’ve played, the last two they were really, really good, especially in the contest.
“We’re fully aware of their talent and what they’re capable of.”
Simpson admitted the potential for wet weather played a part in the match committee’s decision to bring Oscar Allen back into the starting side.
Allen, who has played in attack, down back and in the ruck during his two seasons with the Eagles, could be called on to play any of the mentioned roles should wintry conditions affect the club’s game plan.
However, Simpson said the exciting West Perth product's round two selection did not mean he was a lock to be Nic Naitanui’s ruck sidekick for the remainder of the season.
“We think he’s one of our young talented players who will play a lot of footy and he’s still looking for his position in the side,” Simpson said of Allen.
“Bailey Williams is knocking on the door, Nathan Vardy played quite well in the intraclub the other night and (Tom) Hickey is a bona fide ruckman as well. They’re all available, which is great.
“It was actually a really close decision; it could have been anyone. There’s not a massive form line with three weeks of pre-season, but all of them have trained every minute and all played pretty well (last Friday).
“There will be changes throughout the year, but at this stage Oscar will be our second ruck mainly playing as a forward.
“In the end we went with the youth.”
Simpson said his charges were in a good frame of mind after moving into in their Gold Coast-based hub on Monday.
He said the players were more than comfortable at their ‘home away from home’ and focused on the task at hand.
“It’s been a really good environment for the first week anyway,” Simpson said.
“The test will come in a couple of weeks when you’re really starting to miss your family. The protocols, they’re there for a reason, but they become challenging. Things will lift.
“The AFL are doing a really good job with trying to make this environment the best they can, so there’s a pretty good vibe among both clubs here I would have thought at the moment.”
He also confirmed that players not selected for the AFL fixture would square off in a scratch match against Gold Coast’s non-selected cohort at Metricon Stadium tomorrow morning.
Interestingly, the Eagles might need to steal a few emerging Suns to make that game possible.
“I think we’re going to have to borrow a few of the Gold Coast boys,” Simpson revealed.
“I think we’ve got 12 (players) available and they’ve got 22, so we’re going to have to borrow a couple.
“It might be 16 on 16 or 17 on 17 and we’ll see how we go.
“(Non-selected players) want to play, they want to compete. They want to improve themselves and they want to put their hand up to be available through form, so we will give them that opportunity.”
