West Coast Eagles’ midfield draft approach provides insight into club rebuild strategy after horror two seasons

Aside from forward/ruck Archer Reid - the Eagles’ first pick on the AFL draft’s second night at 30 - West Coast has spent much of the last two years bolstering its engine room.

Reuben Ginbey and Elijah Hewett were the club’s top two picks in the 2022 draft and three of the club’s first four picks in this draft were midfielders. Significantly, they are powerful inside midfielders - Harley Reid the gun at the top, but also Peel Thunder’s powerful midfielder Clay Hall, who was taken at pick 38 after a pick switch with Richmond, and Sandringham Dragons inside midfielder Harvey Johnston.

Hall, the son of former Geelong and West Coast forward Derek, had become something of a forgotten commodity in draft talk in the back half of the year despite playing brilliantly for WA in the national under 18 titles.

It was hard to fathom why he had slipped off the radar. He played nine games at senior level for Peel - predominantly in the back half of the season. He was left out of the Thunder team for their finals campaign but in the games he played he averaged better than 18 disposals per game.

There are plenty of holes in the Eagles list at the moment but clearly the midfield is the place that requires the most urgent attention.

Luke Shuey’s retirement, Elliot Yeo’s ongoing injury concerns, Andrew Gaff’s fading influence and the fact that other experienced mids Tim Kelly and Dom Sheed are closing in on 30 meant the Eagles had to shift some class and size in quickly.

They certainly won’t lack size in four year’s time.

Ginbey will give them the Jack Crisp-style relentless running left footer, Harley Reid has been likened to bulls like Dustin Martin and Christian Petracca and Hall and Johnston both add size and the ability to win contested ball on the inside.

The big question mark remains whether they can get a good result from Campbell Chesser, the first player they took with pick 14 in the 2021 draft.

Chesser missed all of 2022 with a foot problem. He played 14 games in 2023 and got all of the way through to the round 23 victory over the Western Bulldogs. The Eagles will be hoping there is still significant upside in him. Like the other fresh midfield arrivals, he is big, strong and athletic.

The selection of Archer Reid indicates that the Eagles are still playing around in their own minds with what to do with their ruck and tall forward stocks. He is tall enough to play in the ruck but appeals more as a Darcy Cameron style forward ruck-forward.

Despite Bailey Williams’ improvement this year the Eagles still view him as a forward ruck or ruck/forward option, as is youngster Jack Williams who was taken in the 2021 draft.

With Nic Naitanui now gone and South Australian Harry Barnett just one year into his career it was why the Eagles moved to bolster pure ruck stocks with mature aged GWS big man Matt Flynn.

The Eagles are going to need tall forward options soon. Oscar Allen will be the forward line leader going forward but Jack Darling is 31 and has had injury issues in the past two seasons.

More Coverage

AFL Draft: New Saint goes berserk after late selection

Jay Clark, Josh Barnes, Jordan Pinto

‘Compromised parody’: Draft reform needed as Eagles, Freo punished

Mark Duffield

The Eagles are accumulating talent again now. They drafted hard in 2021 and are hopeful of good outcomes with tall defender Rhett Bazzo and the versatile Brady Hough and built further with the additions of Ginbey, Hewett, Noah Long and Ryan Maric last year.

But this is still going to take a while.

Without better durability from their experienced players the Eagles are going to be very young again next year and very vulnerable to form peaks and troughs.