Liam Duggan believes a fitter and more healthy West Coast squad can shock their rivals and shoot up the AFL ladder this season.
In the annual ballot of membership captains, no rival skipper picked the Eagles to achieve the top-eight in 2023.
The dire predictions got here on the again of a horror marketing campaign for Adam Simpson’s males, when accidents and sickness took their toll throughout a two-win season.
“We always aim to play finals as quickly as possible and our goal will be no different this year,” Eagles defender Duggan advised AAP.
“It’s probably no surprise that we’re not in anyone’s predictions but it’s also a nice place to be as the underdogs and we can only go and prove them wrong.
“There’s a couple of great examples – like what Collingwood did last year – and there’s a space in the game for that now.
“There’s no such thing as a long build back up to the top. You’ve just got to compete straight away again.
“I feel like, with our squad healthy again, we’re definitely in the mix.”
Duggan mentioned West Coast are far fitter getting into their round-one conflict with North Melbourne on Saturday than they had been on the similar stage final yr.
He has been buoyed by his teammates’ drive to need to enhance throughout the board and mentioned sport plan tweaks with a better concentrate on transition would deliver the Eagles in control.
But he conceded there have been some alarm bells within the pre-season defeat to Adelaide.
“They gave us a little bit of a lesson around the footy with their contest and how clean they were coming out of those pressure moments,” Duggan mentioned.
“They made us reflect a little bit about how we’re going in that area.
“But we’ve got the legs now to keep up with the game and putting that all together now is the challenge.”
One shining mild from the loss to the Crows was No.9 draft decide Reuben Ginbey, whose clear palms and toughness within the contest have put him on the verge of a round-one debut.
“I’m mindful of pumping him up too much because I don’t want there to be too much smoke around him but he’s a really impressive player,” Duggan mentioned.
“He seems to have a lot of the game already figured out and obviously he’ll continue to learn, but he’s a good kid and he’s willing to do that.
“He could probably teach me a thing or two but he still asks the questions.
“He’s an exciting prospect for us and I’m sure we’ll see him early on in the year.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
