West Coast premiership star Will Schofield is ready to make a rare comeback for the Eagles, answering their SOS to play for his or her WAFL facet this weekend.
The Eagles are looking for a handful of gamers to assist fill a facet in opposition to East Fremantle at Mineral Resources Park on Sunday, with each their AFL and WAFL sides in an harm disaster.
Schofield is known to have educated with the WAFL facet on Wednesday night time forward of lining up in opposition to the Sharks this weekend.
The 34-year-old confirmed the news with a nod to a scene from the 1996 movie Independence Day, in a tweet saying ‘Hello boys… I’m again!’
The defender has not performed at any degree since retiring from the sport in 2021 when he performed 10 video games for Peel Thunder.
Eagles WAFL coach Rob Wiley indicated Schofield’s WAFL cameo could lengthen past simply this weekend’s sport.
“It’s terrific that Will has reached out to come back and help the club he previously played for in its time of need,” Wiley mentioned.
“Our WAFL list has also lost a significant amount of on-field leadership in recent weeks with vice-captain Zane Sumich recovering from surgery, while Harry Creasey and Mitch Henderson have both sustained significant ankle injuries that are going to keep them on the sidelines for a long period of time.
“Will’s a premiership player at this club and he has a genuine love for the club.
“It’s a fantastic gesture that Will has put himself out there to come back and help and we look forward to his contribution starting this weekend against the Sharks.”
Schofield retired from the AFL on the finish of the 2020 season after 194 video games and signed with Peel, earlier than being pressured into retirement after sustaining spinal and kidney injury in a collision with East Perth opponent Nick Robertson in June of 2021.
He final performed for the Eagles WAFL facet in 2019, that includes in 4 video games of their inaugural season within the competitors.
Schofield has beforehand performed 54 video games for the Thunder and 21 video games for East Perth after they have been aligned with the Eagles.
It comes because the Eagles attempt to area a facet to tackle the Sharks with their AFL facet struggling to get a 24 to take to Adelaide to play Port Adelaide.
Reigning WAFL fairest and finest Harry Creasey is out for an prolonged interval after injuring his ankle within the 169-point loss to West Perth on the weekend.
Key recruit Alec Waterman can be doubtful after ending the sport on the bench with a leg harm, whereas captain Jackson Nelson additionally seemed sore on the finish of the sport.
West Coast had simply six AFL-listed gamers within the devastating loss to the Falcons, however this was lower down to 5 within the opening moments when draftee Elijah Hewett injured his ankle on the opening bounce.
It shouldn’t be recognized what number of Eagle AFL-listed gamers will swimsuit up for the WAFL facet this weekend, nevertheless it’s not anticipated to be many if any in any respect.
West Coast soccer boss Gavin Bell defended the WAFL program earlier this week after they have been handed the equal eleventh largest defeat within the competitors’s historical past.
“We saw in the pre-season that we were highly competitive and won games in that phase when we had really good player availability at that level.
“As soon as that aspect changed for us it puts a lot of pressure on our WAFL-listed players and our kids.
“We understand what’s happening at the WAFL level. We don’t like losing like we did but we also have full context of what’s going on.
“Rob (Wiley) and Steve (Trewhella) and all the guys involved in our WAFL program have our full support, because it’s something that we really value and we want to make sure we’re a highly-competitive team.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
