West Coast coach Adam Simpson has thrown his full assist behind Jack Darling, saying even an injury-free checklist wouldn’t have satisfied him to drop the premiership ahead this week.
The Seventeenth-placed Eagles (1-7) are battling one of many worst harm crises the AFL has ever seen, with not less than 16 gamers presently unavailable.
Former skipper Shannon Hurn is the most recent to hitch the checklist after succumbing to an adductor harm, ruling him out of Friday evening’s conflict with Gold Coast at Optus Stadium.
Jai Culley will bear surgical procedure after tearing his ACL in final week’s loss to Richmond, whereas stars Nic Naitanui, Jeremy McGovern, Liam Ryan, Luke Shuey, Jamie Cripps and Elliot Yeo are nonetheless injured.
Darling has kicked 10.11 from eight video games this season with a big chunk of these objectives coming late in video games when the outcome was already determined.
West Coast nice Peter Sumich was so scathing of Darling’s current type he prompt the Eagles ought to drop him even when it meant they wouldn’t have sufficient match gamers to discipline a sub.
But Simpson is throwing his full assist behind Darling and hopes the 30-year-old will bounce again to type towards the Suns on Friday evening.
“It’s not the first time he’s worked through some form. He hasn’t let us down too often,” Simpson stated.
“We’re going to keep backing him in, as much as the criticism is there.
“We’ll just keep working with him. We’ve got his back.
“If we could have everyone available, we’d still look to back him in.
“He’s one good game away from turning it around. He’s a veteran, he knows how to do it.”
West Coast chairman Paul Fitzpatrick penned an open letter to the membership’s followers this week, revealing specialists are working with the membership to assist look into the harm disaster.
The Eagles, who returned a 2-20 file final season, are nonetheless within the early levels of what’s shaping as much as be an extended and painful rebuild.
Simpson, who’s contracted till 2025, is decided to guide the membership out the opposite facet, and says large modifications have already been made in a bid to realize future success.
“It’s no quick fix. We keep getting dealt some pretty big blows,” Simpson stated.
“Winning by 10 goals this week won’t change what happens on Monday.
“It’s still not a quick fix. We’ve still got to work through getting as much talent as we can through the door, through the draft, through the trading period.
“We must have made 10 to 12 changes (to the staff) before this season – new GM, new dietician, new strength coach, new development coach, new head of development.
“That tells us the path has started.
“We want to win, we want to get that feeling back, but it won’t change that direction (we are taking) in the long term.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
