West Coast coach Adam Simpson will proceed to throw vital challenges at his youthful gamers in an try to fast-track their improvement after the damage hit Eagles misplaced to Melbourne by 63 factors at Optus Stadium.
The Eagles entered the sport in opposition to the 2021 premiers with eight gamers who’re but to play 20 video games, together with draftees Reuben Ginbey, Elijah Hewett and Noah Long, plus 2022 mid-season draft decide Jai Culley.
Ginbey and Culley attended the majority of centre bounces in opposition to a star studded midfield led by Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver as Melbourne received 19.11 (126) to 9.9 (63).
Simpson hoped enjoying in opposition to the most effective gamers within the AFL would quick monitor their improvement.
“I hope so. What’s today worth? Four or five WAFL games. Reuben is learning a lot on the fly at the moment,” he stated.
“He’s had a pretty steep learning curve. The last couple of centre bounces we had kids in the middle – 18 year olds – against some class.
“We don’t want to break them. We’ve got to keep an eye on that. It’s great having someone like Tim Kelly around. When Dom’s around and Luke’s around it really compliments what we’re trying to chase.
“When they’re on their own, there’s going to be some challenges.
“They’re not going to be linear growth. There are going to be ups and downs with the kids. They’ve had one pre-season. We’ve got to be a little bit patient.”
Petracca and Oliver dominated on the ft of All-Australian ruckman Brodie Grundy. The Eagles had been lacking a number of stars equivalent to Nic Naitanui, Luke Shiey, Jeremy McGovern, Dom Sheed, Jamie Cripps and Liam Ryan, whereas Elliot Yeo was managed in his return from damage.
Simpson praised ruckman Bailey Williams for overcoming an damage scare to his knee through the week. He was hopeful Alex Witherden and Harry Edwards can be out there to face Geelong however different gamers had been unlikely.
West Coast stayed within the sport for lengthy durations earlier than being over run however Simpson stated there was no level evaluating how the workforce performed on this loss to large defeats in earlier years.
“We feel like we’re different,” he stated.
“We feel like we’re transitioning everything we’re doing. We’ve got a platform that we’ve set at the club which is not a short term fix. We are in for the long haul.
“We’ll get some wins. We’ll get some small wins and we’ll get some losses but we’re going to keep moving forward.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
