Not much was expected from the West Coast Eagles entering 2014 with a new coach, so it’s hardly surprising that they failed to make the finals, despite finishing just short.
It was this time just over twelve months ago when John Worsfold announced that he was standing down as coach of the Eagles. He had led the side for 12 years, winning the 2006 premiership with stars like Chris Judd, Ben Cousins, Daniel Kerr and Andrew Embley.
His departure saw Adam Simpson take to the hot seat, and while he did start his coaching career with three consecutive victories, it’s fair to say that he didn’t have everything go his way in 2014.
You might be wondering how and why. Let’s conduct the post-mortem into West Coast’s season.
West Coast Eagles
Final ladder position: 9th (11 wins, 11 losses, 116.9%)
Rising Star nominees: None
Retirees/delistees: Darren Glass, Dean Cox.
What went right?
New coach Adam Simpson enjoyed a dream start to his coaching career to take the club to top spot after three rounds. Partially due to their cakewalk start to the season, it was then thought that the Eagles would become a tough team to beat.
Forward Josh Kennedy kicked more than 60 goals during the season, including 26 in three games against the two expansion clubs. His presence up front will continue to be key to the Eagles’ chances of climbing further up the ladder in 2015.
What went wrong?
From 12 games at Patersons Stadium in 2014, the club won and lost six apiece, with two of those losses coming against neighbours Fremantle in the Western Derbies.
Additionally, the Eagles failed to defeat any team that finished above them this season, coming closest when it lost to Essendon by three points in Round 21 after leading by as much as 34 points deep into the third quarter.
Their lowest home crowd for the season (25,076) also saw the club lose to the Sydney Swans for the eighth consecutive time, with the once-fierce rivalry between west and east having all but declined.
Eventually it was that loss, along with the 17-point defeat to Richmond at home three weeks earlier, that conspired against them as they missed the finals for the second year running.
Best win: Round 8 vs GWS Giants at Patersons Stadium (won 30.8 (188) to 12.5 (77))
Not the best win in terms of who the opposition was, but in terms of the manner in which it was achieved.
After previously playing the Giants twice away from Perth, the Eagles finally got the chance to welcome the youngest club in the AFL to their own backyard. They made the most of their home ground advantage, cruising to a 111-point victory.
For the fans, the best memory will be the 11 goals scored by Josh Kennedy, marking his best career haul and bettering the 10 he kicked against the Western Bulldogs in 2011.
Worst loss: Round 4 vs Geelong Cats at Simonds Stadium (lost 4.8 (32) to 16.11 (107))
After starting the Adam Simpson era with three consecutive victories over lowly teams from last season, just how much the club must improve was severely exposed in a 75-point loss to the Geelong Cats at the Cattery in Round 4.
After a competitive first quarter where both teams scored four goals apiece, the Eagles failed to kick a major for the rest of the match, in the process conceding twelve straight goals.
For Dean Cox, who was playing a club record-breaking 277th game on the night, it was a match that he would rather forget, while Nic Naitanui suffered a sore foot and was subbed out during the third quarter.
The future
With Darren Glass and Dean Cox both hanging up the boots, the Eagles must now look to the draft to find key players who they think will be capable of filling their huge shoes.
The club have also yet to announce who they will delist from their playing roster, but the most important decision is choosing their full-time captain (or co-captains) in 2015.
Glass’ mid-season retirement subsequently saw Shannon Hurn, Josh Kennedy, Eric Mackenzie, Matt Priddis and Scott Selwood share the co-captaincy duties until the end of the season. That could have served as an audition to who will take on the full-time responsibilities next year.
After finishing just short of a finals berth in 2014, the Eagles will hope that they don’t suffer the same fate as St Kilda, who in their first season under Scott Watters finished ninth in 2012 before crashing to 16th the following year and the wooden spoon this year.
While the losses of Glass and Cox won’t help in their bid to further climb up the ladder in 2015, the pre-season will give Adam Simpson the chance to analyse the playing list and think about who can take the club into the next phase.
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