When Sam Mitchell’s blockbuster trade to West Coast was announced in the pre-season, the narrative wrote itself.
West Coast had dived headfirst into a win-win situation. It was a no-brainer. Impossible to argue with.
Mitchell is a legend of the game, he had just won the Hawks’ best and fairest for the fifth time and, to mitigate any concerns over his age, he was committed to remaining on as a coach.
Something about gift horses and their mouths.
Three games into the season and Mitchell has done everything West Coast fans might have hoped.
The Sam Mitchell brand does what it says on the tin.
His ability to rack up possessions at will, his poise in midfield with nuanced fakes and fast hands to knit together play in the clinches have not dimmed with the move across the Nullabor.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
The premiership window had been prised open just a little bit more. And that’s without even mentioning the fact Mitchell knows a thing or two about how to win premierships.
But underneath a start to the season that suffered its first hiccup where the most significant September action occurs against Richmond on Saturday lunchtime, there is a unease bubbling under the surface.
Do West Coast actually need Sam Mitchell?
Have West coast got too much of a good thing – after all they had a bloke who has been doing the same job for the past decade, and he’s got a Bronwlow too.
West Coast’s performances this year have been at the top-level without being convincing.
In wins against North Melbourne and St Kilda they got involved in shootouts they might have lost if the other team kicked straighter in front of goal.
Getting involved in a shootout against the Kangaroos was a reasonable symptom of playing at Etihad – a venue that is what indoor sprinting is to the Olympic Games – but at home against St Kilda it smacked of a team being forced off balance by a younger bull.
Against Richmond the Eagles’ game plan was disoriented by Richmond’s tactics. To hunt and run their more credentialled rivals off their feet.
Alarmingly for Eagles fans when the pressure descended they managed just three goals in the second half. Two of them cam in the space of 30 seconds and the other with the game gone.
It would be naive to blame Sam Mitchell for any of this.
But it is worthwhile wondering out loud whether West Coast have become vulnerable to fast-paced teams. Can a midfield of generals like Mitchell and Priddis sustain against the run-and-gun soldiers that have become the hallmark of the AFL following the Doggies’ premiership success.
It’s arguable West Coast simply have too much of a good thing; like drinking no beer at all and then having one beer too many.
Sam Mitchell is that beer.
It’s a bloody good beer and when you’re mate unexpectedly offered it to you – pretty much for free – it was a good idea at the time. It was a lot of fun but, deep down, you know you should have had a water or a kebab because the hangover is waiting.
West Coast needed a kebab last pre-season, not a Crown Lager.
They need someone with more grunt. Someone who an opposition fears who will take the game on with a burst that the highlight-reel compilers can’t overlook.
Sam Mitchell does all the work before the highlight editor hits play. So does Priddis.
To watch West Coast against Richmond was to see a team in desperate need of a foot soldier who can break the lines and take the game by the scruff of the neck.
Luke Shuey is a very good player but how many times has he been a match winner? How many times has he or Andrew Gaff decided a game in the way Ben Cousins or Chris Judd during the Eagles’ last premiership window.
If the Eagles are to truly prise open the premiership window that the awoken white-walkers from western Sydney apparently have a mortgage on, then these are the players they must find.
Such players, of course, don’t grow on trees but if West Coast are to take the next step they must find one.
On their own list it is arguable as to whether they have one but certainly they must start to blood young players – a practice that has worryingly been shelved by Adam Simpson in recent times.
Certainly Richmond’s revival has come on the back of the likes of youngsters like Daniel Rioli.
West Coast has another option to find that player – albeit at the end of the year – when two game breakers with the class they need are likely to be available.
They got a first-hand view of one of them at the MCG on Saturday – while the other would not countenance such a move even if Hayden Ballantyne (or Daniel Metropolis for fans of these sorts of things) might.
Every club with cap space will be in the same market place but if the Eagles are to make the next step they will have to be brave in either selection or at the trade table.
Sam Mitchell fell in their lap. A premiership won’t.
Philby
Guest
Oh dear. Time to let go, methinks.
Don Freo
Guest
Surely Mitchell goes before Jetta. He can't run and plays well one in 3 games.
Lroy
Guest
Sad to see Jack Darling in action these days, his confidence is totally shot... all he does nowdays is drop chest marks. Time to give McCinnes a run at centre half forward and Jack needs a good run in the WAFL to get his head together... Dropping Dom Sheed was a great call, not like we need midfielders who can get their hands on the pill and create a bit of fun.. Richmonds mids destroyed us after halftime meanwhile Dom was racking up 38 possessions for East Perth, well done coach, revamp the midfield by dropping the one guy who can actually influence a game. Jetta... they must be losing patience with him. Priddis, same old same old... a million stats.. has no effect.. The Eagles have the talent but Ive lost faith in Simpson, nice bloke, says the right thing but when the pressure is on in the Box he hasnt got a clue. when the rain was pouring down on the weekend we stuck with the two big defenders, Barras and McGovern when surely conditions dictated you would go smaller. No idea why Schofield is playing for East Perth, he was the lynchpin for the whole backline last year, now hes not in our best 22??
Raimond
Roar Guru
As good as Mitchell is, he did get quite a few possessions at the Hawks due to Hawthorn's forward press. That said, Mitchell can't be blamed for West Coast's finals chokes in 2015 & 2016. There's something wrong with the rest of the playing group.
Gecko
Guest
Lucky there was a world body because the AFL proved incapable of policing itself.
Giddy
Guest
They drafted venables who has speed and looks like he's gonna be the line breaker they need. Willie Rioli and Frances Watson are both fast as well and I expect them both to debut this year
Giddy
Guest
Jesus bloody Christ people. What an over reaction. A couple of straight kicks and they'd be undefeated. All that happened yesterday was bad weather. West coast tried to be too cute in the conditions and Richmond played more direct In the wet. Mitchell was brilliant again. Wait till they get Naitanui back and start winning almost every centre clearance. They will be scary good. Had they kicked straight in that 1st half, the game would've been over.
Oh My Darling
Guest
it worried me that they didnt seem to enlist pace in the off season, this after being belted and exposed for lack of pace by the dogs in finals. it worried me how much the club used Sam in promoting the club, like he was the new saviour, like we didnt have a best 22 before Sam, like Sam was going to address all our problems singlehandedly. its clearly not Sams fault, he's doing what he does best, but it highlights that what needed to be addressed remains the same old same old - theyre still slow! Redden and Jetta are still waiting to reach their potential. Priddis is still helicopter Priddis, ineffective apart from lots of handball stats. Jack is a fallen Darling, does he have a footy brain? Gaff was gonna do more and kick more goals this season. Yeo has stood up. maybe the coach needs to take some blame himself. he was clearly outcoached. he's sticking to the Hawthorn style, but maybe the games moved on since the arrival of the Dogs. no doubt like last season the eagles will gel midseason, but will they be good enough for the big dance
Brad
Guest
If West Coast had of kicked straight then the game would have been iced at half time. Instead wasteful shots on goal kept Richmond in it. The issue for West Coast wasn't the midfield, Mitchell or Priddis, it was the forwards shoddy shots on goal.
BigAl
Guest
A bit harsh ! . . . but ammusing.
Lyndon
Guest
West Coast dominated the first half yesterday for a return of 5.13. Not many teams go onto win games after that. Tigers owned the 3rd quarter just before the rain arrived and that was enough to win it. L
mattyb
Guest
Fair call on the Brownlow,he certainly didn't win it. The true and original winner was actually stripped of his award after being found not guilty by the league that awarded him the medal. The reason the medal was handed to Mitchell was because a world body used our small local sport for their own longer term benefits. No proof of evidence just strings,cables and an up your jumper Australia attitude.
Gecko
Guest
Matt that's a good question to ask. But those Hawthorn teams won plenty of premierships without having pace in the middle. Think Mitchell, Lewis, Hodge, Sewell. Priddis-Mitchell may not be an ideal combination on Perth grounds but it should hold up well on the softer grounds of eastern Oz.
Don Freo
Guest
You seem to be looking at a different Sam Mitchell. He was good in his first week but then his stamina gave out. Weeks 2 and 3 have been terrible. Loose, slow and just turns it over. The opposition just put kids with legs on him to have an assured avenue to goal. I don't think he'll see the season out as a player. Oh...he didn't win a Brownlow; he found it.