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Sport Nation
Duffield: Rock-bottom Eagles should be lower than 18th
Mark Duffield • April 16th, 2025 11:08 am
If there was a spot beneath 18th on the AFL ladder right now, the Eagles would be there.
It's not just the fact that they're 0-5, it is not just the margins, which have been big in three of the five games.
It's the way they are playing. It's the way they are not defending.
It is the form of the senior players, it's also the form of their number one draft pick from last year, Harley Reid.
It is the form of their captains, Oscar Allen and Liam Duggan.
It is everything.
I think we all get what Andrew McQualter is trying to do when he drops Harry Edwards for the match against GWS and then Tim Kelly for the Carlton game and Gather Round.
He's trying to set standards, he's trying to make players accountable for not hitting standards, regardless of their position, regardless of their reputation.
But it doesn't help when you drop a key defender and the opposition's power forward kicks nine, as Jesse Hogan did in the GWS game.
It doesn't help when you drop a senior midfielder like Kelly, and you end up minus 59 in contested possession and you cop an 18-40 hammering at stoppages, as happened on the weekend versus the Blues.
It doesn't help when you put Harley Reid behind the ball to get him involved in the game, and he starts to play better when he has the ball, but consistently finds himself out of position to defend when the opposition has the footy.
Where to from here?
West Coast needs to put its hand up for a priority draft pick at the end of the season.
A couple of years ago, North Melbourne's list was infinitely better than the Eagles' list was then when North received priority draft selections.
West Coast list now is worse than it was then.
The Eagles have won 10 games in 3 seasons.
They are winless again so far this year, with a percentage of 49.
