Tiger stars intent on following McQualter to West Coast

Justin Chadwick and Steve Larkin |

New Eagles coach Andrew McQualter is set to be followed west by two Tigers stars.
New Eagles coach Andrew McQualter is set to be followed west by two Tigers stars.

Richmond duo Liam Baker and Jack Graham are set to join Andrew McQualter at West Coast, and the new senior coach may need to check his text messages to see if Shai Bolton wants to join in on the fun.

McQualter was officially unveiled as West Coast’s new coach on Monday, with the 38-year-old replacing 2018 premiership mentor Adam Simpson, who departed in July.

Moments after McQualter’s three-year deal was announced, dual Richmond premiership players Baker and Graham made known their desire for trades to the Eagles.

The pair have strong ties to McQualter, who was a long-time assistant at the Tigers before being the club’s interim coach for 13 games last year when Damien Hardwick stepped down.

Graham will join West Coast as an unrestricted free agent, but the Eagles will have to complete a deal with Richmond to snare Baker.

Bolton, arguably Richmond’s biggest star following the retirement of Dustin Martin in August, has also told the Tigers he wants to return home to Western Australia.

Fremantle loom as Bolton’s likely destination given their premiership window is about to open and they have three first-round draft picks to deploy in a deal with Richmond.

But McQualter’s arrival at West Coast has at least given the Eagles a chance of snaring the star 25-year-old, who is contracted to Richmond until 2028.

Andrew McQualter.
McQualter, seen arriving for his press conference, becomes the youngest coach in the AFL, at 38. (Richard Wainwright/AAP PHOTOS)

McQualter was tight lipped when asked about the potential for trades involving some of Richmond’s stars.

“I’ve had a pretty big 24 hours. I’ve got about 320 messages on my phone I’ve got to get to,” McQualter said on Monday afternoon in his first official press conference as West Coast coach.

“So we’ll get around to that when the time’s right.”

West Coast chief executive Don Pyke said the club was in talks with a number of players.

“Trade starts next week, and our view has been, ‘How do we add more talent to the list?’ – be it through draft, through trade, through free agency,” Pyke said.

“We’ve still got a really clear vision of what we want to do from a list strategy viewpoint.

“And if some of those pieces fall into place, great.”

Andrew McQualter.
Andrew McQualter forged strong ties with players as a member of the Tigers’ coaching staff. (Joel Carrett/AAP PHOTOS)

McQualter beat Geelong assistant coach Steven King and Collingwood assistant Hayden Skipworth for the West Coast job, and will be the youngest current coach in the AFL.

West Coast have produced mediocre performances over the past three years on the way to 17th, 18th and 16th-placed finishes.

The Eagles are still considered to be in the early stages of the biggest rebuild in the club’s history.

But McQualter is optimistic about the future, believing things can turn quickly amid the right environment.

“Football’s a pretty simple game,” McQualter said.

“There’s no secret to success. You’ve just got to work really hard. 

“You’ve got to look to do it together and build a coaching group and team that can instil belief in the playing group, and football can change very quickly. 

“I think we’re seeing that with the women’s program – Daisy (Pearce) is doing a terrific job – how quickly football can change. 

“The beauty of it when a new coach gets announced is that everybody starts fresh. 

“There’s no judgment for me on any of the players in our list.”

Happy West Coast players.
West Coast players, celebrating a win over North, start a new era in 2025 under Andrew McQualter. (Linda Higginson/AAP PHOTOS)

McQualter was an assistant to Melbourne’s head coach Simon Goodwin this season.

He joined Richmond in 2013 as a VFL development coach before serving as an assistant to Hardwick from 2016.

McQualter, who was pipped for the Tigers’ full-time head coaching job by Adem Yze at the end of last year, becomes the seventh coach in West Coast’s 38-year history.

McQualter played 94 AFL games with St Kilda and Gold Coast between 2005 and 2012.

AAP