Struggling Eagles confirm plea for AFL draft help
Shayne Hope |
West Coast chief executive Don Pyke has confirmed the struggling club will make a formal request for AFL draft assistance after four years in the doldrums.
The Eagles are facing the prospect of a one-win season, which would be the worst result in club history, as they career towards a second wooden spoon in three years.
A powerhouse off the field, West Coast have won just 11 of their past 91 games in a barren run that has included a raft of injuries to key players.
Pyke on Wednesday said the Eagles have already had “initial discussions” with the AFL about what an assistance package could look like.
He said the Eagles will weigh up multiple options, rather than simply requesting an extra high-end national draft selection.
“We find ourselves right in the position where if you apply it across clubs who have recently received assistance … we’re well and truly in the window for that,” Pyke said on SEN.
“We’ll have those discussions and we’ll proceed with some sort of request.
“We feel like, as disappointing as it is, we are where we are.
“And with the draft as compromised as it’s been, we feel like we can benefit from some assistance to get ourselves out of where we’ve been.”
Pyke likened West Coast’s position to that of North Melbourne, the most recent club to receive draft assistance from the AFL in 2023.
The Kangaroos received three end-of-first-round selections for the drafts in 2023 and 2024, as well as extra rookie-list spots.
North had finished each of the previous four seasons in the bottom two on the ladder, winning just 12 of 84 games.
West Coast will already have the No.1 draft pick if they finish last this year and will receive another high-end selection as compensation if, as expected, sought-after captain Oscar Allen moves to a rival club through free agency.
Pyke’s comments come the week after key AFL officials hosed down speculation about the Eagles receiving a priority pick.
AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon and new league football performance boss Greg Swann both urged West Coast to follow the example set by clubs such as Brisbane and Adelaide in plotting a path out of the doldrums.
But Pyke said a draft compromised by academy and father-son selections, as well as compensation picks, made it difficult for clubs to rebuild.
“Unfortunately in the last two years when we’ve finished in the bottom three, our first pick in the second round has slid out to the 30s,” he said.
“This draft is very much the same situation.
“There’s going to be six to eight, if not nine, of those types of players that will impact on the selection order, which just means access to talent for teams like ourselves who are trying to build just gets more challenging.”
AAP
