West Coast coach Adam Simpson says he’s ready to swing the axe with the future direction of the club in mind after yet another heavy defeat.
It comes as Eagles defender Jeremy McGovern is in doubt for their clash against Brisbane at Optus Stadium next weekend after being hospitalised with a rib injury late in their 54-point loss to Melbourne.
Simpson and the Eagles have been heavily criticised by fans for their lack of response at the selection table on numerous occasions.
They’ve also been put under the pump for holding onto several veterans, with wingman Andrew Gaff dropped twice this year, but forward Jack Darling has retained his spot despite indifferent form.
Most recently they dropped only tactical sub Ryan Maric after the 61-point loss to Hawthorn at Optus Stadium last weekend, with ruckman Matt Flynn out with an injured ankle.
But a second-consecutive heavy defeat has led to Simpson conceding he needs to make a statement at the selection table, having been reluctant to make changes off one performance.
“There’s just play the young players, get them in there and see how they go which we’ve done for a large part, but they’ve got to have a bit of form as well,” Simpson said.
“I think we’ll need to make a couple of changes. We’ll look at that as the week goes through. Some will be forced and some will be more about our direction.
“This is probably a period where we’ll explore different avenues or different positions, different players.
“It’s what, seven games to go? So we’ll keep looking at that and trying to get the mix right.”
Interestingly, the Eagles started one of their inclusions – 198cm forward-ruck Jack Williams – as the tactical sub.
This led to Darling backing up Bailey Williams in the ruck for the first three quarters, before Jack Williams was brought on for forward Tyler Brockman at the final change.
Darling finished with 11 disposals, five hit-outs and a goal, but had goals kicked on him by Jacob van Rooyen and Max Gawn while he was the ruckman.
Williams was coming off four goals in the WAFL but had only one touch from only 22 minutes gametime.
“I just thought we’d give it a go,” Simpson said on the move.
“I don’t think talls have been a massive issue, because we haven’t had the ball in our front half that often and we had the taller forward line against Essendon, and it looked OK.
“We’re going to try a couple of things. I’m not going to say it’s going to happen every week.
“He has never done it before, we thought we’d have a look at it, and we know Jack can do it as well. So that’s all a work in progress.”