Adam Simpson says West Coast won’t give up on their season despite enduring a catastrophic summer that has left the Eagles with just enough players to form a team for the opening round.
On Sunday afternoon Simpson’s men will host Gold Coast, who crushed Port Adelaide and stormed home over Geelong in their two pre-season fixtures.
The Suns have regained co-captain Jarrod Witts and rising star Matt Rowell for the clash, though coach Stuart Dew will go without spearhead Ben King for the entire season.
By contrast, the Eagles will go in without skipper Luke Shuey and Connor West (hamstring), Dom Sheed and Tom Cole (ankle), Elliot Yeo (calf), Jack Darling and Oscar Allen (foot), Liam Duggan (knee), Jamie Cripps (pec) and Luke Edwards (groin).
Recruits Campbell Chesser, Tom Joyce (ankle) and Greg Clark (shoulder) will all miss too, while Tim Kelly was ruled out after he tested positive for COVID-19 earlier in the week.
With close to three quarters of his best team unavailable, one could forgive the Eagles tactician for feeling a little melancholy, but he is insistent his enthusiasm hasn’t been dampened.
“I’m not skipping around giving everyone high fives over the fact we’ve got 16 blokes injured,” Simpson acknowledged on SEN WA Breakfast.
“What has happened, and it started in November last year, we said ‘let’s get some new talent in from a coaching point of view’.
“Let’s look at where the game is at, what we’ve done in the past worked pretty well but we need to tweak a few things.
“To be honest, I can’t get out of bed quick enough to get on with it, expose some new talent, work through some younger players.”
Uncapped midfielder Brady Hough has been named on the interchange, along with key position player Jack Williams.
Former Tiger Patrick Naish was named just over a week after he put pen to paper with the Eagles as a supplemental signing, while ex-Docker Hugh Dixon will line up at centre half-forward.
Sam Petrevski-Seton, who was traded to West Coast in October after five seasons with Carlton will also debut in blue and gold.
Simpson is excited to see who can stake a claim to a senior spot, as the Eagles’ experienced players heal and trickle back into the team.
“Naish got here 10 days ago, and I don’t know enough about him to say he’s going to be a long-term prospect but I’ve got high hopes, and can’t wait to see him play,” he began.
“Petrevski-Seton has been here for a pre-season, young Dixon who wasn’t on our list three weeks ago has been holding down centre-half forward.
“He’s just a natural footballer, he actually reminds me a bit of ‘Gov’ (Jeremy McGovern) back in the day with his story.
“These guys are going to get opportunities, if not this week then in the coming weeks.
“And then there’s young guys like Harry Edwards, Luke Foley, young Hough who is making his debut, throw in Jamaine Jones, and Willie Rioli is back too…
“There’s opportunities everywhere, these guys belong on our list and in our senior side so we want to give them every chance.”
While Simpson hopes to smooth the transition to the Eagles’ next premiership tilt, he won’t give up on the group of players with whom he won the 2018 Grand Final.
“We’ve still got plenty of senior players with a lot of footy left in them,” he asserted.
“So optimism is something I had over the break, in fact (I had) more energy than the last two or three years.
“We were really looking forward to getting into the season. Unfortunately, we’ve had a wretched run with our injuries, but that doesn’t change the feel we have at the club.
“There’re tremendous spirit here, we’ve got a good culture, and it’s backs against the wall, adversity stuff we’ve dealt with before.
“There might be some ups and downs but that’s all part of the game. I’ve got a balanced look at it.”
With the opportunity to build out West Coast’s list profile and depth, Simpson will tinker with his tactics as the weeks go by, but won’t stray far from the intricate plan that has defined his stint.
“I think the way you want to defend and attack the contest, regardless of your personnel, should stay the same,” he explained.
“You can look at your ball movement, your stoppage strategy and a couple of other things with the strength of your team and the strengths of the opposition.
“Overall, I’d like to think we’re not dead and buried just yet.
“We’re going in with plenty of optimism, something we’re working towards, and a lot of players returning in the next four or five weeks.
“It starts this week. If we can get some signs of positivity in how we want to play, reward effort and give our fans something to cheer about with some of the younger players…
“I know you might have given up on us, but we haven’t.”
West Coast and the Suns will square off from 4:40pm AWST on Sunday afternoon at Optus Stadium.