Harley Reid, Oscar Allen, Sam Mitchell, Elliot Yeo - life isn’t easy for West Coast coach Andrew McQualter

Welcome to coaching Andrew McQualter. The first-year coach’s head must be spinning. Being an AFL coach is a tough gig at the best of times, let alone when you’re in charge of a club that has won just 12 of its last 80 games dating back to 2021. At times last year, it felt nobody wanted the task of re-building West Coast. The Eagles pursued Dean Cox, but he stayed in Sydney, knowing it wouldn’t be long until he became coach of the Swans. Josh Carr also knew his time was about to come at Port Adelaide, so didn’t entertain West Coast. Nathan Buckley joined the list of people who declined the chance to pitch for the job and then Jaymie Graham, Ashley Hansen and Daniel Giansiracusa stuck to being assistants. McQualter wanted the job. He’d been the interim coach at Richmond after Damien Hardwick’s mid-season resignation in 2023 and did well, finishing with a 7-6 record before missing out on the job at the end of the year when the Tigers appointed Adem Yze. Yze had a rough introduction to the AFL as the Tigers finished last, Dustin Martin retired and a host of big names moved to other clubs. McQualter wasn’t part of Yze’s assistant coaching group. He moved to Melbourne to gain more experience and chase his Head Coaching dream. He’s only three games into his three-year contract and must be wondering when the good parts are going to start. Since being appointed, McQualter has watched key defender Tom Barrass move to Hawthorn and Jack Darling head to North Melbourne. He knew the Barrass move was coming because the star backman requested the trade during the coaching interview process, but it instantly left McQualter with the challenge of how to stop the opposition from scoring. Darling’s decision to move to the Kangaroos occurred a few weeks later when the Eagles were deep into the interview process. Those decisions gave McQualter a clear lay of the land. When training started in October, he learned that number one pick Harley Reid wasn’t as fit as he needed to be and that later developed into injuries. So now his whiteboard had more holes that needed to be covered. By January, McQualter was working through off-field challenges after Reuben Ginbey was arrested at a music festival and Liam Ryan was involved in a street fight. No coach wants to get those phone calls. Handling those issues isn’t listed in the playbook. Next came the dreaded call that a player has suffered a major injury. Elliot Yeo went down with knee and ankle injuries at training during early January and it was clear he wouldn’t be available for the start of the season. West Coast had Yeo listed as being 4-5 weeks away leading into round one. It’s now round four, and Yeo is still considered to be 4-5 weeks away from playing. Gulp. While McQualter was digesting the Yeo news, he got the punch to the gut telling him that Dom Sheed had torn his anterior cruciate ligament. That was another experienced player gone. Oh, and Tim Kelly has admitted he’s lost his passion for footy. At least he could throw the youngsters some opportunities though...right? Hang on, Campbell Chesser’s horror run with injury continued. He had “minor” ankle surgery in February. We’re now in April, and that minor surgery will see him sidelined for at least another 6-8 weeks. Injuries are part of sport. McQualter knew he wouldn’t get his team through a season unscathed. But he wouldn’t have mentally prepared for Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell to be sitting next to Harley Reid at Tom Barrass’ wedding. Whoa. That’s bold. That’s concerning. How does a first-year coach handle that? Maybe the best approach would be to not really address it. After all, it was a wedding. There were lots of Eagles there. Even Mitchell said he spoke to a lot of players throughout the night. West Coast’s co-captains Oscar Allen and Liam Duggan, were there. No reason to panic. Wait...Mitchell came back to Perth after the derby to meet with Allen. Okay, who else did he talk to at the wedding? What do to now? Um....control the controllables. Just focus on footy. That’s been rough too. West Coast are 0-3. They got belted by Gold Coast in round one. It was an 87-point thrashing. the Eagles managed only 34 inside 50s and Reid was heavily criticised for getting sucked into fights with Suns players. By round two, last season’s leading goalkicker Jake Waterman was injured. But the Eagles had a vastly improved effort in a 19-point defeat. Reid gave the bird to the crowd, though. That was another issue for McQualter to contend with. Next came the derby. Another loss...and an injury to Jeremy McGovern. Allen couldn’t get near the footy. The Eagles barely got the ball inside 50. Reid’s playing at half-back. Allen’s in defence. This wasn’t the plan. Now, the Eagles are preparing to face GWS. West Coast have three debutants. The group has combined for less than 1700 games. When they picked a team with that type of inexperience against St Kilda last year, they lost by 72 points. This is against a team that is considered to be a premiership contender. The team will stay interstate for an entire week because Gather Round will follow this set of matches. That’s another unique challenge. But hey, what a great opportunity for the group to bond. Fingers crossed nobody gets injured, the team plays well, and nobody bumps into Mitchell at an Adelaide cafe. Welcome to coaching.