The Soaring

Five big changes for the West Coast Eagles round 13 clash with Geelong at Subi.

WEST COAST v GEELONG
West Coast Eagles
B: Adam Selwood, Darren Glass, Mark Nicoski
HB: Andre Embley, Beau Wilkes, Brett Jones
C: Michael Braun, Daniel Kerr, Tim Houlihan
HF: Mark LeCras, Ashley Hansen, Sam Butler
F: David Wirrpanda, Adam Hunter, Quinten Lynch
Foll: Dean Cox, Matt Priddis, Chad Fletcher
I/C: Brad Ebert, Ben McKinley, Will Schofield, Tyson Stenglein
EMG: Steven Armstrong, Ryan Davis, Jaymie Graham

In: Braun, Kerr, Hansen, Fletcher, McKinley
Out: Chris Masten (hip), Ryan Davis, Mark Seaby, Jamie McNamara, Brent Staker

In come Kerr, Braun, Fletcher as well as Hansen and McKinley. Out go the injured Masten and dropped are Davis, Seaby, McNamara and Staker.

So the big changes keep coming. That makes 5 changes, 3, 7, 2, 2, 4, 4, 5, 2 and 2 changes to the team for each of the weeks this season. With so many players going in and out of the side is it any wonder we’ve struggled?

You have to wonder where Staker and Seaby sit now in relation to the match committee. Seaby has been genuinely disappointing. He had a good pre-season but seems to have gone backwards this season and his confidence is well and truly down.

It may be the result of the bit part role he’s played in support of Cox but he has played this role all his career. He appears to be too easy of a target to run off in the F50 and this has limited his opportunities on the ground.

Although only one other ruckman is at the club - rookie Will Sullivan - you wonder if Seaby could be up for trade at the end of the season.

Staker continues to frustrate. He has now played 100 games for the Eagles, he has all the physical attributes to become a dominant player but seems to be unable to put it together on the park. He is probably not a “natural footballer” in that mentally he makes too many blunders, takes the wrong option, drops too many marks, gets lost on his opponent, crowds his teammates space, is too rushed without pressure, is too often collared when there is.

I truly hope the coaching staff can turn Brent around because the potential is there. If they don’t I see him going to another club and prospering under one of the coaches out there that specialises in extracting good footy from maligned players - Roos, Williams, Malthouse. I may be getting ahead of myself, but if that happened it would be an indictment to our club.

Another week another forward line. We’ll see how this one goes with Hansen, Hunter, McKinley, LeCras, Wirra and Lynch in there to take advantage of a smaller Cats backline. We just got to get it in there.

See you at the game.