Young Eagle Bailey Williams looms as a player to watch closely in season 2021. Photo: AFL MEDIA
After back-to-back disappointing finals exits following their famous 2018 premiership, West Coast heads into the new season desperate to strike while the iron is hot and pinch another flag with its current crop of players.
Adam Simpson’s men are probably still in the premiership window, and presumably with more games in Perth in 2021 (pandemic permitting), definitely loom as a top-four threat.
But as they say in the classics, if you stand still, you go backwards, and even the best teams need to renovate their line-ups while they’re contending for flags. And in West Coast’s case, that could involve giving the following four players more game time this season.
JARROD BRANDER
The 21-year-old heads into his fourth season in the AFL having played just the 11 career games so far. But in fairness, he arrived at the Eagles in their premiership year, so it’s been a pretty hard side to break into.
However, last year the utility managed to get a lot more senior experience than he was previously accustomed to, playing eight games, and if it wasn’t for injury, he probably would’ve managed a few more.
He did get dropped a couple of times late in the season but he’s definitely got the attributes to become a regular in the West Coast line-up. He’s tall, athletic and he’s gaining more strength over the pre-season.
Given his versatility, Eagles fans do wonder where he fits best in the team, because he’s shown he can play on a wing, at half-forward and even half-back.
The thing that may see him assume the role as a tall wingman is that the Eagles are already tall as it is in attack with the likes of Josh Kennedy, Jack Darling, Oscar Allen and even Nic Naitanui floating down there from time to time.
But Brander has been a standout over the pre-season. He’s been training the house down, he looks confident and has a real presence about him.
PLEASE HELP US CONTINUE TO THRIVE BY BECOMING AN OFFICIAL FOOTYOLOGY PATRON. JUST CLICK THIS LINK.
JACK PETRUCCELLE
The speedster is the same age as Brander, but has had more opportunities in his first three years, most notably in 2019 when he played 20 of 24 games.
He really looked the goods a couple of seasons ago, but after being dropped early last season, and then battling a hamstring injury, his expected upward trajectory has stalled.
However, at full flight he’s one of the quickest players in the AFL, and although he was probably inconsistent last year in the way he maximised that potentially devastating attribute, West Coast believes he’s ready to have more of an impact on games in 2021.
Petrucelle has been earmarked to step up more in attack and help the likes of fellow small forward Jamie Cripps more consistently, and the hope is that will be able to occur given he is maturing and starting to get his body stronger.
JOSH ROTHAM
Unlike Brander and Petruccelle, the 23-year-old defender had to bide his time for a bit longer before getting a meaningful chance.
But after playing his first four games in 2019 – his third year at the club – Rotham really impressed in his 10 matches last year, so much so he was presented with the Emerging Talent Award by the club.
The versatile medium-sized backman, who can play on bigs and smalls, cemented a spot in the team’s defence in the second half of the year before a heel injury forced him out of the finals.
Having been made to wait for senior opportunities seems to have actually been a positive for him because he was able to put together an extended block of good form in at state level in the WAFL.
Now he’s become quite a mature player, and the Eagles are impressed with him. Another thing working in his favour for 2021 is if Liam Duggan plays more in the midfield, it might open the door for Rotham to get an even bigger opportunity to cement his spot down back, especially now that Lewis Jetta is no longer on the list.
BAILEY WILLIAMS
Just like at North Melbourne with Todd Goldstein in the way, it’s hard to be an emerging ruckman at West Coast with a guy by the name of Nic Naitanui applying a stranglehold on the No. 1 spot.
However, with quarters going back to regular lengths this year, and Naitanui showing over most of his career that as good as he is, he struggles to play out games, an opportunity might arise for Williams to make his mark in 2021.
Shorter game time last year made it more difficult for Williams to play because Naitanui was rucking for larger portions of the game.
After being taken at pick No. 35 in the 2018 draft, the 199cm 95kg Williams got his first taste of footy late last year in round 14, and played three games all up before being dropped for the finals.
But the 20-year-old is showing good signs of development and, like Brander, he’s having more of a presence at training. Like most big men, they take time to develop, which is why getting those games under his belt last year provided really good exposure for him and the club hopes it will not only help fast-track his development but also whet his appetite and make him hungry to break back into the side.
Encouragingly, Williams, who is a forward-ruck, has come back to the club in good condition and another thing which could help his cause for more game time this year is the fact that West Coast has proved in the recent past that it can field a very tall team with maximum results – you only have to go back to the 2018 grand final to see that.
