2010 AFL Season Preview - West Coast
By Allblack
West Coast finished off last year with a bang. Just when everyone thought they were tanking they came good and finished off the year with a climb up the ladder and we saw a lot of their younger players start to step up. Was it a precursor to a good year in 2010 or was it like Richmond on ’08 and instead the arrival of a false dawn.
Their backline is good enough to get the job done most weeks. Glass is a very high quality defender although at times may have struggled with leadership and his on field role. There will be high hopes for Spangher this year who finished off last year with a very tantalising look at what he is capable of, he is a good size and can find the ball. Waters still has improvement left and there are few people in the AFL who can kick the ball as well as Hurn. Jones is the prototype running defender and it looked like Nicoski may not be far away from being back to his best. As Embley starts to have less impact on games I would think Scott Selwood will develop further and may even play more midfield this year.
The midfield is deceiving. We all associate West Coast with their midfield of five years ago but they don’t have that level of class any more. Kerr is elite but his body and his abaility to handle a hard tag bring into question his ability to be the number one midfielder. Priddis gets a lot of the ball but whilst being a dream for fantasy footy players I don’t think he hurts the opposition nearly enough for the amount of ball he gets. Rosa started to show touch towards the end of last year when settled into a midfield role but also doesn’t hurt opponents enough. Masten will be a gun, he still has a lot of improvement left. Dalzeill ran a 16 beep test and will be a very handy pick up and as usual Adam Selwood . Swift and Ebert will be looking for more game time and should add to a handy midfield. It isn’t a world beating midfield yet but they will hold their own against most teams. They need Kerr to stay fit.
The forwardline is much improved. LeCras is all class. I know there is talk of him playing more time in the middle but when a small/mid sized forward kicks 58 goals in a season he isn’t going anywhere. McKinley for mine is promising but still yet to show consistency. Kennedy will embarrass Carlton this year as he develops further and is the player the forwardline should be built around. Lynch played a lot of ruck last year but think he will be settled back into the forward line. I really rate Mitch Brown. I don’t know where Hansen is going to fit in and think he will struggle to get a game unless down back.
The rucks cant be argued with. Cox is the best in the game. His body is the only question mark there. NicNat is only going to improve and this will be another building year for him. They have Lynch is needed as a third ruck.
I have never really rated Worsfold which sounds like a strange thing to say about a premiership coach but his game plan always seemed to rely on too few to do the work and class players seemed to carry the team. This year will show if that is right or not as he needs a good game plan and a much more even contribution.
Their list should be one that challenges for the top eight this year. The home ground advantage and some quality young players should bring its natural progression. They will be in the battle for 8th spot and I think they may just miss out and finish around 9th but don’t be surprised if they win an extra couple and finished around 7 or 8.