1 hour ago, Bombay Airconditioning said:

Regardless of what assistance if any you think they should get, this is just further evidence this competition is not ready for / can not sustain a 19th & 20th team.

How is this evidence? There has always been rubbish teams no matter how many teams were in the competition. What it highlights is have a terrible list manager and fitness staff and you are going to be in a world of pain.  

"Like a cork in the ocean"'s chance in hell they are getting assistance!

Let them take/promote extra players post-draft from the WAFL to top up their list and add a bit of depth.

Personally I think that is a much better system than the academies anyway - we should never be risking the creation of dominant super-teams. Instead focus on minimising the non-competitive bottom-out process while also giving a little extra significance to the state level leagues.

Meanwhile, does anyone really doubt that the Eagles tanked post-Judd to get Naitanui and Shuey and then again in 2010 to get Gaff and Darling?

Chroistos on a bicycle, they got the same number of priority picks as we did.

On what basis should they get assistance? They are in a rebuild phase, rebuilds take more than 2-3 years! So now every team that's [censored] for 2 years gets extra draft assistance? What a mockery, if they've been languishing outside of finals for more than 10 years then we can start talking. The fact this is even being considered beggars belief! Such a slap in the face to those long suffering fans of other clubs who have seen minimal success over DECADES.

Edited April 3, 20241 yr by Dr. Gonzo

They’ll get something at the end of this year 

Could be end of first, or two extra second rounders 

But they will get something 

There own list management got them in this mess, they can get themselves out of it like every other club have had to do.

They had teams throw 3 first rounders at them for pick 1 and they knocked it back.

They had opportunities to trade players out for draft capital eg. Gaff, Darling, Mcgovern etc, they traded players in like Kelly from Geelong for 2 first rounders,

They have made their own bed and they can lie in it for a few years to come.

Premiers in 2018, 60 million in the bank, get the [censored] out of here West Coke!

 

3 hours ago, ElDiablo14 said:

I am not knowledgeable about the history of the club but, what happened between the MFC and the VFL/AFL? How did it fall from grace in two decades?

Very hard to imagine such an historic club and winning club could be left to wander in the wilderness for so long.

We got shafted with Recruitment Zones. 
we as a Club were also too slow to react when the game started to become Professional in the mid 60’s. Our slide began when TV Replays began (1965)

We just didn’t get major exposure. Richmond became the MCG drawcard

24 minutes ago, YesitwasaWin4theAges said:

There own list management got them in this mess, they can get themselves out of it like every other club have had to do.

They had teams throw 3 first rounders at them for pick 1 and they knocked it back.

They had opportunities to trade players out for draft capital eg. Gaff, Darling, Mcgovern etc, they traded players in like Kelly from Geelong for 2 first rounders,

They have made their own bed and they can lie in it for a few years to come.

Premiers in 2018, 60 million in the bank, get the [censored] out of here West Coke!

 

Let's not forget North's list errors that got them into their mess. Giving away good picks and $ on topping up on hacks like polec and pittard thinking they were in the window. Then they cleared the deck of experience to bottom out. 

I don't think WCE should get assistance,  but I also think too many people have forgotten  the real reason for the Noth mess and they should never has received the amount of assistance they did (and pick 3 for Mackay is an absolute joke on top of that).

 

9 hours ago, YesitwasaWin4theAges said:

 

They had teams throw 3 first rounders at them for pick 1 and they knocked it back.

 

 

Spot on......This is how you rebuild, not chasing a single player.

Where is our compensation for Angus?

Or Jackson for that matter (we were lucky Freo sucked that season but I still see it as not enough for Jackson's future value).

1 hour ago, george_on_the_outer said:

Spot on......This is how you rebuild, not chasing a single player.

Who is as likely to jump ship back to Victoria as any number 1 pick in the history of the draft IMO.

If West Coast deserve a priority pick, don't the Hawks? 

Hell give Essendon one, they haven't won a final in 20 years.

 

The Eagles went hard for Kelly thinking he would help them push for a flag.  They also got stuck with dome big contracts for players that have rarely played since 2020.

They cleaned out a bit last year that will give them cap space to make a big offer to English and Sydney's McDonald.

They stuffed up with the coaches contract, he would be gone if his payout didn't go into the soft cap.

Train wreck at the moment, but no way they are getting and draft assistance 

Weagles need something for the eveness of the competition. 

Teams who play them twice get the advantage. 

Goes for others stuck down the bottom as well, assistance hopefully creates, 'close games are good games'. 

Edited April 4, 20241 yr by kev martin

This was the AFL's conclusion summarising why Melbourne didn't get a priority pick in 2014 (4 win season after 2 wins in 2013):

"The AFL concluded that while Melbourne has a poor on field record in recent times, this does not of itself constitute “exceptional circumstances” or a justification for awarding priority draft selections."

Given the WCE are the richest club in the country, and are led by a flag winning coach, they'll struggle to demonstrate "exceptional circumstances" beyond poor performances onfield.

This is assuming the AFL follow it's own precedences, which I know is laughable. 

The draft, free agency and assistance seems to offer less than being destiny clubs. We have done pretty well lately as a desired club, like Geelong and others, that keeps us competitive, as we fill holes in the squad with experienced players. 

Fremantle is the desired club in the West at the moment, and look at them flourish.

The system has some flaws.

I still cannot figure out how we and other successful teams continue get numerous high draft picks, even though playing finals.

Edited April 4, 20241 yr by kev martin

The Eagles need to do a complete clean out of their off field coaching, administration and personnel. Thats where their major problems lie. Talks of assistance should not happen until they demonstrate they have made the hard decisions and demonstrated genuine efforts and hard yardage to restore their standing with the bountiful resources the club still possesses which make the majority of other clubs appear to be paupers in comparison. They also have good young talent to work with already and don’t deserve any extra assistance.

Edited April 4, 20241 yr by John Crow Batty

It's been said before but they've played finals in 5 out of their past 8 seasons including winning a flag. 

In the 8 seasons prior to us applying for a priority pick in 2014, we won two wooden spoons (would have been 3 if it wasn't for the newly introduced GWS team), never finished higher than 12th and we went through 7 senior coaches as well as being a basket case financially.

In West Coast's past 3 seasons they've won 15 games.

We won 10 games in the 3 seasons from 2012-2014.

We were rejected.

Edited April 4, 20241 yr by Nascent

Reap what you sow.

The use of discretionary draft picks to prop up teams has now become a farce.

The Suns, North and now the Eagles.

Hawks fans will be screaming

Where is our assistance. We went out in strait sets for 2 finals series in a row. No other team has achieved that. So where is our assistance.

The issue here is that their performance is further underminining an already compromised and unfair fixture.

The stronger clubs that are lucky enough to play West Coast twice are handed 8 free points and a potential percentage boost. We are very, very lucky to be one of those teams this year. For once fixturing is on our side.

I don't think they deserve it, but if they get it, at the most it should be start of second round compensation and they are forced to trade it (like North last year).

God I hope they stay mediocre for another 10 years, they deserve stuff all.

The AFL need to scrap priority picks all together.

Eagles should have split pick 1 to get 2 good kids in, instead of 1.

I'd say no to assistance but after the Brisbane and North scenarios I clearly don't know anything these days. The AFL can do what they want, I don't care. 

3 hours ago, dl4e said:

Where is our assistance. We went out in strait sets for 2 finals series in a row. No other team has achieved that. So where is our assistance.

Not even close to the main point. Waste of a post really and irrelevant to boot.