There's nothing quite like seeing an Eagle in full flight, its powerful, graceful and effortless dominance of the air is a thing of beauty. An apex predator, the Eagle has only one consistent enemy that even the most dominant of species cannot outrun, time.
With the West Coast Eagles in free fall and plagued by injury, much has understandably been made of their decline this season. Time it seems, has caught up with them, and they now find themselves laid low.
As hard as it is to watch for West Coast fans, knowing that an era that yielded two Grand Final appearances and one premiership is at an end, there is cause for some small comfort.
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Eagles by nature have excellent vision and can see their targets from great distances. The West Coast Football Club is no exception to this, consistently mending their broken wings and again taking to the skies.
Since their introduction to the AFL, they have won four premierships and appeared in seven Grand Finals in the space of 36 years. Perhaps more impressively, they have only missed finals in 10 of those 36 years. This is a club that, much like their namesake, knows how to remain in the hunt.
Right now, they are grounded, wounded and out of the fight, yet they have an ability to regenerate and bounce back as well as anyone in the game. The real question will be; how long will it take this time?
This season is gone
The Eagles still have quite a few premiership players on their list yet it has been remarkable how far they have slid so quickly. With so much talent still available, it was expected they would fare much better than their two wins last year.
Liam Ryan, Tim Kelly and Tom Barrass aside, their core of premiership and senior players are all out of form or missing in action. It's been a brutal 18 months for the Eagles when it comes to their personnel available each week.
Andrew Gaff, Jack Darling, Dom Sheed, Liam Duggan, Jeremy McGovern and Jamie Cripps have all suffered serious injuries at some point in the past year, while Luke Shuey, Nic Naitanui and Elliot Yeo continue to struggle to even get onto the park for any significant amount of time.
The sheer amount of injuries, coupled with the lack of experience they are being forced to play every week has left them vulnerable. The resulting horror start to the year was perhaps unexpected only in that they had at least aimed to be more competitive and prevent the drubbings of last season.
Make no mistake however, the Eagles knew they needed to go back to the draft this year. They perhaps had hoped however for a few more wins and some improvement from their youngsters while their seasoned campaigners helped lead the way.
At this stage, the solitary victory against GWS seems an age ago after a month of heavy defeats by an average of 64.5 points, with things looking grim for one of the AFL's biggest powerhouses.
The evidence of decline
It's probably crucial to note that the decline may seem rapid, yet in reality has been on display for two and a half years now, going back to 2021. That year, their percentage of 93.2 indicates that, while making finals was a good result, they were unlikely to challenge the real contenders.
The injuries to crucial premiership heroes, the loss of a legend in Josh Kennedy, the loss of key role players such as Jack Redden, Brad Shepherd and Mark Hutchings and the form of many senior stars being tepid at best have all been contributing factors in the slide.
The Covid bubble enforced by the Western Australian government well into 2022 was also a hinderance, particularly when an outbreak caused them to lose 12 players in one week. At one stage in 2022, their crisis was so bad they only had 22 fit players to call upon.
Their win-loss record paints a more stark reality. They have won just 3 of their past 31 AFL premiership season games and face a Richmond outfit desperate to keep their season alive this weekend at the MCG.
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Last year they finished 17th, the lowest the club has ever finished in its entire AFL history. Yet there was a sense that season 2022 was the absolute rock bottom for the Eagles and that, a strong draft might accelerate things.
Unfortunately, season 2023 has been more of the same, sitting 1-6 with a percentage of just 64.3 and with another injury crisis on their hands. Rebounding from here will arguably be the biggest challenge the club has faced to date.
The needs from here
The needs are many but they have at least begun to address some of them. The midfield has already seen an injection, most notably by snaring local talents Ruben Ginbey and Elijah Hewett, both of whom should develop into long-term stalwarts for the club.
They also have first round draftee Campbell Chesser beginning to see meaningful senior action and Noah Long as a small forward who can take the reigns from Jamie Cripps down the line. Yet much more depth and talent is needed in these areas.
The real focus will need to be on their key position stocks, which have been already seen some reinforcements. Rhett Bazzo and Oscar Allen have been taken in recent years to man the key posts at either end, while Harry Barnett was drafted last year to hopefully succeed Naitanui.
The rebuild is underway in earnest and the Eagles are going to look to make shrewd moves in the trade and free agency markets. Should they finish last this season, they will find themselves in a superb position.
The hype surrounding likely number one draft pick Harley Reid will work in the Eagles favour. Either they land a blue-chip on-baller who is tipped by all in the know to become a superstar of the competition, or they have a serious bargaining chip.
Whispers have already begun that some clubs may offer as many as three first round picks to snare Reid. Should the Eagles end up with pick one, they could greatly accelerate their rebuild by trading away the Victorian for three first round picks that they could use on local talent.
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Effectively, coupled with their own selections they could end up with 4 or more picks inside the top 10-20 over 2 years, which presents a golden opportunity to regenerate and accelerate their development.
Reports have also begun to circulate in recent weeks that Jeremy McGovern is set to take a heavily reduced wage to allow the Eagles to target reinforcements in their prime to bring into the club as free agents.
Western Australian native Nathan Broad has been mooted as a target as he is in the final year of his deal and is set to become a restricted free agent. While Broad (30 years of age) would be unlikely to be around the next time they are ready to challenge, he would offer stability down back in the short term.
The Eagles, like their namesake, are extremely cunning, and there is little doubting they have a meticulous plan mapped out for the coming years. The foundations are being laid and the next 12 months will be telling.
When will they soar again?
The last time they rebuilt, it took just a few years from 2013/4 until they won another flag, yet they had a much stronger base to build on there. The current rebuild still requires a more solid foundation, so it's unlikely to be as fast this time around.
Having said that, they average a premiership every 8-9 years so it's not impossible that by 2027 they could be contending again. Like all good hunters, they know how to find a way to get what they want.
Outside of their senior players, they will need a serious injection of quality young players, which makes them them the key player in this year's trade period should they come last and finish with pick one.
Trading that pick away to the likes of North Melbourne, Melbourne or GWS could have a huge impact on the direction of this club and could determine if they are soaring high again in just a few short years, or if they take the longer road.
What is absolutely imperative is that they nail this rebuild, given the Tasmanian team is five short years away and any club still rebuilding at that time will find a compromised draft that might derail even the best laid plans.
When it comes to birds recovering from broken wings, the medical advice seems to vary, however there is one constant. The bigger the bird, the longer the healing process.
The Eagle is the biggest bird in Australia and West Coast one of this competition's biggest clubs. Perhaps it may yet be a while until they soar again, but like always, it will be worth the wait.
