Another 2026 mid-season draftee has been named to make his debut with Marcus Herbert set to play his first AFL match for West Coast on Saturday.
The 23-year-old defender-midfielder has impressed at WAFL level after being selected with pick 13 a fortnight ago.
Originally from Warrnambool in Victoria's south-west, Herbert said he is excited to realise his long-awaited dream of an AFL debut.
“It's been a whirlwind, only two weeks ago I was ready to go to footy training at Geelong VFL,” Herbert told West Coast media.
“To hear my name get called out (in the Mid-Season Rookie Draft) is pretty special.
“Two weeks in and getting my debut, a bit unexpected but super keen.”
Since arriving at the club, Herbert has registered 16 disposals against WAFL ladder-leader Claremont and a team-high 23 touches against Peel Thunder.
West Coast will play "away" against North Melbourne at Optus Stadium as part of the Roos' deal with the state government to play two home matches in Western Australia for three years.
Standing at 183cm, Herbert is clean and quick in the contest. He won Geelong VFL's best-and-fairest award in 2025 before improving again in 2026 to get picked up by West Coast.
Herbert is the seventh player from this year's 18-player MSD to make his debut along with Hugo Hall-Kahan (Adelaide), Campbell Lake (St Kilda), Mitch Podhajski (Collingwood), Xavier Bamert (Port Adelaide this weekend), Lukas Cooke and Joel Fitzgerald (both for Melbourne this weekend).
