West Coast Eagles draftee Sam Allen has expressed confidence that an AFL environment will enable his weapons to shine brighter than ever before.
Before rupturing his ACL midway through the 2025 season, the Oakleigh Chargers captain elite running capacity, speed and vertical leap captured recruiters' attention.
The Pick 29 hails from an athletics background and runs two kilometres in 5:47 minutes, while his vertical leap of 101cm topped the talent pathway in pre-season.
“To put it simply, I'm 100 per cent confident I'll be able to not just get back to what I was but also reach new heights,” Allen said.
“I've got full faith in the guys that will be looking after me and I've got full faith in myself that I'll put in the hard work to return to that level.”
Allen will assume his namesake and former West Coast captain Oscar Allen's number 12 guernsey and has moved in with small forward Matt Owies.
Lauded ahead of the AFL Draft by his Chargers coach for his mature perspective and willingness to work hard, Allen offered insight into how he approached the second half of the year.
“It was difficult at times,” Allen said.
“The mentality with me was to control what I could control and for me that was attacking my rehab as hard as possible with the aim of trying to get back better than ever.
“Having that motivation was huge for me…to get in the best physical shape possible.
“There was heaps of unknowns about where I would land, if I would land at all.
"Eventually come draft night I was (massively) hopeful and I'm super grateful I've been brought into such a great club.
“I think I've got the capacity to come in straight away and be an open book and ask questions and really take in all the resources the club offers and expand my knowledge as much as possible and lean on all the coaches we get provided.”
Fellow draftees Tylah Williams and Fred Rodriguez also fronted the media in their first week as Eagles.
West Coast matched a bid for Williams at Pick 39 before taking Rodriguez at the rookie draft.
An electric small forward, Williams got the opportunity to rub shoulders with AFL pair Bobby Hill and Lawson Humphries at the Gwaba Aboriginal Football Carnival in Bunbury in October.
“Throughout the year getting those comparisons to Bobby Hill and getting the chance to play alongside him, he said what it's like in the AFL, he gave me little tips," Williams said of the 2023 Norm Smith Medalist.
"To play alongside someone like Bobby Hill and Lawson Humphries was really good.
"When the boys go into the AFL system and come back to a carnival like that, they have a lot of knowledge and know what they're doing so you sit back and do what they tell you."
Rodriguez entered the season as the most hyped Western Australian prospect and was in first round contentions for large parts of his journey before slipping to the rookie draft.
The South Fremantle product opened up on the subsequent challenges of the draft period.
“I was pretty relaxed in the lead up taking it one day at a time but then come the two draft nights, watching it and sitting there was pretty stressful,” Rodriguez said.
“You're sitting there and waiting for your name to get called out and every name that gets called out, you know there's one less pick, one less opportunity to go and after Thursday I was pretty gutted and Friday was a big change.
“I'm super stoked to end up at West Coast.”
Having grown up a Fremantle supporter who idolised Nat Fyfe, wearing the Eagles threads is an unfamiliar, but welcome change for the midfielder.
“It was a bit weird at first,” Rodriguez said.
“My whole life, my Mum has tried to put West Coast stuff on me and I'd tell her to get lost but now Freo don't want me and I'd tell her to get lost so it's easy to put on West Coast colours.”
