West Coast Eagles midfielder Clay Hall has revealed his likely position for 2026.
After spending much of his 13 games last season as an inside midfielder, the third-year player indicated he was more likely to spend time on the outside in 2026.
The under-siege Eagles lacked midfield depth in 2025 to assist dynamo Harley Reid, but have since brought in mature-aged trio Harry Schoenberg, Deven Robertson and Finlay Macrae to add grunt to their on-ball brigade.
The Peel Thunder product was drafted as a big-bodied midfielder, but has the aerobic capacity to contribute on the wing.
“I played a little bit of wing in pre-season last year and then migrated my way through to the midfield and was 50-50 (wing and midfield) but it's mostly been wing so far this year,” Hall told media on Wednesday.
“I think it's great bringing in players similar to my position, so putting that healthy competitiveness to make us better throughout training and all fight for those spots is great, even if we do need to adapt to a bit of versatility. I think it's great to learn other positions.
“I've always been a decent runner, but the wing is a lot more high-speed gut-running, which I'm still getting used to a bit more.
“Inside, you're inside the contest a lot more, where the wing is a lot more open field running, so that's something I've tried to get better at this pre-season; pacing up and back to help defenders and then test my opponent going forward as well.”
Hall highlighted the pre-season of 2025 Pick 1 Willem Duursma, who looks set for a wing role early alongside Hall following the retirement of Jayden Hunt.
“He hasn't even played an AFL game yet, but the way he's applying himself in training has been great, asking questions, attacking his gym work and trying to put on some size,” Hall said.
Hall's positional revelation comes after injury-plagued veteran Elliot Yeo conceded earlier in pre-season that he is unlikely to play as a full-time midfielder, having trained across the field in pre-season.
Hall also praised defender Reuben Ginbey's pre-season ahead of a year where he is set to lead the backline again, while noting the cleanliness and leadership of half-back-turned-midfielder Tom McCarthy.
