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Andrew McQualter has only been in the job at West Coast for 24 hours – but he may still be the coach under the most pressure in 2025.
It might sound strange saying this, especially when you think of the likes of Ross Lyon, Brad Scott, Adam Yze and even Michael Voss, who had pretty disappointing 2024 campaigns and cannot afford another disgrace.
But the 10-year assistant from Melbourne and Richmond, nicknamed ‘Mini’, has been given the giant task of turning the fortunes and reputation of the most supported AFL club in the land around.
He may not get much grace from the fans and media who want to see the Eagles return to the proud four-time premiership-winning club from the west, and expect instant results.
But there are five things the new coach needs to tick off in his first season in charge.
This is a basic one, but fans just want to see their team make them proud.
It doesn’t necessarily have to mean winning, but far too often in the last four years Eagles have been forced to watch their team humiliated, at home or away, in hail or shine. That must end now.
West Coast notched 100,000+ members for the fifth-straight season in 2024, with only Collingwood and Carlton ahead of them; even though there has been little to cheer about results-wise.
After narrowly missing the finals in 2021, it has been three years towards the bottom for the one-time powerhouse: 2022 – 17th (two wins), 2023 – 18th (three wins), and 2024 – 16th (five wins).
That’s a grand total of just 10 wins across three seasons. Sydney had that in 11 rounds in 2024.
Whether it’s bringing some Hardwick genius that helped the Tigers to their flag run, or even if he takes a leaf out of Sam Mitchell’s book and just lets the team have fun again, West Coast under McQualter needs to become competitive again, effective immediately.
Liam Duggan and Elliot Yeo of the Eagles. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
Towards the end of Adam Simpson’s reign and even under interim coach Jarrad Schofield, the players didn’t look like they were enjoying themselves. They gave up in matches and it led to some big blowout scores.
The club’s fans and members are keeping the faith by turning up: it’s time to repay them.
It would be a stretch to expect to exit the bottom four in the first year, never mind contend for finals; but either way, McQualter needs to find a way to, at the very least, start making Victorian teams fear a trip west again.
There have been some big-name players linked with West Coast in recent weeks: Liam Baker and Jack Graham seem all but certain to be wearing blue and yellow next year, and even more recently, Swans grand finalist Chad Warner is being touted as a potential coup.
But it would have been hard to lock anything in or officially nominate before the coaching role was filled.
McQualter must hit the ground running this week and find out who of those mentioned are serious about coming – and then where they fit in once they arrive.
Are Baker and Graham both fully-fledged on-ballers alongside Harley Reid, Elliot Yeo and Tim Kelly? And if so, what does that mean for promising youngster Reuben Ginbey, who is yet to properly break out having been tried in several different roles?
With Jack Darling and Tom Barrass nominating trades to Victoria, some experience would be handy to bring in as well as the draft picks.
Could McQualter have any tricks up his sleeve in a trade week surprise, bringing any more players who he had formed friendships with from his time at previous clubs? A, shall we say, Bolt(on) from the blue?
Shai Bolton has requested a trade to Western Australia – are the Eagles in the hunt? (Photo by Cameron Spencer/AFL Photos/via Getty Images)
Since Nic Naitanui, the Eagles have not really had a consistent top-class ruck, or indeed any options that have stood out.
Some of that was down to injuries, especially with recruit Matt Flynn, who missed almost half the 2024 season through injury.
That meant Bailey Williams switched back to being the number one man, after he was meant to transition into the forward line in 224. Williams led his club’s hit-out count, but was well down on previous seasons, dropping from 634 in 2023 to 482 in 2024.
It was reported that West Coast were in the market for Tim English before he re-signed with the Bulldogs. With him off the market, what’s the plan now?
It’s a hard conundrum for the Eagles. There hasn’t been any talk of trading for a ruckman as yet, but does McQualter work with what he has got in 2025, or maybe try and pick one up in the trade period or even draft?
With rising stars – Reid chief among them – booming with potential, winning more clearance ball at the stoppage could be a big key in unlocking more goal-scoring opportunities for the Eagles.
With veteran forward Jack Darling officially requesting a trade to North Melbourne, it is vital that the Eagles find more long-term scoring options in attack.
The West Australian has reported that the Eagles and Jake Waterman, after a breakout season, have come to terms, ripping up the old contract to secure him until 2029 on close to $1 million a season.
Jake Waterman. (Photo by Daniel Carson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
Is he worth that? Well, despite their position on the ladder and only five wins, Waterman was very impressive with 53 goals to finish sixth on the Coleman Medal standings.
To put his effort into perspective, the next best for the Eagles was Jamie Cripps on 27 goals – while co-captain Oscar Allen, for so long the great white hope, mustered 20 from 11 games in an injury-riddled campaign.
If fit, a Waterman-Allen partnership (‘WatermAllen’, if you will) is an extremely handy one-two punch in attack for a new coach to work with – especially when you consider McQualter leaves a Melbourne outfit with a serious dearth of key forwards.
With their talent, if the new coach can work out a game plan to double – or triple – their scoring with multiple effective targets up front (like, say, Geelong or Sydney, who seem to share the scoring around), it’s going to go a long way to winning games.
This goes without saying: Reid going the distance could determine whether the Eagles can become a massive premiership threat over the next decade or not.
McQualter needs Reid to be the Tom Brady to his Bill Belichick, the foundational relationship of the New England Patriots during the franchise’s NFL dynasty from 2001 to 2019.
Make him the mainstay of the team, and build the game plan around him.
That’s not to say they become a one-man club – McQualter will need to ensure he has other talented players feeding off him based on his strengths and weaknesses, in what will be a great salary cap balancing act.
Harley Reid celebrates a goal. (Photo by Will Russell/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
Reid can have a significant impact over the next 15 years, and he has demonstrated that in the first season of his AFL career. From taking great marks to scoring great goals to forcing his way upfield with sheer speed and physicality – he is the complete footballer. He just has to be more consistently dominant… then look out.
They’ve been blessed to not only have a match-winner, one with significant marketing potential to harness and bring proper excitement to Eagles games (see ‘Give the fans something to cheer about again’).
His contract expires at the end of 2026, so while there’s a season or two to get through first, ensuring his long-term commitment is in blue and yellow has to be a priority.
The motto should be to keep Reid happy enough in Perth not to want to seek a ‘homesick’ return to Victoria as Chris Judd did once his current deal winds up. Lose Harley, and McQualter will have a dire struggle ahead of him.
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