West Coast will need a midfield and contested ball lift to match it with an in-form Essendon outfit in Saturday night’s clash at Optus Stadium, coach Adam Simpson says.
The Eagles have shown significant improvement in their contested and clearance work recently, especially in victories over Richmond and Fremantle, but were well down in those areas against Gold Coast last round.
Essendon heads west on the back of a blockbuster Anzac Day draw, following wins over Adelaide and the Bulldogs, and the Eagles will have their work cut out in the engine room against the likes of Zach Merrett, Darcy Parish and co.
“Absolutely. Their form is as good as anyone’s,” Simpson said of the Bombers.
“They’ve tweaked a few things (looking) from our end. They defend a lot better, it’s a system-based defence that looks really effective. Their contest work and clearance method is their real strength.
“We got touched up last week around the ball, so if we don’t get that right we won’t win.”
The Eagles have announced a debut for exciting midfielder Harvey Johnston, pick No.49 in last year’s draft, and the Sandringham product will start as the sub.
“His body’s not quite ready but that’s going to take more than a few weeks. He understands the AFL, the transition, the language that we use, runs the right patterns,” Simpson said. “If that’s all he brings, that’s good.
“He’s got good skill, uses both sides of the body well and makes good decisions so we think, whilst it’s early in his career to come into the team, for a guy to pick up the game the way he has, we’re happy.”
Johnston was one of four inclusions for the Bombers clash, along with Tom Barrass (suspension), Harley Reid (managed) and Noah Long (hip).
Dom Sheed will play WAFL to get a full game in after starting as the sub in the past two matches, while speedy wingman Jayden Hunt is managing soreness.
“Really it’s not omission (for Sheed), it’s more he’s got to play four quarters in and then when he gets up and about we bring him straight in,” Simpson said.
“At the moment we’ve got a balance between youth and experience, it’s working pretty well, and he gets that. It’s the same with (Andrew) ‘Gaffy’, so we’re not losing hope on those two.
“At the moment there’s a bit of a squeeze and they both need to go back and play four quarters.
“(Hunt) has got a bit of a knee, bit of a toe, bit of a back.
“I know we managed Harley last week and there’s conversations around that, but I think that’s the way going forward with every team, it’s just going to be hard to get through (23 games).
“You see a lot of clubs around now managing players, whether they’re young or old, and we’ve taken that opportunity with Hunty.
“We could’ve pushed him out there, but the metrics we’re using, it’s just starting to decline a little bit, so he needs a break.”
The Eagles are expecting another bumper crowd for their Foodbank WA charity game and the club is also encouraging fans to wave their scarves pre-game and after West Coast goals to create an intimidating atmosphere for the Dons.
“Our crowd has been so good. I’m pretty sure we’ll get around 50 (thousand) again this week,” Simpson said.
“It’s been a while since we really fed off the crowd and I reckon the last two games in particular there’s been a really good environment for our players to play under and they really appreciate that.”
