Patrick Naish has had a “whirlwind” of a week, signing on at the West Coast Eagles less than a week after flying to Perth.
Naish, 23, was confirmed as a pre-season supplemental selection on Wednesday, as the Eagles threw an AFL lifeline to the former Tiger.
The wingman had a busy off-season chasing a number of opportunities but says he would change the last few months for the world.
“I finished up with Richmond at the end of last year, went out on pretty good terms. They were pretty open with what I need to improve on, probably my playing style didn’t fit Dimma’s (Hardwick) sort of play I guess,” Naish told SEN WA’s Scotty and Goss.
“(That) is completely fine, he’s the coach so I can’t really argue with that.
“Then I signed at Norwood in the SANFL, previously I’ve had conversations with the Eagles (but) it was pretty hard to get me over here.
“So I thought I was going to play for Norwood Footy Club, which was unreal, I spent about six weeks over in Adelaide and loved my time training with the boys there.
“Then I got invited down to training with the Saints, probably four weeks ago now, and had two and a half weeks there.
“Then the borders opened over here and I was literally on the first flight over here to train with the Eagles.
“It’s been a bit of a whirlwind but I wouldn’t change it for the world, I’m pretty excited with the Eagles.”
After flying into Perth as soon as he could, Naish had just three days to learn the club’s game plan before taking to the field against Fremantle on Sunday.
With West Coast’s injury-hit list, the club’s new recruits were always likely to play.
The Eagles eventually went down by 13 points in an improved performance on the week before, with Naish contributing 14 disposals and a goal.
He credits Eagles coach Adam Simpson as someone who helped him eventually seal a list spot.
“I think Simmo (Simpson) helped a fair bit with that,” Naish stated.
“He sort of just wanted me to go out and play footy, he felt my strengths were good enough to be on the list in the end and I sort of saw it as an opportunity to go play footy.
“I felt like I did play my role for the team on Sunday night, Simmo was pretty good during the week. Not getting too stuck in the structures and everything, because obviously, I’d been there three days, he was just keen for me to go play footy and have fun, which I did, I loved Sunday night.”
Midfielder Tom Joyce and ruckman Luke Strnadica were also signed as SPP rookies after Campbell Chesser and Tom Cole were added to the inactive list with ankle injuries.
Listen to the full interview with Patrick Naish below