New West Coast forward Tyler Brockman has offered more details on his move from Hawthorn over the trade period just gone.
The Eagles and Hawks agreed to a trade on the weekend prior to deadline day, with West Coast parting with picks 44 and 63 for the 20-year-old.
West Coast could have walked Brockman to the pre-season draft if a deal wasn’t agreed upon.
Brockman and his partner are parents to young twins and the family motive was a primary driving factor in his dis desire to move home.
He told SEN WA Breakfast that West Coast was always going to be the destination, despite meeting with Fremantle on multiple occasions.
“Yeah I supported West Coast when I was younger, I always had an interest in them, even through the draft,” he began.
“I always knew where I sort of wanted to go and the Eagles were the right option.”
Brockman added: “I was thinking about the future the whole time as I was coming to an end on my Hawthorn contract.
“I had a couple of meetings with Freo towards the end of the year, I did feel a little bit guilty… I did like them but I knew I wanted to go to West Coast the whole time.
“No matter what the deal was, West Coast was the one.”
The livewire small forward started the season in the VFL but came into Sam Mitchell’s team in Round 3, a game where he’d show his talent with three goals from 11 possessions.
Brockman showed flashes throughout the rest of the 2023 season yet only booted three goals from his last six games as trade talks became more prevalent.
“Hopefully I can just be confident in myself this year. I sort of played with it a little bit this year but hopefully it can boost up more… I just want to win games,” Brockman explained.
He booted 11 goals from 10 appearances in 2021, the year he made his debut before being hampered by a hamstring injury in 2022.
For now, Brockman wants to continue to build his tank with a future midfield role at West Coast in mind.
He was the only trade in what was a quiet player movement window for the Eagles.