Missed bargains: The two NGA talents overlooked by Eagles

Despite some promising signs early this season, West Coast’s lengthy rebuild remains a fair way away from completion.

With four straight bottom four finishes and a fifth on the horizon, the Eagles remain in need of numerous pieces to solve the ultimate puzzle left for them following their strong run through the late 2010s.

While the club has taken its time in developing young talents and curating a mix of youth and experience, West Coast certainly hasn’t been perfect in its attempt to claw back from the depths of the table.

No recruitment team nails the draft every time around, however, as former Fremantle captain Peter Bell points out, two crucial draft decisions by the club has left them well behind in their transition forward.

“This is a tough one, and I’m not meaning to be critical because list management recruiting is hard work, and trust me, everyone gets it wrong at some stage,” Bell told SEN WA Breakfast.

“But if you’re putting together a team like West Coast are, and you are down the bottom, you need to hit your top end draft picks, you need to trade well and you also need to find a few bargains.

“I was thinking as I was watching the games on the weekend, Lawson Humphries (Pick 63, 2023) running around at Geelong and Arty Jones (Pick 43, 2021) running around at the Western Bulldogs. It’s a really difficult job, but these are two boys at the time that were in West Coast’s NGA.

“It’s hard to project as to what you’re going to get, and I get it; Lawson was playing reserves at Swan Districts and didn’t have a whole lot of interest, but he had the interest of Geelong, so he must have had something.

“I just feel like, for whatever reason, they would look good in West Coast jumpers right now, those two. Clearly talented players. Again, I want to stress, every team makes errors of judgement, but they were NGA players for West Coast.

“You can’t (pick them all), absolutely you can’t, and that’s why I say it’s a difficult game, but they’re the ones that accelerate your rebuild.

“A bit like Fremantle on the other hand, you get a Josh Treacy out of the rookie draft. They are the ones that can really accelerate it.

“They would have had a good look at both of those boys, and you’ve got to back your judgement in – they decided, 'no, not for us'.

“They would look good in a West Coast jumper.”