The West Coast Eagles are hoping to chalk up a few more wins this season as they continue to build their young squad, following a promising preseason.
Finishing in 18th with just one win last year, the Eagles are hoping to utilise their first round draft picks from the 2025 draft in No. 1 pick Willem Duursma, No. 4 Cooper Duff-Tyler and No.19 Josh Lindsay.
A long injury list continues to pain the side, with new signing from the Lions premiership team, Brandon Starcevich, recovering from a calf injury and co-captain Liam Baker still out until round 2 with a suspension.
The Eagles head over to face Gold Coast on Sunday to kick off their 2026 season.
West Coast young gun Brady Hough spoke to SportFM this morning on their preseason.
“I think we’ve taken it to the next level. A very young group still, but we’ve been very mature in the way we’ve attacked our preseason and we’ve worked so hard, especially those young boys coming in, they’ve really helped drive the standards,” he said.
“With such a young group we just need to educate and keep educating after games and throughout the preseason that’s what we’ve been doing.”
“Off-field the culture’s great. Everyone’s great mates around the club and everything’s going really well. I’m absolutely stoked to still be here and sign on to 2028 a few years ago, so I don’t want to be anywhere else and I just can’t wait to get out there with the boys.”
With an average age of 23.7 years old and 61 games played, the Eagles are the second youngest and least experienced club in the competition.
Winning is a feeling that many in the squad haven’t quite grasped at the AFL level just yet, with that factor now being a driver for West Coast’s motivation to perform in the new year.
“It’s hard as a young group. We don’t really know what that winning feeling feels like too much… what it feels like in the mind when you’re out there and you’re up by two goals and five minutes left on the clock. We just haven’t been in that position too many times and with such a young group we need to just keep exposing ourselves to that and keep learning on how to cope with it.”
“I’m pretty confident that we can get some more wins on the board and that’s the plan. We’re going over to put up a competitive show and hopefully get four points this weekend.”
The side will be hoping to see some experience added back into the side at the beginning of the season with Tim Kelly and Elliot Yeo fit to play, after Yeo missed the entirety of last year due to a knee and ankle injury suffered in the 2025 preseason.
“I think TK’s had one of the best preseasons I’ve seen him have since I got to the club. I think he’s ready to go, get back to his best form and really break out again.”
“Yeoy’s just such a tough inside player… he leads the way in there and gets the ball going our way. So to have someone that tough in there and TK’s class, it will really help if we can get them out on the field.”
The Eagles-Suns clash kicks off on Sunday at 3:10pm AWST.
IMAGE: West Coast Eagles