Simpson hopes BIG tasks will fast-track young Eagles

West Coast coach Adam Simpson will continue to throw significant challenges at his younger players in an attempt to fast-track their development after the injury hit Eagles lost to Melbourne by 63 points at Optus Stadium.

The Eagles entered the game against the 2021 premiers with eight players who are yet to play 20 games, including draftees Reuben Ginbey, Elijah Hewett and Noah Long, plus 2022 mid-season draft pick Jai Culley.

Ginbey and Culley attended the bulk of centre bounces against a star studded midfield led by Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver as Melbourne won 19.11 (126) to 9.9 (63).

Simpson hoped playing against the best players in the AFL would fast track their development.

“I hope so. What’s today worth? Four or five WAFL games. Reuben is learning a lot on the fly at the moment,” he said.

“He’s had a pretty steep learning curve. The last couple of centre bounces we had kids in the middle – 18 year olds – against some class.

“We don’t want to break them. We’ve got to keep an eye on that. It’s great having someone like Tim Kelly around. When Dom’s around and Luke’s around it really compliments what we’re trying to chase.

“When they’re on their own, there’s going to be some challenges.

“They’re not going to be linear growth. There are going to be ups and downs with the kids. They’ve had one pre-season. We’ve got to be a little bit patient.”

Petracca and Oliver dominated at the feet of All-Australian ruckman Brodie Grundy. The Eagles were missing a host of stars such as Nic Naitanui, Luke Shiey, Jeremy McGovern, Dom Sheed, Jamie Cripps and Liam Ryan, while Elliot Yeo was managed in his return from injury.

Simpson praised ruckman Bailey Williams for overcoming an injury scare to his knee during the week. He was hopeful Alex Witherden and Harry Edwards would be available to face Geelong but other players were unlikely.

West Coast stayed in the game for long periods before being over run but Simpson said there was no point comparing how the team played in this loss to big defeats in previous years.

“We feel like we’re different,” he said.

“We feel like we’re transitioning everything we’re doing. We’ve got a platform that we’ve set at the club which is not a short term fix. We are in for the long haul.

“We’ll get some wins. We’ll get some small wins and we’ll get some losses but we’re going to keep moving forward.”