West Coast’s 2023 woes have now extended to their reserves side, with the Eagles belted by a whopping 169 points in the WAFL on Saturday.
And to make a disastrous day even worse, footage of prized draftee Elijah Hewett going down clutching his ankle in the opening seconds has emerged in more worrying signs for coach Adam Simpson.
Already missing a host of starters including captain Luke Shuey, Jeremy McGovern, Jamie Cripps, Tom Cole, Liam Ryan, Dom Sheed and Nic Naitanui, West Coast opted to send Hewett back to WAFL level to build his match fitness.
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But the first round draftee from 2022 failed to collect a disposal against West Perth as he went down early in the first term and took no further part in the match.
Alarmingly, Hewett’s injury comes after Isiah Winder was withdrawn from the clash with the Falcons due to a knee injury.
“He reported soreness in his left knee post training on Thursday and the club will continue to investigate the issue and the club will have more clarity early next week,” the Eagles had said in a statement.
The Eagles were off from the outset as they failed to record in a single point in Saturday’s opening term against West Perth in Joondalup, north of Perth.
West Coast’s reserves had already conceded more than 100 points to half time in an absolute WAFL bloodbath.
West Perth kicked 17.5 in the opening and could have pushed the margin closer to the 200 mark had they kicked straighter in the third term.
The Falcons finished big winners, 34.13 (217) to 7.6 (48) against an Eagles side featuring the likes of former Bomber Alec Waterman, former Eagle and current West Coast WAFL skipper Jackson Nelson, and current Eagles Zane Trew, Rhett Bazzo, Harry Barnett, Tyrell Dewar and Coby Burgiel.
By full-time, their 217 became the third highest total recorded in the WAFL in the 21st century, behind Claremont’s 240 against Peel Thunder in 2010 and South Fremantle’s 223 against East Fremantle in 2006.
It’s a second straight loss to start the season for West Coast in the WAFL, after a Round 1 defeat to South Fremantle in a match that featured the likes of Jack Petruccelle and Xavier O’Neill before they were called into the Eagles’ Gather Round squad to face Geelong.
For West Perth, Tyler Keitel – who has trained previously with Fremantle hoping to win a spot on an AFL list – kicked 10.4 in a dominant display.
His teammate Mitchell Dobson slotted 8.1 while former Eagle Zac Langdon kicked 2.2 from his 15 disposals.
Former Eagle Aaron Black – who played just the one game for the club when West Coast was forced to turn to Covid top-up players against North Melbourne last year – racked up 25 touches and two goals.
Entry to watch Saturday’s annihilation was also free for Eagles members.
