We’ve gotta put this out there before we get started – there is no bigger club in the AFL than the West Coast Eagles.
Collingwood can claim whatever they like, but they share a state with eight others. The Eagles dominate WA coverage.
In the midst of the lowest point in this proud club’s history, they are still the biggest story in Western Australia, and occupy the number one position when it comes to discussion on TV, Radio, online, and in newspapers. They are the big birds of the league, but their wings have been clipped in recent seasons, and now, they’re finally compiling a list that can work their way out of the doldrums.
The club won just one game in 2025 – unthinkable just a handful of years ago. They lost veteran leadership to retirement and injury, and have pieced together a team that has not been comprised of AFL level talent on several occasions.
And that has hurt. It has hurt the club, the players, and especially the supporter-base.
They’re not used to this, you see? The scarier part for them is, they’re starting to get used to it, and they are desperate to turn it around.
Is 2026 the year the Eagles start to climb again?
We’re steaming toward a new season, and as we do, it is time to turn our attention away from the past season, and look at the possibilities of the new one.
The players have been on the track for a while now – the Christmas break is over, and as we work through January, the charge into the new season ramps right up.
This is where premierships are won and lost. This is where improvements are made and lists come together. This is where the kids show if they’re serious or not, and young projects become the next group of stars. New faces, new colours, old heads with renewed passion… so much feeds into the making of a contender. And as the days tick down toward the intra-club clashes, practice games, and eventually the real stuff, questions are raised about each team and how they’re going to perform in this new season.
And that’s where HB and The Mongrel come in.
We don’t do things by halves here, at The Mongrel Punt. When we do a season preview, we go all in to make sure it is the best, most comprehensive coverage you’ll receive. We pride ourselves on it. If you want to read one season preview for your team, or any team, this series will provide what you’re after.
The way it works is as follows.
Each club has a minimum of 15 questions asked about the upcoming season, their coaches, their players, and their expectations. The answers are not glossed over. We dive deep on each and every one of them – some singular answers would normally be long enough for an entire column. The first five questions/answers are free for you to consume. The next 10-14 for each club are for our members, including a special appearance from Mrs Mongrel to throw her two cents in the mix.
Isn’t it a bit early for a season preview? Well, I suppose, but do you know how long it takes to write seven-to-nine thousand words? That’s 18 x 8,000… gets out the calculator… that’s 144,000 words. The average novel is about 85,000 words, so buckle the hell up with these previews; HB goes deeper than anyone else covering the game..
Also, if there are any issues that arise after the publication of the preview for any team, they will be covered in standalone articles to act as additions to this preview.
You will not read a more comprehensive season preview than this – I guarantee it. This is where we start the run to the new season, and believe me – nobody does it better than The Mongrel.
It’s the West Coast Eagles Season Preview – let’s go!
1 – CAN YOU RUN US THROUGH THE RISK VERSUS REWARD OF THE BRANDON STARCEVICH ACQUISITION?
With pleasure.
There is a misconception amongst some supporters that the Eagles are taking a massive risk in signing Brandon Starcevich, given his concussion history and the risk that one more head knock could spell the end for him. Their fear is that three or four games into his West Coast tenure, he cops a knock to the head, and he is done.
In that regard, it’s fair. They are concerned that their player – the investment the club made – will be a bust, and they’ll be stuck paying the contract of a player who cannot perform. I understand.
After all, there were many writing his footy eulogies on Grand Final day, thinking that game may have been the end of the road for him, remember?
Obviously, that wasn’t the case, and Starcevich was cleared of any issues, which was a huge relief. For him and his family, actually – I am a little less concerned about supporters when we’re discussing a player’s long-term health.
Anyway, as expected, the Eagles brought him onboard, and he’ll become a pillar of the 2026 (and beyond) defensive structure. But that question lingers – what if he does get hurt?
Okay… I’ll walk you through what it means.
Here are how things work in the event that Starcevich is forced to step away from the game.
- In the first year after retirement: up to 90 % of the payments may be exempted from the cap. So, even if he does get hurt in 2026, the cap relief in 2027 would be up to 90% of what West Coast are paying him.
- In the second year: up to 75 % relief.
- In the third year: up to 50 % relief.
So, even in the worst case scenario, where Starcevich cops another serious knock and is forced to hang them up, West Coast would be left paying a maximum of 50% of his contract out of the cap in the final season of his deal.
All of a sudden, things don’t seem as bad, do they?
The risk that the Eagles will be left in the lurch is minimal, and is far less damaging than some have painted it.
Fear over facts, you see?
So, now that all that is out of the way, let’s have a look at what he can bring, and will bring, to an Eagles back six that leaked like a strainer in 2025.
Starcevich is perfect to play on the enigmatic small-to-mid-size players in the league. His handling of Tom Papley in their encounters has been masterful, and any team with a firecracker small forward is likely to find their day a little more difficult with him on them. He retains speed at the contest, and is an old-school defender, inasmuch as he refuses to allow his matchup to turn him around and get out the back of the play. This is vital when your job is to close down those sneaky little buggers who love the idea of running into open goals.
That said, we must be realistic.
Starcevich is coming off a tenure at Brisbane where he has been playing with a generational key defender, in Harris Andrews. And whilst the Eagles have had their share of generational defenders over the years, the retirement of Jeremy McGovern, thanks again to concussion, leaves their defence somewhat flimsy.
Does Starcevich get the same leeway at West Coast as he did at Brisbane?
It’s doubtful, but you have to start somewhere, and filling positions with high-quality recruits is a process that takes time. The quartet of Reuben Ginbey, Harry Edwards, Tylar Young, and Sandy Brock are not going to strike fear into the hearts of many AFL forwards, which likely means Starcevich will be asked to do more than he was required to at Brisbane. It’s times like that when his direct opponent can get off the chain.
Will he make this defence better?
Absolutely, he will.
Is he the answer to what ails them?
No. No one player ever is. The Eagles are building a defence, and Starcevich will be an important component of it. They have to continue to build on the areas they’ve not covered off, and allow players like Starcevich to do the heavy-lifting along the way, while players like Edwards, Bo Allan, and Sandy Brock becom the players the Eagles need them to be.
He knew what he was getting into when he signed with the club, and he understands this is a long-term process. The best news is that he is right up for the challenge… and that type of stuff, coming from a premiership player, is a standard that others will be forced to follow.
2 – HOW MUCH OF A DIFFERENCE DO WE EXPECT IN HARLEY REID THIS SEASON?
I’m not sure what you expect in terms of his onfield aggression and overall attitude, but I expect a huge leap in his output this season when it comes to impact, and for very good reason.
We’re not an official site, and as such, we can state the obvious without the league admonishing us. Harley was overweight to start last season. That much was apparent to everyone. An interrupted pre-season meant that he couldn’t shed those off-season calories as easily as he should have. It impaired him for most of the year, and left him huffing and puffing when it came to chasing his opponent. We saw vision of him jogging through the middle, with his opponent sprinting past. It was a terrible look.
I am not going to say he wasn’t trying. He was – he was just completely stuffed!
It was a poor season for one so talented, and as a result, his frustration grew.
But reports in 2026 are much more positive. Reid has learnt the lessons of 2025 and used them to channel both his desire and aggression. This pre-season, he has been doing all the work, all the running, and all the sessions. This season, he looks ready to become the player many thought he would be last year.
Only this year, he is a bit older, and a bit stronger – and I hope he has kept receipts. That makes for a lethal combination.
We only have to remember back to the way he was manhandling players many years his senior as he crashed and bashed his way though his rookie AFL season. You would have had to be blind not to see that this kid was worth every little scrap of praise the experts had levelled at him.
However, in 2025, he gave the experts-cum-critics ammunition to start using the word “overrated” to describe him. There were times when he appeared more interested in push and shoves than impacting the game, and that resulted in Harley being the most punished player on the park for the season.
Matt Rowell may have ended up with one more free kick paid against him for the season, but Reid managed 60 in six fewer games than the Brownlow Medallist. Rowell was fighting to win the footy. Harley was just… fighting.
There is a balance that needs to be struck for Reid – controlled and channelled aggression will see him quickly established as one of the more powerful mids in the game, but unlike those other bulls, he has attributes other contested ball-winners don’t have. His burst speed is phenomenal, and his ability to finish on the run makes him a complete midfielder…
… when he is on.
The problem in 2025 was that Harley wasn’t “on” anywhere near enough, and it genuinely hurt his team.
His re-signing was a brilliant result (and his mocking of Jason Horne-Francis was one of my personal favourite moments of the year), but this year, Harley needs to add some steak to his sizzle. This year, he needs to become the hunter again – not the hunted.
Last season’s stagnation is now behind him. As stated, he is doing the work, and I expect his numbers to reflect it in 2026. It may be overly optimistic, but an in-form, and fit, Harley Reid is worth a couple of wins to West Coast. I know… I know… it is a team game and one player cannot be the difference between winning and losing. However, when he makes others around him better, the trickle-down effect he can have on this Eagles team is huge.
22 disposals, six clearances, and five inside 50s per game.
They’re your numbers for 2026.
If Harley Reid is hitting those markers, West Coast are a better team. Some may not like it (likely not West Coast fans) but this is already HIS team. He has everything a player needs to drag West Coast back to prominence, but I get the feeling it’ll have to start in 2026. That, or a certain young man with the footy world at his feet may start to entertain the thought of dragging another team to prominence, instead.
3 – WHO BENEFITS MOST FROM THE LIAM RYAN DEPARTURE?
You often hear about competition for spots in a team, and how the competitive juices get flowing.
This is now what should be happening amongst the small forwards at West Coast. Opportunity is knocking – time to open the door and let it in!
Ryan was the perennial small forward with an asterisk, given he played taller than he was. However, his departure has left a vacuum that needs to be filled, and the contenders are lining up to do just that.
Let’s have a look at what they bring.
MATT OWIES
We’re amongst friends, here. Let’s call it as we see it – he had a crap 2025. Based on what he was able to achieve at Carlton in 2024, Owies was far below expectations.
We should not throw the baby out with the bathwater, though, as I am a believer that some players simply take time to adjust at a new club and in a new system. Also, it was not as though Owies had a predictable set up to feed off. Ocar Allen was out. Jake Waterman was out. So, immediately, you have the aerial contests they would have provided out the window and the small forwards were left to fend for themselves.
That said, his return of seven goals from 16 games… that’s unacceptable. It was -1.0 goal per game on 2024, and -1.1 on 2023. He didn’t just go backwards, it was like he hit a wall of force and bounced back off it. 12 months later, there are no excuses.
TYLER BROCKMAN
No first-year blues to blame with this fella – he just didn’t deliver.
I liked what I saw of Brockman at Hawthorn, and he appeared to be rounding into the type of small forward that would complement the Eagles’ system. But along the way, something has stalled.
Well, not something. Brockman has stalled. Yes, that’s accurate.
14 goals in 20 games last season – I don’t think there was a more disappointing small forward pairing than Brockman and Owies. He needs a massive lift.
MALAKAI CHAMPION
Great name, but he is yet to really get a run at it. Looks to be tiny and easily pushed off the footy, but there have been some great small forwards that have looked that way. Not everyone can be Mick Conlan.
After two games in 2025, we should get a better look at him this season.
NOAH LONG
I like what I’ve seen, here, but he hasn’t really had much scoreboard impact. Had that PCL injury in 2024 that slowed him down, but his ten games in 2025 resulted in just four goals. Needs to make a statement this year.
So, what do you see with this group? Anyone that leaps off the page at you?
For me, Owies may not be Mr Right, but he could be Mr Right-Now for the club. Anything even approaching his 2024 Carlton form would be a godsend for the Eagles, as they find ways to hit the scoreboard.
That said, he, like so many little blokes, is reliant on having the key forwards drawing the attention. For the Eagles, that is now on Waterman, and the bloke in the next section to provide.
As it stands, I start with Owies and one of Brockman or Long, with Champion refining his craft for a while. He has the carrot dangling for him – nobody really owns a small forward spot on this team. It’s up for grabs. Whoever wants it most… I guess we’ll see by the halfway point of the season.
4 – WHAT DOES A FIT JAKE WATERMAN MEAN TO THIS CLUB?
It gives them direction, a target inside 50 that acts like a beacon for midfielders, and a solid starting point for the smalls to feed off.
He can also provide upwards of 50 goals when used correctly.
It’s amazing to think that a few years back, Waterman’s career hung by a thread. Suffering from Ulcerative Colitis (not to make light of it, but it sounds like a nasty Harry Potter spell) Waterman was hospitalised and it saw him lose 12 kilograms. Think of it as gastro that just does not stop.
Yeah… not great.
He rebounded in the best possible way in 2024, snagging a career-high 53 goals and, in the process, making his running mate, Oscar Allen, seem expendable.
More on that below.
Waterman’s presence inside 50 is huge for the Eagles, who were forced to rely on largely untested key position players in 2025. Jamie Cripps won the goal kicking with just 24, giving a great indication just how devoid the team was for potency. Liam Ryan was behind him with 21, and then Waterman with 17 from eight games.
Key position results outside Waterman?
Jack Williams had 16 goals in 13 outings.
This must change in 2026 and Waterman must re-establish the pecking order..
Without Waterman commanding the footy, the inside 50 deliveries were basically turnovers waiting to happen. Too much was left to too few, and the Eagles often saw an intercept mark, or a big spoil fall to the retreating defenders to whisk away without much of a fight.
Having Waterman as the focal point of the offence permits Andrew McQualter’s forward setup to work as intended.
Waterman contests – you don’t often see him give up on a play. He chases, is not afraid to throw his weight around, and strikes me as a player who knows what it is like to have something you love almost lost to you. I want to see him play in 2026 like someone making up for lost time.
He was there for day one of pre-season, and despite a small hamstring injury, returned before Christmas to be back in full training.
The Eagles are in a situation where they need every ounce of firepower available. Waterman is the biggest weapon they have and the most important part of their forward set up. As the midfield gains more experience and starts to become more composed when kicking inside 50, having him leading out of the goal square makes things predictable for his teammates. Not so much the opposition defenders, as teammates should be very familiar with his leading lanes, etc…
Of all the factors in the upcoming West Coast season, having Harley Reid fit and firing, and keeping Jake Waterman on the park would be 1, and 1A. In which order you rank them probably depends on whether you’re looking at this season, or the next few.
Waterman makes West Coast a different team. If he stays on the park, there is no one-win season. Mark it down.
5 – WILL OSCAR ALLEN BE MISSED?
No.
You can’t miss something that wasn’t really there, anyway.
People have had fun whacking Oscar Allen, but those in the know are all aware that the club were simply not all that eager to keep him. He did the “I’d like to stay…” stuff, and usually, it is a form of performative art, but in this case, there was some merit to it.
The Eagles knew the compensation they’d receive as a result of his departure would be worth more to them than a perpetually injured forward with a degenerative knee. As such, they didn’t exactly move heaven and earth to persuade Allen to stay.
Was he pushed? Hmmmm… a little. Put it this way; he wasn’t begged to stay.
They call it the football business, not the football friendship, after all.
Oscar took his deal at Brisbane, West Coast grabbed Cooper Duff-Tytler with Pick Four as compensation in the Draft, and everyone was pretty happy with how it turned out.
But was it the ‘right’ move?
That’s the thing, really, isn’t it? What is your version of right and wrong?
From where I sit, I can understand both sides. On the West Coast side, you had a captain who was coming out of contract. You were reluctant to pour money into a deal for a player that had managed 23 games over two seasons, and had kicked 50+ goals just once. This was compounded with the emergence of Jake Waterman as a legitimate number one forward.
As for Allen’s side, he had to have known the writing was on the wall for him, early on. The meeting with Sam Mitchell saw him smashed in the media (whereas it probably should have been Mitchell being smashed… I’m not a fan of courting under-contract captains, personally). However, he was looking to set up a new home after concluding his residency at Lathlain, and to wait until the season was over is pretty unrealistic.
Anyway, it didn’t help that West Coast were struggling greatly, and was portrayed by some as vacating a sinking ship. Really, it was just his turn to jump into a lifeboat… leaving his co-captian to go down with the ship, I suppose.
I suppose if anything is missed, it is what could have been. Allen was a star on the rise at one point. Amongst the Mongrel Team, there were constant arguments as to who of Allen and Aaron Naughton were the better player. It went on and on…
Imagine a world where Allen didn’t have a bung knee, and was able to build on his 2023 season? I reckon that’s what will be missed – the possibility. The potential. In a way, it is like unrequited love – you just never know how good it could have been.
But it could have been bad too, right?
Will Allen become a star at Brisbane? Will his knee hold up? Or will he become a part in the engine of a premiership team that is already running at its optimum?
By the mid-way mark of the 2026 season, we’ll have our answers, but in terms of being missed, West Coast fans are probably lamenting what could have been much more than what was.
Outside of that, no – there’ll not be too much missed, at all.
The remainder of this article, and the next 14 questions are for our members. They support me, and I provide for them. It’s a good deal.
Oh… a Mongrel paywall… the worst of all paywalls. We’re on the march to the 2026 AFL season and it all begins here. The Mongrel’s Big Questions Season Previews are THE best inthe business. If you know, you know… if not, maybe it’s time to find out. Pre-Season, Practice Games… we’re all in. Dump the mainstream lip service and dive into articles like this – you will never look back. If you don’t want to, that’s fine. You’re welcome to re-read the first five questions again, but if you do… there is a heap more below.
