AFLW: Daisy Pearce says West Coast Eagles’ injury run is an opportunity rather than a crisis
West Coast coach Daisy Pearce is confident the squad the Eagles will send to Sydney this week is capable of returning with four points, despite being decimated by injury.
The Eagles will travel to face Greater Western Sydney on Sunday with a squad of 22 players, but are expected to name two players from outside their list as stay-at-home emergencies.
West Coast are one of four teams that currently have less than the minimum 24 players required for selection as an injury scourge takes over the league.
But having already passed the club’s win record in her first season at the helm, Pearce believes the injury setbacks have given her young team a valuable opportunity to learn new roles.
“It’s a challenge, but it’s an opportunity too because we’re getting to see our entire list in different roles so that exposure to a big number in our list is a positive,” she said.
“Would we like full availability? Of course, but it’s just part of the nature of the game.
“Some of the injuries we’ve got have been disappointing because they’re just impact injuries, a couple of fractures and concussions which have been not ideal but there’s not a real pattern to the ones we’re having.
“So we’ve just got to keep trying to develop the players that we’ve got out there and have full confidence that the side we name later this week will be a really competitive team that can go after the Giants.”
The Eagles have had a number of players come to the club to train with the group. That includes former Eagle Krstel Petrevski and 22-year-old Swan Districts player Kayley King, who were listed as back-ups for the defeat to Brisbane at the weekend.
Pearce has led the way on calls for the league to increase list sizes amid a stacked schedule and a string of long-term injuries.
“We’ve had up to 10 train-on players be part of our program at different stages, some more consistently than others, but today we had four train-ons come in and train with us,” she said.
“It’s a good opportunity for them to continue to develop and get exposure to the AFLW environment and a good way to keep developing the talent within the state, and then should we need to call on them, we’ve got the opportunity to do that.”
“So it does help in terms of adding to training numbers so that you can get a few more drills going, and it’s something that I think a lot of clubs are having challenges with. And I’m sure everyone at AFL it will be high on their list of things they’re discussing in terms of what the right number is as well.
“If you think of the men’s list size being above 40 for an 18 v 18 game, in ours, even if you’ve got every single player available — not a single injury — you can’t play 16 v 16.
“I don’t know if that’s a good way of looking at it but that’s where my mind goes and then you add in the three or four injuries that you usually carrying at any given time, regardless of the special circumstances and condensed fixturing my view is a couple more would be handy
“And I think for the overall development of the game as well, rather than it be ad hoc opportunities for two or three more to come in another couple being involved in a program like this would be good for the overall talent development of the game.”
#AFLW #Daisy #Pearce #West #Coast #Eagles #injury #run #opportunity #crisis