The West Coast Eagles are an Australian rules football team based in Perth, Western Australia. Their 2020 season was their 34th season in the Australian Football League (AFL), their seventh season under premiership coach Adam Simpson, and the first season with Luke Shuey as captain. The West Coast Eagles finished the season with 12 wins and 5 losses, placing them fifth on the ladder, qualifying for the 2020 AFL finals series, in which they were eliminated in the first round by eighth-placed . The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on their season, with the team forced to hub in Queensland for much of the season due to restrictions on travelling to Western Australia from other states.
Nic Naitanui was West Coast's best and fairest player, winning the John Worsfold Medal. Previously his highest place for the medal was fifth, in 2010. Josh Kennedy, who kicked 34 goals was the club's leading goal-scorer for the seventh time in his career. Naitanui, Liam Ryan and Brad Sheppard were selected for the 2020 All-Australian team.
2020 was the first year for West Coast in the AFL Women's competition, in which they finished seventh. In addition, West Coast withdrew from the West Australian Football League competition in 2020 due to COVID-19 after fielding a team for the first time in 2019.
Background
The West Coast Eagles are an Australian rules football team based in Perth, Western Australia, that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). They ended the 2019 home-and-away season fifth on the ladder after spending the majority of the season in the top four. Their season ended after being beaten by in the semi-finals.
In December 2019, Luke Shuey was named captain of the West Coast Eagles, after Shannon Hurn stepped down from the role. Josh Kennedy remained one of the vice-captains, joined by Jeremy McGovern, who replaced Luke Shuey. Jack Darling, Andrew Gaff, Nic Naitanui and Elliot Yeo rounded out the leadership group.
Adam Simpson was head coach for a seventh season. Some of the assistant coaches changed roles; Jaymie Graham swapped from the forward line to the backline, Luke Webster swapped from the WAFL coach to the forwards coach, and Daniel Pratt swapped from backs to stoppages coach. Nathan van Berlo retained his position as midfield coach. The development coaches were Gavin Bell (head of development), Chance Bateman (forwards), Matt Rosa (midfield) and Mark Nicoski (backs).
In February 2020, as part of West Coast's overall rebrand over the past few years, they released a new version of their club song. The song, which contains a didgeridoo and clapstick intro was written, composed and produced by Ian Berney, and sung by Ian Kenny, both from Perth band Birds of Tokyo.
West Coast's major sponsors for 2020 were fast food outlet Hungry Jack's and online mortgage broker Lendi. The club had 100,776 members in 2020, an 11.4% increase on 2019 membership numbers, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. The membership was the highest in the AFL, the first time this happened to a club outside of Victoria.
Playing list
2019 off-season changes
At the end of their 2019 season, West Coast delisted premiership eagle Chris Masten, Fraser McInnes, Kurt Mutimer and Matthew Allen. In addition, Brodie Riach, Patrick Bines, Keegan Brooksby and Josh Smith from the rookie list were delisted. Brendon Ah Chee and Hamish Brayshaw were also delisted from the primary list, with the Eagles citing it as preparation for the draft. Ah Chee and Brayshaw were later drafted in the 2020 rookie draft.
West Coast's only trade in the 2019 trade period involved receiving Tim Kelly and a 2020 third round pick from Geelong, and pick 52 from Essendon, in exchange for picks 14, 24 and a 2020 first round pick going to Geelong, pick 33 going to Essendon, and Essendon and Geelong exchanging pick 37 and 57. The trade came after Kelly was overlooked by West Coast as a draft pick for five years, instead being drafted by Geelong, where he played the 2018 and 2019 seasons. The trade occurred due to Kelly's desire to return to Western Australia, having previously wanted to trade in the 2018 trade period. Kelly signed a six-year deal with West Coast, worth approximately $5 million.
In the 2019 national draft, Callum Jamieson (pick 49) and Ben Johnson (pick 58) were drafted, both of whom are from Western Australia. Francis Watson was elevated from the rookie list, signing on for another year. Anthony Treacy (pick 11), Mitch O'Neill (pick 25), Brendon Ah Chee (pick 33) and Hamish Brayshaw (pick 39) were drafted in the 2020 rookie draft. Nic Reid and Jamaine Jones were added to the rookie list in the supplementary selection period. Jamaine Jones previously played for Geelong in 2018 and 2019, but was delisted at the end of that year.
+ Removals from playing list Player Reason Games played Delisted 215 Delisted 14 Delisted 0 Delisted 0 Delisted 4 Delisted 0 Delisted 14 (0 at West Coast) Delisted 34 (2 at West Coast) Delisted 0 Delisted 36 (9 at West Coast)
+ Additions to playing list Player Acquired Former club Former league Traded from AFL 49, 2019 national draft Claremont WAFL 58, 2019 national draft West Perth WAFL Rookie elevation AFL 11, 2020 rookie draft Claremont WAFL 25, 2020 rookie draft Tasmanian Devils NAB League 33, 2020 rookie draft AFL 39, 2020 rookie draft AFL Supplementary selection period WAFL Supplementary selection period AFL
Statistics West Coast used 37 players from the 45 on its playing list, six of which were debutants. They were Harry Edwards (round 9), Nic Reid (round 12), Xavier O'Neill (round 13), Bailey Williams (round 14), Hamish Brayshaw (round 17) and Luke Foley (round 18). Tim Kelly (round 1) and Jamaine Jones (round 4) also played their first games for West Coast, after having previously played for Geelong. Six players played every match of the season. They were Tom Barrass, Jack Darling, Andrew Gaff, Tim Kelly, Liam Ryan and Brad Sheppard.
In February 2020, Daniel Venables was ruled out for the entire 2020 season due to concussion as a result of a head knock he suffered in round nine of 2019. Willie Rioli also did not play at all during the 2020 season, having been provisionally suspended for the entire season due to allegedly tampering with two urine tests in August and September 2019. He was eventually sentenced in March 2021 to a two year backdated suspension, starting in August 2019.
+ Playing list and statisticsPlayerGamesGoalsBehindsKicksHandballsDisposalsMarksTacklesNotes/Milestone(s) 1 18 26 16 140 54 194 66 32 2 10 9 2 78 25 103 51 8 3 18 5 4 251 186 437 81 42 200th AFL game (round 3) 4 17 8 3 172 164 336 55 40 5 18 2 0 194 92 286 112 34 6 10 0 1 107 85 192 22 56 8 13 1 1 98 106 204 44 31 9 17 5 4 109 83 192 13 40 10 8 0 1 67 22 89 36 12 11 18 5 4 208 153 361 46 75 West Coast debut (round 1) 12 15 18 8 86 46 132 44 41 13 13 1 1 144 102 246 33 45 14 17 0 2 211 70 281 98 31 15 14 9 7 94 73 167 36 45 16 3 0 0 6 10 16 5 3 17 17 34 22 96 23 119 69 16 250th AFL game (round 7) 18 0 Long-term injury (concussion) 19 0 20 12 0 0 114 43 157 72 14 21 6 2 5 22 20 42 9 7 22 1 0 1 3 2 5 1 1 Rookie, AFL debut (round 17) 23 6 1 2 62 24 86 22 16 200th AFL game (round 4) 24 5 1 1 25 24 49 9 9 AFL debut (round 13) 25 17 0 0 205 66 271 87 26 26 0 27 18 30 12 112 57 169 64 35 200th AFL game (round 4) 28 15 3 0 95 62 157 48 30 29 1 0 0 3 0 3 2 1 AFL debut (round 18) 30 15 0 0 150 54 204 61 31 31 4 0 0 12 10 22 3 8 32 3 1 1 10 11 21 5 5 AFL debut (round 14) 33 9 3 1 44 33 77 26 12 34 3 0 0 15 9 24 5 4 35 10 0 0 90 17 107 52 13 37 18 0 0 144 37 181 94 4 38 0 39 5 2 1 16 8 24 5 11 40 0 41 16 6 5 77 78 155 36 26 Rookie 42 1 0 0 2 1 3 0 0 Rookie, AFL debut (round 9) 43 0 Rookie 44 0 Did not play due to ASADA investigation 45 0 Rookie 46 3 1 1 8 13 21 1 8 Rookie, AFL debut (round 12) 47 2 0 1 13 8 21 5 8 Rookie, West Coast debut (round 4)
Season summary The original fixture for the 2020 season was revealed by the AFL in October 2019. West Coast would have played 22 matches, facing , , , and twice, and all other teams once. As part of their pre-season, West Coast faced and Fremantle in the Marsh Community Series, ending up beaten by both teams. The match against Essendon was originally scheduled for 28 February, but it was rescheduled to the day prior so that it did not occur at the same time as the State of Origin for Bushfire Relief Match.
West Coast played their first game of the regular season on 22 March against at Optus Stadium. Melbourne were soundly beaten by 27 points in that match, which was Tim Kelly's first game for the Eagles. The match was played with no spectators present, and occurred just hours after AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan announced that the 2020 AFL season would be suspended until at least the start of June, due to restrictions on interstate travel caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Eagles' round 1 match would be the last AFL match to be played for over two months.
On 25 May, the AFL revealed the revised fixtures for rounds 2 to 5. West Coast were to go into a hub on the Gold Coast for at least four weeks, completing matches only in Queensland for that time. On 8 June, the West Coast team arrived at the Royal Pines Resort on the Gold Coast. Their first match after the AFL season continuing was against at Metricon Stadium, on 13 June. The Suns thrashed the Eagles by 44 points in an upset, giving the 2019 wooden spooners their first win in 426 days. In round 3, West Coast played the at the Gabba, in which the Lions beat West Coast by 30 points. That was West Coast's first match with crowds attending, with 1,965 spectators at the game. West Coast then played , the eventual minor premiers at Metricon Stadium, in which the Eagles were beaten 13.11 (89) to 6.5 (41). That game making it three losses in a row for the Eagles, continuing their horror run in the Queensland hub and placing them 16th on the AFL ladder. Jamaine Jones made his West Coast debut that game, and Will Schofield was suspended for one match after headbutting Zak Butters.
West Coast were scheduled to play on round 5, but due to Queensland's latest quarantine requirements, West Coast would have had to quarantine for 14 days following a match against a Victorian side. This resulted in the Eagles playing instead, at Metricon Stadium. West Coast got their first win in the Queensland hub against Sydney, beating them by 30 points. Tom Barrass took a mark of the year contender, and Luke Shuey injured his hamstring, causing him to miss two games. The following round, West Coast beat the winless by 33 points at the Gabba, in their last game in Queensland before heading home for 7 weeks. During the week prior, Crows ruckman Reilly O'Brien accidentally tweeted that Nic Naitanui was "lazy and unfit", among other notes about the Eagles ruckman. This incident gained notoriety in the days surrounding the round 6 match.
West Coast's first game at Optus Stadium since round 1 was a Western Derby against . The Eagles won 9.8 (62) to 5.2 (32), giving them the longest ever Western Derby winning streak, with 10 wins in a row against Fremantle. Josh Kennedy on his 250th AFL game won the Glendinning–Allan Medal. The game had the largest crowd of any Australian sporting event since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. In round 8, West Coast beat by 66 points. West Coast's 18.3 (111) was the largest score of the season at the time, against Collingwood's 6.9 (45). Josh Kennedy kicked 7 goals in the match. The next round, West Coast beat by 9 points, putting West Coast fourth on the ladder. The Eagles were behind by 21 points during the 3rd quarter, but were able to make a comeback. Josh Kennedy kicked 4 goals, putting him first in the Coleman Medal race. In round 10, West Coast had a bye.