2020 season

2020

Photo: aflphotos.com.au

Position

7th

H&A record

12-5 (5th)

Finals

Lost EF

Captain

Luke Shuey

Coach

Adam Simpson

Best & Fairest

Nic Naitanui

Most goals

Josh Kennedy (34)

<--2019

2021-->

In a season wrecked by the worldwide coronavirus crisis, with teams basing themselves in Queensland for long stretches and games played in front of empty stadiums, West Coast ultimately disappointed, scrapping for a top-four berth throughout the year and narrowly missing out, only to be bundled out in the first week of the finals in a heartbreaking one-point elimination final loss. The Eagles were left to rue a disastrous start to their first stay on the Gold Coast, losing the first three games heavily before getting their season back on track with an extended run of home games in which they remained unbeaten. They returned to Queensland with confidence but a mounting injury list, and were unable to scrape together enough wins to earn a finals double chance.

Individually, Nic Naitanui was a standout performer, taking advantage of finally being fully fit to return to the All-Australian side and win his maiden John Worsfold Medal. He was joined in the All-Australian side by ultra-consistent defender Brad Sheppard and electrifying forward Liam Ryan, while midfielder Andrew Gaff made the extended squad and finished runner-up to Naitanui in the club champion count. West Coast also got good service from a young trio of small defenders in Liam Duggan, Tom Cole and Jackson Nelson, and blooded a number of young players including Xavier O'Neill and Bailey Williams.

Diary

Honour board

Coach: Adam Simpson (coaching panel)

Captain: Luke Shuey

Leadership group: Josh Kennedy (vc), Jeremy McGovern (vc), Jack Darling, Andrew Gaff, Nic Naitanui, Elliot Yeo

Club Champion: Nic Naitanui

Emerging Talent: Josh Rotham

Best Clubman: Brad Sheppard

Leading Goalscorer: Josh Kennedy (34)

All-Australians: Nic Naitanui, Liam Ryan, Brad Sheppard

Rising Star nominees: Nil

Milestones:200 games: Andrew Gaff (round 3), Jack Darling (round 4)
150 games: Jamie Cripps (round 3)

Squad

Offseason player movements

	Senior list								Head coach
33	Brayden Ainsworth	3	Andrew Gaff	9	Nic Naitanui	5	Brad Sheppard		Adam Simpson
12	Oscar Allen	16	Tom Hickey	30	Jackson Nelson	13	Luke Shuey		Assistants
37	Tom Barrass	25	Shannon Hurn	24	Xavier O'Neill	19	Nathan Vardy		Jaymie Graham (back)
10	Jarrod Brander	34	Mark Hutchings	21	Jack Petruccelle	18	Daniel Venables		Luke Webster (fwd)
39	Jarrod Cameron	40	Callum Jamieson*	8	Jack Redden	2	Jake Waterman		Nathan Van Berlo (mid)
28	Tom Cole	23	Lewis Jetta	44	Willie Rioli	26	Francis Watson		Adrian Hickmott (res)
15	Jamie Cripps	38	Ben Johnson*	35	Josh Rotham	32	Bailey Williams		Daniel Pratt (stopp.)
27	Jack Darling	11	Tim Kelly*	1	Liam Ryan	6	Elliot Yeo		Development
14	Liam Duggan	17	Josh Kennedy	31	Will Schofield				Gavin Bell (head)
29	Luke Foley	20	Jeremy McGovern	4	Dom Sheed				Mark Nicoski (def)
	Rookie list								Matt Rosa (mid)
41	Brendon Ah Chee	42	Harry Edwards	45	Mitch O'Neill*	43	Anthony Treacy*		Chance Bateman (fwd)
22	Hamish Brayshaw	47	Jamaine Jones*	46	Nic Reid*

Player Reviews 2020

#	Player	Games	Goals
1	Ryan	18	26
2	Waterman	10	9
3	Gaff	18	5
4	Sheed	17	8
5	Sheppard	18	2
6	Yeo	10	0
8	Redden	13	1
9	Naitanui	17	5
10	Brander	8	0
11	Kelly	18	5
12	O.Allen	15	18
13	Shuey	13	1
14	Duggan	17	0
15	Cripps	14	9
16	Hickey	3	0
17	Kennedy	17	34
20	McGovern	12	0
21	Petruccelle	6	2
22	Brayshaw	1	0
23	Jetta	6	1
24	O'Neill	5	1
25	Hurn	17	0
27	Darling	18	30
28	Cole	15	3
29	Foley	1	0
30	Nelson	15	0
31	Schofield	4	0
32	Williams	3	1
33	Ainsworth	9	3
34	Hutchings	3	0
35	Rotham	10	0
37	Barrass	18	0
39	Cameron	5	2
41	Ah Chee	16	6
42	H.Edwards	1	0
46	Reid	3	1
47	Jones	2	0

Fixture

Rd	Date	Opponent	Venue	Res	Score	Posn
	Pre-season
1	Fri 28 Feb	Essendon	Lathlain Park	L	87-95
2	Sat 7 March	Fremantle	Arena Joondalup	L	54-55
	Home & away
1	Sun 22 March	Melbourne	Perth Stadium	W	78-51	3rd
	(Season postponed)
2	Sat 13 June	Gold Coast	Carrara	L	46-90	12th
3	Sat 20 June	Brisbane	Gabba	L	44-74	15th
4	Sat 27 June	Port Adelaide	Carrara	L	41-89	16th
5	Sat 4 July	Sydney	Carrara	W	77-43	15th
6	Sat 11 July	Adelaide	Gabba	W	67-34	11th
7	Sun 19 July	Fremantle	Perth Stadium	W	62-32	8th
8	Sun 26 July	Collingwood	Perth Stadium	W	111-45	5th
9	Sat 1 August	Geelong	Perth Stadium	W	73-64	4th
10	3-7 August	Bye				6th
11	Sun 9 August	Carlton	Perth Stadium	W	72-50	4th
12	Sun 16 August	Hawthorn	Perth Stadium	W	81-49	4th
13	Sun 23 August	GWS Giants	Perth Stadium	W	61-49	4th
14	Thur 27 August	Richmond	Carrara	L	61-88	5th
15	Tue 1 September	Essendon	Gabba	W	60-45	5th
16	Sun 6 September	Western Bulldogs	Carrara	L	47-49	5th
17	Thur 10 September	St Kilda	Gabba	W	65-50	5th
18	Thur 17 September	North Melbourne	Carrara	W	49-34	5th
	Finals
EF	Sat 3 Oct	Collingwood	Perth Stadium	L	75-76

Final ladder

	Team	P	W	L	D	%	Pts
1	Port Adelaide	17	14	3	0	136.4	56
2	Brisbane	17	14	3	0	124.9	56
3	Richmond	17	12	4	1	129.9	50
4	Geelong	17	12	5	0	136.8	48
5	West Coast	17	12	5	0	117.0	48
6	St Kilda	17	10	7	0	116.2	40
7	Western Bulldogs	17	10	7	0	106.7	40
8	Collingwood	17	9	7	1	109.5	38
_	____________________	___	___	___	___	___	___
9	Melbourne	17	9	8	0	107.8	36
10	GWS Giants	17	8	9	0	95.6	32
11	Carlton	17	7	10	0	94.3	28
12	Fremantle	17	7	10	0	93.7	28
13	Essendon	17	6	10	1	79.2	26
14	Gold Coast	17	5	11	1	90.6	22
15	Hawthorn	17	5	12	0	84.1	20
16	Sydney	17	5	11	0	82.6	20
17	North Melbourne	17	3	14	0	71.2	12
18	Adelaide	17	3	14	0	64.4	12

Qualifying finals: Port Adelaide def. Geelong, Brisbane def. Richmond

Elimination finals: Collingwood def. West Coast, St Kilda def. Western Bulldogs

Semi finals: Geelong def. Collingwood; Richmond def. St Kilda

Preliminary finals: Richmond def. Port Adelaide; Geelong def. Brisbane

Jumpers

(footyjumpers.com)

Home and away

Clash

Indigenous

Club Champion leaderboard

#	Player		Votes		Games			#	Player		Votes		Games
1st	Naitanui		194		17			11th	Sheed		116		17
2nd	Gaff		192		18			12th	Shuey		112		13
3rd	Sheppard		163		18			13th	Cole		111		15
4th	Barrass		154		18			14th	Cripps		104		14
5th	Duggan		152		17			15th	McGovern		101		12
6th	Ryan		150		18			16th	Nelson		98		15
7th	Kelly		148		18			17th	Allen		96		15
8th	Darling		145		18			18th	Yeo		84		10
9th	Kennedy		131		17			19th	Redden		84		13
10th	Hurn		127		17			20th	Waterman		62		10

Stats leaders

	Goals		Disposals		Disp/game		Marks
1st	Kennedy	34 .	Gaff	437 .	Gaff	24.28 .	Sheppard	112
2nd	Darling	30	Kelly	361	Kelly	20.26	Duggan	98
3rd	Ryan	26	Sheed	336	Sheed	19.76	Barrass	94
4th	Allen	18	Sheppard	286	Yeo	19.20	Hurn	87
5th	Waterman	9	Duggan	281	Shuey	18.92	Gaff	81
6th	Cripps	9	Hurn	271	Duggan	16.53	McGovern	72
7th	Sheed	8	Shuey	246	Hurn	15.94	Kennedy	69
8th	Ah Chee	6	Redden	204	Sheppard	15.89	Ryan	66
9th	Naitanui	5	Nelson	204	Redden	15.69	Darling	64
10th	Gaff/Kelly	5	Ryan	194	Jetta	14.33	Nelson	61
	Kicks		Handballs		Clearances		Tackles
1st	Gaff	251 .	Gaff	186 .	Naitanui	96 .	Kelly	75
2nd	Duggan	211	Sheed	164	Sheed	84	Yeo	56
3rd	Kelly	208	Kelly	153	Kelly	73	Cripps	45
4th	Hurn	205	Redden	106	Shuey	63	Shuey	45
5th	Sheppard	194	Shuey	102	Yeo	61	Gaff	42
6th	Sheed	172	Sheppard	92	Gaff	41	Allen	41
7th	Nelson	150	Yeo	85	Redden	29	Naitanui	40
8th	Shuey	144	Naitanui	83	Allen	15	Sheed	40
9th	Barrass	144	Ah Chee	78	Duggan	14	Darling	35
10th	Ryan	140	Cripps	73	Cripps	13	Sheppard	34

Reserves

Due to the coronavirus pandemic that wreaked havoc on 2020, AFL-listed players were prohibited from playing in state leagues. As a result, West Coast did not field a reserves side in the WAFL. Non-selected players participated in a series of informal scratch matches against non-selected players from other clubs when games could be organised.

Tribunal record

Rd		Player		Charge		Outcome
2		McGovern		Striking A.Sexton (GC)		Tribunal upheld 1-match suspension
2		McGovern		Rough conduct against A.Sexton (GC)		Accepted $1,000 fine
4		Schofield		Headbutting Z.Butters (PA)		Accepted 1-match suspension
4		Jones		Striking J.Westhoff (PA)		Accepted $1,000 fine
5		Redden		Striking J.Kennedy (Syd)		Accepted $750 fine
7		Allen		Striking B.Acres (Fre)		Accepted $1,000 fine
8		Yeo		Striking R.Wills (Col)		Tribunal overturned 1-match suspension
8		Sheed		Striking T.Adams (Col)		Accepted $1,000 fine
11		Shuey		Tripping E.Curnow (Car)		Accepted $1,000 fine
13		Kelly		Rough conduct against A.Kennedy (GWS)		Accepted $1,000 fine
15		Naitanui		Wrestling S.Draper (Ess)		Accepted $500 fine
16		Redden		Negligent contact with umpire		Accepted $500 fine