Danielle Laidley: West Coast must consider Oscar Allen, Jake Waterman on trade table if serious about rebuild

West Coast need to be strong and bold in their decisions to build the next premiership list — and this may mean having to entertain putting one of their star forwards in Oscar Allen or Jake Waterman on the trade table. With a new senior coach to be appointed in the six weeks or so at the Eagles, my thoughts turned to the trading and draft seasons just around the corner. With the list demographic being young and a large part of the list at the back end of their own careers, how will West Coast build a list to contend in five years? I’m sure a lot of time and effort been put into the long-term strategy to make every minute and every decision count moving forward. It will certainly be built around the talent of Harley Reid, Reuben Ginbey, Jack Williams, Harry Edwards, Elijah Hewett, Brady Hough, Ryan Maric perhaps Jai Culley, Tyrell Dewar and other young players starting to build their career — from what I have seen this year there is certainly a baseline to work from. But one thing is for certain — the Eagles will need to make tough calls during this process. With Andrew Gaff set to retire at the end of the year, the Eagles may also have to look at Dom Sheed and Jack Darling moving on, although contracts may have a bearing in these decisions. Tom Barrass, 28, has great currency and it would be a win/win for them to part ways — this is a veteran who still has value.. With West Coast’s up and coming young forwards developing well, would they trade Allen or, dare I say it, Waterman? It would have to be a monstrous deal for Jake, but I would certainly entertain Oscar at the trade table. And what about experienced guns Tim Kelly, Liam Duggan and Elliot Yeo? This is not being personal toward these men, but everyone and everything needs to be looked at if they are serious about this rebuild. Let’s compare the Eagles to the Western Bulldogs at the end of 2011, a team that I believe were in a very similar position as West Coast are now. We saw retired Barry Hall, Mitch Hahn and Ben Hudson move on, all great players and club servants. In this instance, we could similarly see Gaff, Sheed and Darling all call time. The Bulldogs’ first pick in 2011 was Clay Smith, who is now a premiership player. In 2012, they traded Brian Lake to Hawthorn and acquired six draft picks under 50, which saw the likes of Jake Stringer, Jack Macrae, Lachie Hunter (father-son) and elevated rookie Jason Johannisen bought into the club, all becoming premiership players in 2016. If Eagles make the call on Barrass, they too could acquire early picks while the defender, like Lake, could go on to win a Norm Smith and be a dual premiership player at another club. The following year in 2013 Marcus Bontempelli was the Bulldogs’ first pick. West Coast must nail these picks coming in the near future. There is every opportunity to pick a young gun midfielder in this year’s draft like Sid Draper, Tom Gross, Kade Herbert or Sam Lalor, to slot into an area of the team that needs bolstering. The big moves kept coming for the Bulldogs in 2014 — restricted agent Shaun Higgins left, while Adam Cooney and Liam Jones were traded. Captain Ryan Griffen was traded to Greater Western Sydney for Tom Boyd, who was instrumental on grand final day two years later. If the Bulldogs can trade a Brownlow Medallist in Cooney, surely Allen, Waterman, Yeo, Kelly or Duggan have value in re-generating the list. The same year, the Dogs picked up draftees Toby McLean, Caleb Daniel and Zaine Cordy — premiership player, premiership player and premiership player. In 2015, they nailed their first pick selecting Josh Dunkley with pick 25, who also is now, you guessed it, a premiership player. From 2011 to 2015, the Bulldogs bought in half of the 2016 premiership team, adding on the base squad already in the organisation. As mentioned, West Coast have more than enough of a talent base. There is no one way to build a successful premiership list, it’s going to interesting which path the club will take. Chief executive Don Pyke, footy manager Gavin Bell and the decision makers have a lot invested moving forward in the rebirth of a club that has been hugely successful in it’s short history.