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.