AFL

Finals Secondary To Development

Monday 25th January 2010

Author: LMSC & Frizz Ferguson

Photographer:

West Coast Eagles assistant coach Peter Sumich has claimed the club’s focus in 2010 will be on developing its young players, with finals a secondary concern.

While Sumich says the club will be doing all it can to be part of September action this season, he says the further development of players will be a priority.

“We’ve got a very young group,” Sumich said.

“We’ve got a very young group. When these players get around probably 25 to 35 games then we should be going forward in leaps and bounds. That’s probably another 12, 24 months away, but in saying that we need to improve."

“I’m not standing here saying we can’t make the eight - we’re striving for that and that’s what one of our goals is.

“There might be some pitfalls along the way with this younger group but we’ll be striving for that.”

Sumich also reiterated the club’s intension for this year’s NAB Cup campaign, saying they were aiming to put in good performances while identifying which of the young playing group will be ready for league football come round one of the regular season.

“It all revolves around round one of course. But we are just hoping to put up a good performance; play some younger kids see what we get out of them," he said.

“You might see a Brad Sheppard (Eagles’ first round draft pick) play, those types who might be in contention for round one.”

 So we’ve got to make sure we get at least three NAB Cups into them before we would select them for round one.”

The club will hold its first real hit-out next fortnight when they stage an intra-club scratch match on February 3 at Subiaco Oval, with entry free to all supporters.