West Coast CEO Don Pyke has confirmed the club will seek priority draft assistance from the AFL at the end of the 2025 season, following a dire five-year run that has left the Eagles languishing at the bottom of the ladder.
The club has recorded just one win and 18 losses so far this season, making it the worst in their history. Speaking on SEN on Wednesday, Pyke acknowledged the magnitude of the problem and said the club had little choice but to ask for help.
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“(With) the unfortunate situation we find ourselves in, looking at our numbers — whether it be games won, quarters won, percentage over the last five years — we find ourselves right in the position where if you apply it across clubs who have recently received assistance... we’re well and truly in the window for that,” he said.
‘Not doing our duty if we didn’t ask’
Pyke referenced North Melbourne as the most recent beneficiaries of AFL assistance, with the Kangaroos receiving multiple end-of-first-round picks and extra rookie list spots across 2023 and 2024.
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“We’ll pick it up with the AFL as to what we think is appropriate,” he said. “I’m also mindful of people saying: ‘Well, West Coast got into this problem, so they should just work their way out of it’. But this is the essence of equalisation... I think we’d not be doing our duty if we didn’t ask the question: ‘How do we get any assistance we can?’”
Pyke also flagged concerns about the true value of end-of-first-round picks today, saying: “Those picks aren’t 19 and 20 any more, they’re 30 and 31, history would say.”
With the AFL draft system under pressure and the Eagles still in a deep rebuild, Pyke said the club felt justified in exploring every avenue to escape its current slump.