\n Sam Allen, Fred Rodriguez and Tylah Williams spoke to the media following their third day of training\n <\/p>\n
\n By westcoasteagles.com.au\n <\/p>\n
New draftees Sam Allen, Fred Rodriguez and Tylah Williams have shared their excitement about joining West Coast and their determination to make an impact.<\/p>\n
Allen, selected at pick 29 from Oakleigh Chargers, described the past few days as surreal, saying it had been a whirlwind but an incredible experience settling into the club.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe boys have been so welcoming, and I\u2019m just excited to learn as much as I can and contribute wherever I can,\u2019 Allen said.<\/p>\n
Settling into life in Perth has been made easier by living with teammate Matt Owies and having other Victorian draftees Willem Duursma, Cooper Duff-Tytler and Josh Lindsay around him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving a few of the boys come over with me has been massive,\u201d Allen said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can lean on each other and build great connections.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Allen is on a specific program as he builds back from and ACL injury, he is confident of returning in better shape than ever.<\/p>\n
The athletic wingman recorded a 101cm running vertical leap early in the year before his injury, and a sub six-minute 2km time trial.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe resources here are incredible and it gives me confidence that I\u2019ll come back stronger and better than ever,\u201d Allen said.<\/p>\n
Pick number one in the rookie draft Fred Rodriguez reflected on the rollercoaster of draft week, admitting Thursday night was stressful as picks passed by without his name being called.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery name that goes by, you know there\u2019s one less pick,\u201d Rodriguez said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was gutted after the national draft, but Friday was a big change, and I\u2019m super stoked to end up at West Coast.\u201d<\/p>\n
The South Fremantle midfield product was WA\u2019s MVP at the under-18s championships and said the experience of being overlooked in the national draft had only fuelled his determination.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt definitely lit a fire,\u201d Rodriguez said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not here to make up numbers, I want to earn my spot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tylah Williams, a product of the Next Generation Academy with West Coast, said pulling on the Eagles jumper was an easy transition.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels natural to be in the blue and gold,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n
\u201cComing in throughout the year helped me slot right in, I already know the coaches and the boys, so I\u2019m really comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Williams, a quick and agile small forward, also shared his excitement about joining a young, rebuilding squad.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe group we have is really exciting,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the next few years, we\u2019re going to be a great team and I can\u2019t wait to be part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sam Allen, Fred Rodriguez and Tylah Williams spoke to the media following their third day of training By…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310181,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-310180","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-text"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}