![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ykbajeng-9499bfd25530-1024x600.webp.webp\")
<\/p>\nWest Coast midfielder Jack Graham says his side has plenty to play for this weekend, as they prepare to come up against Adelaide, who currently occupy first on the ladder.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This weekend, the club is set to farewell two retiring premiership heroes, Jeremy McGovern and Dom Sheed, and celebrate club co-captain Liam Duggan\u2019s 200th game.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Crows, they\u2019re a ripping side, but it\u2019s another opportunity for us and our younger group to have a crack,\u201d Graham told\u00a0SportFM.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s our captain\u2019s 200th game and farewell in Sheeda and Gov, so we\u2019ve got plenty to play for.\u201d<\/p>\n
It comes off the back of an 83-point thrashing against Melbourne last weekend, which saw West Coast secure its third wooden spoon, sitting with just one win against St Kilda in Round 10.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Last Saturday\u2019s loss left coach Andrew McQualter questioning the side\u2019s toughness and is looking to get something out of a challenging final three-game run against Adelaide, the Western Bulldogs and Sydney.<\/p>\n
Graham concedes his team is not up to AFL standard in several key areas.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe feel amongst the players is we\u2019re not where we want to be, and it\u2019s challenging at the moment. The gap between us and other sides is just too big,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the same time, the games in our younger players and starting to drive the standard and realise that the older boys can do it, but the younger fellas, it\u2019s going to be their club for the year to come.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFor them to gel together and build a strong connection, they\u2019re going to be the next wave and excitement for our fans and getting this football club to get it back to where it is.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think just the younger fellas building a connection in a group that\u2019s going to drive us going forward in the couple of years is something that I\u2019m really excited by.\u201d<\/p>\n
In recent weeks, West Coast has lacked experience, especially through the middle, but it is set to gain some back, with Graham available for selection following his four-match suspension for using a homophobic slur.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m fit and ready to go,\u201d he told\u00a0SportFM.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the boys would finish up the main session, I did an extra four or five kilometres after training to keep up my match fitness.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m definitely ready to get out there and help the boys and play footy because it\u2019s a lot more enjoyable playing football than getting slogged at training.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
West Coast has the task of stopping a stacked forward boasting the likes of Riley Thilthorpe, Taylor Walker and Darcy Fogarty, who have kicked a combined 118 goals this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It will be a tall order for the Eagles as their most experienced key defender, Harry Edwards, looks likely to miss this weekend\u2019s Crows clash with foot soreness.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But down the other end, Graham says West Coast\u2019s forward pressure will need to be dialled up to stop Adelaide\u2019s \u2018rock-solid\u2019 defence.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Crows are really good in every area. That\u2019s why they\u2019re sitting on top of the ladder and making a charge for finals,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the ability to stop them in the air. They\u2019ve got three contested beasts up forward, but also down back, they\u2019re rock solid.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey rely on the intercept marks and then getting the ball going out the other end like a slingshot.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFor us, it\u2019s going to be a challenge for our forwards to bring the ball to the ground. Our smalls are going to have to bring that elite pressure to lock the ball in our forward half.\u00a0<\/p>\n
IMAGE: West Coast Eagles<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"West Coast midfielder Jack Graham says his side has plenty to play for this weekend, as they prepare…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48178,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-48177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48177","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=48177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}