{"id":503044,"date":"2026-02-25T11:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T11:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/503044\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T11:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T11:44:10","slug":"west-coast-top-draftees-on-what-makes-them-different-and-leading-the-eagles-back-to-the-afl-promised-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/503044\/","title":{"rendered":"West Coast top draftees on what makes them different and leading the Eagles back to the AFL promised land"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cooper Duff -Tytler and Willem Duursma are not overawed by the challenge of rebuilding West Coast as the top Eagles draftees reveal there is excitement within the club.<\/p>\n

Coming off a one-win season, the Eagles could not be rebuilding from a lower point as they finally start to chart a path out of the AFL doldrums.<\/p>\n

With just 11 wins and two wooden spoons in the last three years, there is still a mountain of work to do but No.1 pick Duursma is confident that change is coming.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tend to think about more the possibilities of when we\u2019re a lot better again, obviously it\u2019s going to take a lot of work to get back up there and stuff,\u201d he told 7News.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if you asked the whole team, they\u2019d all be up for the fight. It\u2019s not really daunting at all, coming to a club like West Coast because the future is pretty bright.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a sentiment shared by Duff-Tytler who beleives their is a young core for which the Eagles can build their future around.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely call it more exciting than daunting, when you get over here and see the young talent we have in the room, it\u2019s super exciting to get into a club like that and have that challenge anf taking the club back to where it deserves,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"CooperCamera IconCooper Duff-Tytler of the Eagles tackles Luke Jackson. Credit: Paul Kane\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Much has been made of Duff-Tytler\u2019s ability to be more than just a ruck with his ability to impact around the ground on show in their pre-season derby loss to Fremantle.<\/p>\n

While rucks generally take longer to develop than other AFL prospects, the 18-year-old has been working closely with Nic Naitanui to help fast-track his progress.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I can add something to the team that a lot of other rucks can\u2019t get around the stoppage and be that extra midfielder and use my athleticism and skills around the game, is where that unicorn comparison comes from,\u201d he said.=<\/p>\n

\u201cWorking with Nic Nat is unreal. I\u2019ve watched him as a young guy, and he was super athletic and a freak of nature, so he\u2019s given me a few tips he used early on in his career before getting bigger.<\/p>\n

Duursma also has a few tricks up his sleeve, crediting dance classes for giving him the ability to stay mobile even at his 191cm frame.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, it has helped to become a better footballer, as much as I pretend I don\u2019t, I like it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing a lot taller than everyone else, I can still move and have the agility of a smaller player; dancing probably has had an effect on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also had a cheeky dig at Essendon-based brother Xavier, who said he couldn\u2019t wait to line up the newest Duursma addition to the AFL.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, I\u2019m terrified,\u201d he said jokingly<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be a good chalenge I think he\u2019ll have some trouble going against me, but we\u2019ll be alright.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cooper Duff -Tytler and Willem Duursma are not overawed by the challenge of rebuilding West Coast as the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":503045,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,588,85,7067],"class_list":["post-503044","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-sport","tag-sports","tag-west-coast-eagles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503044","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=503044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/503045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}