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Ex-Fremantle champion Paul Hasleby blames West Coast’s poor attitude for hub failure

Catherine Healey and Craig O'DonoghueThe West Australian
VideoThe AFL is dealing with a fresh fixture crisis tonight that's threatening to stop the footy season in its tracks.

Paul Hasleby says ex-West Coast captain Shannon Hurn has been “woeful” in 2020 and blames a number of misfiring stars for the Eagles’ dismal start to Queensland hub life.

Hasleby, who played 208 games for the Dockers over 10 seasons, has joined the chorus of criticism of the Eagles and didn’t hold back as he fired shots at his former cross-town rival.

“There’s clearly a number of senior players since they’ve arrived (on the Gold Coast), they just haven’t showed up,” he told SEN.

“Shannon Hurn has been woeful, Tim Kelly’s been pretty average, Elliot Yeo hasn’t really fired a shot, Jack Darling – I’ve never seen him play worse footy.

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Elliot Yeo tries to get the ball away.
Camera IconElliot Yeo tries to get the ball away. Credit: Chris Hyde/AFL Photos

“Jetta looks a bit disinterested at times, Tom Barrass was towelled up by Charlie Dixon… Jamie Cripps another one.

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“It’s very hard to win with your best not playing well.”

Hurn, who stepped down as Eagles captain at the end of 2019, is averaging almost 16 disposals and five marks per game in Queensland.

Hasleby said a “poor attitude” from the Eagles towards the hub had not helped their plight as the club remains 0-3 in Queensland and sit third last on the AFL ladder.

“You look at the West Coast Eagles, they’ve always been a powerful club and a very rich club too, so they’ve controlled every environment.

“I think for the first time in a long time there was a few things that were outside of what they could control.

“Obviously when a lot of cuts were made to footy staff, they were sitting back saying ‘Well we’ve got plenty of money in the bank so we don’t need to make those cuts’, they were forced to do so.

“I think Fremantle when they went to the hub, they put their hand up and said ‘Yep, we’re happy to go because at some stage we may need AFL assistance financially’.

“But for the West Coast Eagles, that wasn’t the case. From the get-go their attitude wasn’t great.”

Kelly admits he understands claims that the Eagles midfield have been soft since arriving in Queensland, but disagrees with the criticism from former players.

Former Melbourne captain Garry Lyon accused West Coast of picking and choosing when to compete while ex-St Kilda coach Scott Watters called them soft.

Kelly said players had reviewed their performances and while it was difficult to argue with the vision, he didn’t believe the team lacked hardness.

“We don’t really take much into consideration of what’s said externally but it’s hard to hide from at times,” he said.

“We’ve had a thorough look at our games that we’ve played this year and there are times where it does look like that. That’s on us as a playing group and us as a midfield group to stand up and change that. I look around at my teammates and I don’t see one soft player. I’m confident we will turn it around.”

West Coast have a power packed midfield and their starting centre square during Saturday’s loss to Port Adelaide was Norm Smith medallist Luke Shuey, dual All-Australian Elliot Yeo and Kelly who finished fifth in last year’s Brownlow Medal.

Star pair Andrew Gaff and Jack Redden also rotate through the centre square, while ruckman Nic Naitanui is renowned for his physical presence.

“A lot of us are still a long way away from our best footy. I put my hand up. I’m definitely in that box at the moment,” Kelly said.

“We’re determined to turn it around. I felt we took a step forward on the weekend. It’s on us to turn it around. Us as mids have a big role to play.

“We roll pretty deep. We’ve got a lot of mids. It’s probably working out that balance of how we get all of the guys in there fresh, hungry, eager to go and how we balance out where we’re playing when we’re not in there.

“I’m playing a little bit more forward. I was playing a little bit more forward in the opening rounds. I didn’t play as much on the weekend. We’ll just see how it pans out.”

West Coast coach Adam Simpson has flagged a number of changes to the side that went down to Port Adelaide by 48 points last weekend.

The Eagles had been set to face Richmond on Thursday, but due to Victoria’s escalating coronavirus crisis will instead meet Sydney on Saturday.

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