A West Coast veteran has answered questions surrounding his bizarre post-game interview with a radio station last weekend.
And elsewhere, Brad Scott is enamoured by one of his young gun’s “explicit desire” for success. More below in AFL DAILY!
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‘WE ALL MAKES MISTAKES’: YEO SPEAKS AFTER ‘RUT’ FALLOUT
West Coast’s Elliot Yeo has spoken once more after his club’s 11-point loss to Richmond last Saturday, where comments he made post-game caught fire.
Speaking to 6PR Radio post-game in the changerooms, veteran journalist Paddy Sweeney asked Yeo whether his club was currently amid a rut. It saw the 32-year-old push back firmly, and label the term as a “blasé comment” and “not the right term” to describe the club’s form.
Addressing Perth media on Wednesday afternoon, the Eagles veteran stopped short of retracting his comments in the changerooms, instead affirming his long-time love for the club.
“There are very talented players that I really like going out there and playing with. Call me ‘loyal’, call me whatever you want. I love my team and I love my club,” Yeo said.
“We’re all human, we all make mistakes. I’m overly positive, I’m optimistic in where we’re going. We’re disappointed and talking internally, but there are some hard roads ahead.”
DONS ‘LOVED’ CADDY ‘MEDIOCRITY’ CALL
Essendon coach Brad Scott is enamoured by Nate Caddy’s “explicit desire” for success.
Caddy has won less than a third of his 34 AFL matches and expressed frustration to 3AW post-game last Saturday.
He said he couldn’t stand for Essendon’s “mediocrity” after its heavy loss to reigning premier Brisbane Lions.
Coach Scott, wearing a proud smile, says he loves Caddy’s expectations.
“I loved it. I talk to Nate a lot about his competitiveness, his quite explicit desire to lead our forward line as a third-year player,” Scott said.
“He’s explicit in his desire to lead the club into a period of success and he’s hungry for that. He’s impatient, and I am so excited about that because he’s the ultimate competitor.
“He wants to do that with Essendon, he loves the place, he loves the environment, and while he’s young, he’s not in the category of trying to establish his career.
“He’s now switched from being excited about playing AFL footy to now, ‘I want to drive this team forward’.
“I have seen that growth in him almost week-by-week this year.”
Caddy’s comments sparked debate as to whether he could pursue a greater chance of success elsewhere.
Scott says neither Caddy nor any of his young teammates are showing signs of wanting to bail out of the Bombers.
“Not in my experience, being in the game as a head coach for whatever it is … I haven’t seen that,” Scott said.
“I have coached, majority of the time, I’ve coached young developing sides.
“We’ve recruited guys who are fully invested and they are, taking in the Nate example, starting to take responsibility of the fortunes in the club’s future.”
PREFERENCE OF FATHER-SON GUN SPLIT BETWEEN TWO POWERS
Brisbane is believed to be the favourite for Cooper Hodge, the son of Hawthorn great Luke, who can choose to nominate for either the Lions or the Hawks.
Hodge is eligible for the 2026 draft and has spent his teenage years in Brisbane, due to his dad’s late-career move to the Lions.
That has made him eligible for the Lions Academy, as well as being eligible as a Hawthorn father-son due to Luke’s 305 famous games for the club.
Hodge does not need to make a decision until later this year but the Hawks recently made their pitch, according to the Herald Sun’s Jon Ralph, who forecast the Lions as ahead in the race.
“So how does Cooper Hodge not become a Hawthorn superstar?” Ralph asked on Fox Footy’s Midweek Tackle.
“I reckon there’s a real good chance of it right now. Hawthorn sat in the living room with his parents and they’ve said there’s absolutely no pressure on him to choose the Hawthorn Football Club. He’s a father-son there, of course an Academy member of Brisbane.
“I think if you made an educated guess right now, he’s playing for the Brisbane academy, he’s happy at home, the Lions would have their nose in front.
Lewis raises alarm on Carlton’s list | 02:24
“But what Hawthorn have said is the only thing we care about is getting you drafted, and then you can make a decision.
“And so their view is even if you choose Brisbane, you will always have a place in our hearts because your dad is the four-time premiership champion and three-time premiership captain. If he picks the Lions, the door will be always open to always love him.
“I just think to myself; Jason McCartney’s son (Aiden), he’s got multiple clubs to choose from (also tied to Swans Academy), it might not be the Roos.
“If you scrap the father-son … I reckon in three or four years we wouldn’t care. I just think it’s an extraordinary compromise to the draft.”
Luke said earlier this year Cooper’s first priority is proving he’s a draftable player.
“People say he has got a decision (to make), but it is up to the clubs. First of all, he has got to put himself in a position, so his next three months is important for getting the kick, playing a role,” Hodge told The Age.
“As far as the decision, it is up to the clubs. There are pros and cons about staying, pros and cons about going. The thing is, first of all, is to do enough this year to give yourself an opportunity to get drafted.”
SECRET AFL FORMULA TO HELP STRUGGLERS
The AFL is set to create a statistical model which will help it make decisions on whether bad teams need assistance packages.
AFL Media reports the league’s formula will involve “around eight elements” including win-loss record, percentage, ladder positions and recent finals appearances over a period of time so they can compare how badly teams require help.
It will also be kept secret so teams cannot manipulate the system as was seen with the previous priority pick rules – when winning four games or fewer in two consecutive seasons earned you the No.1 pick.
“Unlike the old priority pick model where you knew what you had to do – or not do – to win a priority selection, the AFL won’t be releasing this. This will be an in-house (model),” AFL Media reporter Cal Twomey told Footy Classified when elaborating on his story.
When host Eddie McGuire suggested it was a “secret” formula, Twomey replied: “As it should be, because you don’t want clubs to know then they’ll be able to maybe change how you perform.”
Currently, clubs present to the AFL and the league weighs up how much assistance (if any) it wants to give on a discretionary basis.
That has seen big gaps between the packages given out, like Gold Coast being given the No.2 pick in the 2019 draft (which gave it access to Noah Anderson), while last year West Coast was given an end-of-first-round pick plus four extra rookie spots.
In 2022 North Melbourne was given three end-of-first-round picks (across two drafts), plus later picks that had to be traded (which it used to land Griffin Logue and Darcy Tucker) and extra rookie spots.
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