‘Probably shouldn’t say it’: Moment Eagles coach holds back before Hawks explain curious move

West Coast coach Andrew McQualter has frostily addressed Sam Mitchell’s curious choice to line Tom Barrass up in the forward line against former teammate Oscar Allen.

Oddly, Allen, a forward by trade but deployed in defence during Sunday night’s 50-point loss to the Hawks, was tasked with manning a forward-focussed Barrass at the start of the final quarter at Marvel Stadium.

Allen finished the match with five marks and three intercept possessions, while Barrass didn’t touch the footy during his time in attack with nine possessions and three marks for the game.

FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every match of every round in the 2025 Toyota AFL Premiership Season LIVE in 4K, with no ad-breaks during play. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited-time offer.

McQualter was asked post-game what he made of Hawks coach Mitchell sending ex-Eagle Barrass into attack to play against Allen in West Coast’s defence — first pausing noticeably to gather his thoughts before offering a curiously short response.

“I probably shouldn’t say it, because I don’t know what was going on in their team, to be honest,” a smirking McQualter told reporters after careful consideration.

“That’s their prerogative, I suppose … I don’t know, I haven’t seen Tom Barrass play forward too often in his career.”

Barrass made his way to Hawthorn from West Coast via trade last year, while free-agent Allen earlier this season met with Mitchell in a since-publicised revelation.

But Mitchell, during his press conference, offered a detailed explanation for shifting his key defensive recruit forward of the ball, claiming there were “a couple of reasons” for the move.

“Sometimes having that flexibility is important for us,” Mitchell said on Sunday night. “We obviously do it with James Sicily and giving Blake Hardwick continued exposure as a defender — he’s obviously played well over 100 games as a defender for us and we haven’t used him there that much — we want to make sure Blake stays behind the ball at different stages.

“‘TB’ we haven’t tried forward. But if we need a contest in front of the ball at some stage, having him go forward is something we want to have the option (to do), if it’s viable for us.

“He didn’t look completely comfortable there, so it’s something we’re going to have to try and expose him to a little bit more over the coming weeks if we get the opportunity.”

Asked if he could see the curious side of swinging a defender against his former team into the forward line during the final quarter of a game where the Hawks had sewn up the win, Mitchell said: “I get that it might’ve (looked funny), but we haven’t had a game this year that’s felt comfortable at all. All of our games have been quite close late in games.

“I’m definitely going to try ‘TB’ forward at different stages to see if he can be (a forward). He’s obviously a beautiful mark, reads the ball fantastically well.

“We’ve got a couple of options — we haven’t moved Josh Battle forward yet, but he’s another one I want to try and explore moving him forward … Having older players who are more established and have got a bit of flexibility in their game, getting them into different positions is part of our priorities.

“Almost every player that’s played 100 games-plus, you want them to have a couple of positions. ‘TB’, as a full-back, it’s very difficult for him to go anywhere else if he hasn’t been exposed to it.

“We really held off on it with James Sicily probably for 18 months, but now he’s been able to go forward at different stages and really win us a game. If ‘Sic’ is playing really well behind the ball, we’d like to be able to move someone else.”