West Coast’s biggest hits and misses from the last five years of drafting and recruiting

Josh Jenkins has outlined West Coast’s biggest hits and misses from the last five years of drafting and recruiting players.

The former Adelaide Crows forward will assess each of the 18 clubs on AFL Trade Radio and provide what he believes have been the hits and misses when it comes to player acquisition over the last half decade.

Read his thoughts on the Eagles below:

West Coast hits

“The big hit for them is clearly Harley Reid,” Jenkins told The Late Trade.

“The signs he's shown and the excitement he's been able to generate for that team has been huge.

“They've been so dormant and so stale as a footy club before he came in and look, have we seen better first-year players? Yep, no doubt. I reckon we've seen a fair few. But he's been able to bring some hype, some excitement and some enthusiasm.

“Adam Simpson, even after he departed, said players were ringing saying, ‘I want to play with Harley Reid’, which I think's quite rare and quite miraculous.”

West Coast misses

“Reuben Ginbey is the one I’m worried about,” Jenkins added.

“I'm putting him down as the big miss only because he burst onto the scene.

“He was a pick nine. He's big and strong, a huge hulking young man who they threw straight in the

“Ginbey was left there to really fight the fight at the contest by himself. He was leading the competition for tackles as a first-year player.

“I remember watching him in Gather Round last year when they played the Cats and he just looked out on his feet, which is a weird thing to think for a young player so early in the season.

“He's a big inside mid, so he's not a guy that's going to scoot across the turf and you're going to think, ‘Jeez, this guy's slick, fast and skilful’.

“But I do believe you need to handle and look after your young players particularly early in their career, they'll only do bits and pieces of training, and you manage them, they might play three in every four games.

“I just wonder about him and I'm just fearful for him as a young player who's had to take on a big responsibility because you look at his numbers.

“He's 40 games in, but he's only kicked two goals in those 40 games, and I know this year he's spent a few games at half back, but two goals from 40 games as a midfielder is a really low number.

“And in 11 of his 23 games this year, he had 15 disposals or less.

“I'm a bit fearful for him. I love what he was able to do early in his career. Hopefully, he can just have a bit of an off-season where he refreshes himself and resets himself.”

Listen to JJ’s five-year audit of the Eagles below: