Should the West Coast Eagles have the right to a priority pick?

After five years without a sniff of finals footy, the West Coast Eagles seem as far as anyone from locating their source of success.

With a slow start to 2025 for key prospect Harley Reid, talks of their co-captain Oscar Allen meeting with rival clubs and very little providing a threat to rise up the table, could the Eagles muster the grounds for an assistance package from the AFL?

The league adjudicates the necessity of a priority pick based on several factors, highlighting elements of premiership points, percentage, finals runs and injuries over the course of the club’s recent history.

In 2023, North Melbourne received assistance in the form of three first round picks over the course of two seasons, trading away all three selections in exchange for Dylan Stephens, Zac Fisher and a future pick used to select Riley Hardeman.

These selections were awarded after the Kangaroos spent four straight seasons in the bottom four, and seven straight seasons outside the top eight.

Comparing North Melbourne to the current struggles of West Coast - the Eagles have only been out of the finals for four seasons, finishing last once and in the bottom two twice.

If the Eagles miss the eight as predicted this season, five seasons out of finals still falls short of the Kangaroo’s tally.

Reading into the criteria would suggest that the Eagles may not have the grounds for assistance, however according to CEO Don Pyke, an application is not out of the realm of possibility.

“We will weigh it up as we go,” Pyke told SEN WA Mornings.

“We will see how the year pans out. Obviously North Melbourne have a history of doing that, I think there are some rules and regulations around timing for that.

“We played in the finals in 2020, so now will be five years - if we don’t turn it around and start winning more games – out of finals.

“I don’t know exactly where that lies but we will have those conversations later in the year if appropriate.”

After West Coast’s 2018 Grand Final triumph, the AFL may not believe compensation is warranted, however any sort of conversation surrounding priority picks will depend on the Eagles’ journey under Andrew McQualter in 2025.