West Coast Eagles training notes: Dom Sheed, Jack Graham, Harvey Johnston, Malakai Champion and more

The bulk of West Coast’s veterans returned to the training track after the off-season, and were immediately greeted by a punishing fitness test - where a new recruit caught the eye. The ‘circle of death’ After a couple of weeks with mainly the club’s first-to-fourth-year players at training, Monday morning’s session marked the first attendance for most of the Eagles’ veterans. And unsurprisingly, fitness was the name of the game as the experienced heads hit their Lathlain track for the first time. Any hopes of being eased back into the swing of things were dashed immediately, with the returnees thrown into an endurance running drill around a makeshift 400m track. This ‘circle of death’ made an appearance last pre-season, and similar to the dreaded ‘beep test’, involves players having to run laps while reaching timed checkpoints marked by cones. After a few easy laps, slowly but surely, the pace ramped up and as the going got tough, players gradually dropped out — while Norm Smith Medallist-turned-assistant coach Luke Shuey paced several players throughout. After winning last year’s cardio test, Jake Waterman again performed well, as did veterans Liam Duggan and Jamie Cripps. But this year’s winner was a new recruit, former Tiger Jack Graham, who outlasted his peers and then continued to push himself a bit longer once declared victor. Easy does it early While the returning players pushed themselves, the younger players with a few weeks of pre-season already under their belt did their own cardio work. This included Harvey Johnston, who led his cohorts in a set of interval runs along the boundary line. Notably, Johnston was sporting a forearm brace on his right arm, but was otherwise in good spirits, and while he took no part in a chunk of the ball work, he continued to rack up meters in the legs with a series of running drills. Last year’s No.1 draft pick Harley Reid also had limited involvement in the session as he continues to recover from a head knock. Among those who were also restrained in their participation were Dom Sheed and Campbell Chesser, who worked off to the side, while Brady Hough, Rhett Bazzo and Jack Hutchinson also spent time away from the main group. First day of school West Coast’s three WA draftees all made their debuts on the training track on Monday. While Tom Gross and Lucca Greggo are yet to jet in from interstate, Bo Allan, Hamish Davis and Malakai Champion all presented for their first day of AFL pre-season. Davis, who at one stage appeared destined to be the draft’s hard luck story, impressed in the aforementioned running drill alongside the veterans, keeping pace for a sustained amount of time. Champion meanwhile, spent time conversing and running with Liam Ryan. Mini’s max impact While the focus of the early part of the session was on cardio and building a fitness base, new coach Andrew McQualter appears to have laid down a philosophical marker early. These are early days of pre-season, but it the blueprint of McQualter’s new-look Eagles could be seen in some of the drills. Zippy ball movement, speed in transition and quick decision-making looked to the main focus areas, with the ex-Richmond coach having pledged to reshape West Coast’s gameplan from his predecessor Adam Simpson. It is the type of game-style which should help the likes of Ryan, Cripps, Graham, Noah Long and off-season recruit Matt Owies thrive.