WEST Coast faces a balancing act in the final 10 rounds to respect its champions and give more exposure to its young players as availability improves significantly, according to coach Adam Simpson.
The Eagles have an influx of returning stars this week, with premiership players Dom Sheed, Elliot Yeo, Jeremy McGovern, Liam Ryan and Willie Rioli all expected to face Geelong at Optus Stadium on Saturday.
There will be more competition for spots as a result after the availability crisis faced in the first half of the season, with the rebuilding club set to balance competing forces at match committee.
"We've got a few guys on the back nine and respecting their careers and where they're at and exposing our younger players is what we'll work through in the back half of the year," Simpson said.
"There's 10 games to go and I'm hoping to get the balance right where some weeks we'll get a different look with the youth and some weeks we'll get a different look with the players who deserve to play or have been around and been champions of the game."
The Eagles have used 43 players this season and have often been forced to play younger players out of necessity, with 13 Eagles making their debuts, including players from the WAFL top-up pool.
Simpson said first-year defender Rhett Bazzo was not far off playing his first game and would be looked at this week.
"When you're looking at team selection and you've got a young player coming in and it's a 50-50 call with an older, experienced player, you probably lean to youth a little bit," the coach said.
"But form has got to play a part. We've probably got a couple more to come this year, so we'd like to do that through form, and hopefully we get that at WAFL.
"That'll be a balancing act for the rest of the year because the path we're on, it's not a quick fix and we do need to expose them."
Simpson said team synergy and match fitness would be hurdles this week against Geelong, regardless of how extensive the changes are coming off the bye.
The coach was confident those players returning from injury had done enough work in the WAFL and in training to justify selection.
He forecast a more 'hands off' approach from the coaching group in the final 10 rounds, empowering the senior players more.
"I think when you're going through something like this you coach the life out of them, and sometimes you might overdo it and try and help too much," Simpson said.
"Sometimes some of these senior players will work it out.
"We're working through that. It's not a big change in behaviour, but you can only do so much before you hand it over to the players and let them work through these things."
