West Coast Eagles coach Andrew McQualter promises to change club’s playing style ahead of exciting journey

The man known as “Mini” has a mountain to climb to get West Coast back to the top, but Andrew McQualter has promised to do things his way.

McQualter was unveiled as the Eagles’ seventh full-time coach in their 38-year history on Monday after a lengthy three-month process following the mutual parting of ways with premiership leader Adam Simpson.

A former St Kilda and Gold Coast midfielder with 94 games experience, it was his incredible resume as an assistant over a decade that had him win the role from Collingwood’s Hayden Skipworth and Geelong’s Steven King.

McQualter steps into the Eagles at a time of transition, with the club having won only 10 games in the past three seasons and in the middle of the biggest rebuild in their history.

Yet McQualter was neither daunted by the task nor going to overcomplicate how he was going to bring the powerhouse club where it has been for most of its four decades in existence.

“Football’s a pretty simple game. There are no secrets to success you’ve just got to work really hard, you’ve got to look to do it together and build a coaching group and a team that can instil belief in the playing group,” McQualter said.

“Football can change very quickly. I think we’re seeing that with the women’s program and Daisy (Pearce) doing a terrific job of how quickly football can change.

“It’s something I’m excited about.”

McQualter has promised Eagles fans that he’s going to transform the way the Eagles play as they look to usher in a new era.

He oversaw the midfield group at Richmond that revolutionised the forward handball to help claim three premierships (2017, 2019 and 2020), working with champions like Trent Cotchin and Dustin Martin.

McQualter then took the reins in the final 13 games of the Tigers’ 2023 season as interim coach in the wake of Damien Hardwick’s departure before moving to Melbourne this season as the midfield coach.

It’s why McQualter has confidence when he says he knows how he wants the game to be played.

“I’m clear on the way I want the game to look and to play and it will be different to the way West Coast have played for the last little while,” McQualter said.

“That should be exciting for the guys in this room. We’ll create a style that suits us and puts us in the best position to win games of football.

“There’s not a huge difference between teams in the AFL, the gap’s not that big. We’ll look to create some belief in this group and see where it takes us.

“We’ll play a game that’s not too dissimilar to what I’ve learnt over my time at Richmond and Melbourne.

“I was lucky to be involved at some successful times although Melbourne didn’t have a great year this year, the system they played stacked up for the last couple of years of footy.

“We’ll implement a style that is a mixture of both those teams and with our twist on it, it’ll look like us.”

Eagles chief executive Don Pyke oversaw the process to hire a new coach, leading a panel that included directors Jan Cooper and Rowan Jones as well as football boss Gavin Bell and two-time Geelong premiership player Harry Taylor.

Pyke said McQualter ticked a lot of the boxes they were looking for when it came to hiring a senior coach.

“We looked through the criteria we set for what we wanted for a senior coach and Andrew sits here today having ticked a lot of the boxes. More boxes than others,” Pyke said.

“The interim coach, one gave him an opportunity to sit in the chair and there’s nothing like sitting in the chair. And he’s had that experience and I know talking to him what he learnt from being with one hand on the wheel doesn’t hurt.

“But he’s fundamentally, he’s a very good person, (has) great values and a very good footy coach. And that’s why we employed him.”

McQualter said he had always admired West Coast from afar while plying his trade over east.

“They’ve been a real winning organisation since they came into the league and that’s not something every club has been able to do,” he said.

“Then the excitement of where the club currently is, for me that’s a great challenge. It’s been a challenging few years with the football side of things but the club is set to really grow and look to move forward in the next few years.

“I thought this was an incredible job, hence why I went through the process and am very fortunate to be sitting here.”

Several Eagles were in the room as well as staff as McQualter, Pyke and outgoing chair Paul Fitzpatrick addressed the media.

McQualter said there was a great mix of experience and youth on the list to work with.

“There’s some really experienced guys who have still got in my eyes some great football ahead of them,” he said.

“And then there’s some young talent in the list as well that hopefully, with the coaching group, that we can really foster them and push them in the right direction.

“As I mentioned, things can change quickly.”

McQualter, who signed a three-year deal, would not be drawn into how long it would take him to bring the Eagles from the bottom end of the ladder back into finals.

“From day one we need to improve. There’s no question about that,” McQualter said.

“Around expectations, I don’t really live in that space. We’re just going to get better every day. Find ways to improve the way we want to play. Find ways to improve our habits, what we do every day and demand that of each other because that’s what it takes to be great in this game.

“We’re all in the business of winning. We love winning games of football, so we’ll be looking to get better as of today.”

McQualter will now begin the process of setting up his coaching staff, expressing his desire to put a strong team around him to help build success.

“We need a great coaching group. This job can’t be done well by one person,” he said.

“I’m really open to a coaching group that is the best candidates we can get, the best people we can get and we’ll work through that over the next period of time.”

When McQualter walked into Mineral Resources Park he was greeted by the four previous premierships won by the club on pillars, with an empty fifth one beside them.

Asked about his thoughts on that pillar, he said: “let’s fill it up”.