The West Coast Eagles had a very disappointing 2021 season, struggling to maintain any consistency throughout the year.
The most unfortunate part of the Eagles' campaign ended up being their inability to stay healthy as a unit.
Stars such as Luke Shuey, Elliott Yeo, Jeremy McGovern and a host of others all missed considerable amounts of valuable game time which proved to be detrimental to their performance in 2021.
However, to merely blame their poor season on bad luck with injuries would not be just.
Whilst their fringe players shouldn't be expected to perform at the level of their best 22, the drop-off between them and the club's elite proved to be very significant.
Moving into the future, the Eagles will need to find a way to bring forth a brigade of young talent that can push them towards contention once again.
Naturally, there are a plethora of difficult questions which are asked after a poor year but here are the top five:
Are the Eagles a top-eight calibre club?
Prior to 2021, the Eagles had made the finals a stunning six years straight with Adam Simpson at the wheel. Right in the middle of this run came their astonishing 2018 premiership where Dom Sheed kicked the goal that sank Collingwood hearts.
However, it appears as though either their kick-mark game style and/or their talent isn't holding up anymore.
Despite being just off the pace in ninth, it doesn't appear as though there is much improvement left for them going into 2022.
In fact, if anything, it appears as though West Coast is on the decline.
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Corroborating this, the average age of each of their playing group is the third oldest in the AFL this year. The majority of their stars such as Josh Kennedy, Jeremy McGovern and Shannon Hurn all don't seem to have much more to give.
Hence, they will need those mature-aged players such as Dom Sheed and Tom Barass to continue steping up in 2022.
If the Western Australian side is to make the eight in 2022, they will need to: Keep Optus Stadium a fortress (if they are allowed to play there), stay healthy and make their game style more quick and fluent.
Will Jack Darling play and if not who replaces him?
Due to the AFL's COVID vaccination mandate and Jack Darling's vaccination status, it appears as though the All-Australian forward's career will come to a premature end.
If this weren't the case and Darling found a way to play in 2022, West Coast would by far and away have the best trio of tall forwards in the AFL, with two-time Coleman Medallist Josh Kennedy and young gun Oscar Allen alongside him.
However, this seems quite unlikely at this stage.
SEE ALSO: "There's not much we can do": Simpson speaks on situation surrounding unvaxxed star
In the likely scenario that the big-bodied forward misses out, Adam Simpson will be left with a massive selection headache.
One possible outcome is that Josh Kennedy and Oscar Allen become the two sole key forwards and Allen then shifts to the ruck when Naitanui is on the pine. However, this would leave Kennedy as the only tall forward when Allen moves towards stoppages which could be extremely problematic given Simpson's game style.
A more probable solution is bringing in Bailey Williams to play in the ruck when Naitanui is resting. This would allow Kennedy and Allen to stay as deep forwards and enable "Nic Nat" to gain appropriate breaks.
What does Adam Simpson do if 'Nic Nat' gets injured?
West Coast has some vital players from all areas of the ground such as Jeremy McGovern and Josh Kennedy who, if they were to go down injured, would provide a massive blow for the whole organisation.
However, there is no one more important at the club than superstar ruckman and two-time All-Australian Nic Naitanui. Not only is he a high-impact player at every ruck contest but he is also the only ruckman at the club who has played over five games.
In 2021, Allen took the majority of centre bounces that Naitanui was resting for. However, Allen is still a forward who can play in the ruck, not the other way around.
Further, with Darling's absence, the Eagles will likely need to find another tall such as Bailey Williams to replace him.
RELATED: Does West Coast's biggest pitfall sit just behind their greatest strength?
This leaves Simpson with no other recognised ruckman or other tall who could take the fourth tall role.
The only other tall forward/ ruck on their list is young ruckman Callum Jamieson who, having not played an AFL game to date, would be a big liability for West Coast.
All in all, Simpson's side can't afford 'Nic Nat' to go down with any extended injury this year.
The last two seasons have dealt him good fortune having played 39 of a possible 40 games, so he and all the stakeholders of the club will have their fingers crossed.
Can Adam Simpson incorporate more youth into his lineup?
As mentioned earlier, the Eagles have the third oldest playing group in the competition.
This wouldn't be any sort of issue if West Coast were contending for the Premiership but unfortunately, they appear to be outside of contention for the time being.
As a result, Simpson will need to find a way to bring a plethora of youth back into the line-up.
Oscar Allen appears to be a seriously bright young star who will be really important for their setup going forward.
However, apart from him, there seemingly is no young brigade that can come through after to take them back to the promised land.
Simpson needs to find this group very soon. Whether this is by bringing them in later in the season or trying to sneak them in right from the start, it is vital that he finds such a group.
Who will be their next captain after Shuey?
After a season riddled by injuries in 2021, there has been plenty of speculation over whether Shuey is still the man for the job.
Shuey has previously said that he would hand the captaincy over if he could not keep himself fit.
RELATED: Shuey signals change on Eagles' horizon
After a vote by the players earlier this year, it seems as though the 31-year-old Norm Smith medallist will take up the captaincy for the third year running.
Shuey seems determined to keep the role but if he does indeed hand over the captaincy, there will be a plethora of stars who appear suitable captains.
Among the like, Nick Naitanui, Elliott Yeo, Dom Sheed and Andrew Gaff would all have the resumes to fulfill the role.
