West Coast have finalised new additions to their recruitment team nearly two months after a trio of storied recruiters were blindsided and laid off from their roles.
Trevor Woodhouse and Stephen Nash, staff members at West Coast for over three decades, alongside Neil Ross, were culled as the Eagles made wholesale changes to their recruiting team for a refreshed approach.
It came after the Eagles stunningly traded their top-three pick in the 2024 National Draft, a contentious decision that saw eventual Pick 3 Jagga Smith land at top-eight side Carlton.
Tom Barrass, contracted until 2027, also sought a trade and was subsequently shipped to Hawthorn, while club legend Jack Darling headed to North Melbourne for just Pick 67.
However, West Coast were able to land homegrown draftee Bo Allan, as well as premiership Tigers Liam Baker and Jack Graham, as well as unwanted Blue Matthew Owies.
The Eagles have welcomed experienced recruiter Adam Shepard and data analytics specialist Damon Poole to the recruitment and list management team.
Shepard crosses from a National Talent ID manager role at Collingwood, to become Draft Strategy and Player Movement manager, a newly-created role at Lathlain Park.
Poole was previously a staff member for the AFL's official statistics company, Champion Data, but has been employed at Carlton for the last four years in recruiting and data analysis.
List boss Matt Clarke was ecstatic by the hiring of two experienced recruiters.
โWe are thrilled to welcome Adam and Damon to the Club in these important roles to help us evolve and progress our recruiting and list management team,โ Clarke said.
โAdam has been in the game for a long time, is a great relationships person and really knowledgeable about the talent and recruiting landscape.
โHe will be working across recruiting and list management for us. There are numerous mechanisms to improve your list now and it is an increasingly complex space, so we were keen to bolster that area.
โDamon has a strong analytics background, a degree in mathematics and is also experienced in talent-spotting.
โHe will support our experienced analytics performance staff Luke Hyde and Tyler King in player analysis plus talent and recruit identification.โ
Shepard, with 15 years of AFL club experience, will move to Perth in the coming weeks, while Poole will be placed in Melbourne for his tenure.
