Eagles coach’s hint on Pendles tag; Mitchell lifts lid on epic spray — AFL Daily

West Coast coach Andrew McQualter has hinted at whether he’ll elect to tag Scott Pendlebury in Saturday’s historic fixture.

Plus, Sam Mitchell lifts the lid on that epic spray in the second quarter on Thursday night. Read on in AFL Daily.

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MINI’S PENDLES TAG HINT

Whether West Coast opts to tag Scott Pendlebury in his record-breaking 433rd game on Saturday afternoon has become a talking point, and Eagles coach Andrew McQualter has hinted at his intentions.

Quizzed on added motivation for the Eagles in a fixture that’s all about an opposition player, McQualter told SEN Breakfast on Friday morning: “I think there’s a little part of it that we can use for sure.

“But we don’t really need any extra motivation as a football club at the moment. We’re on our own journey, we’re working really hard to improve our game, and we’ve got a lot of work to do, and we’re really committed to doing that work.

“I appreciate that it’s a big game, but for us, that’s not our role in this game - our role is to do whatever we can to win the game of football.”

On whether the Eagles show Pendlebury more physicality, McQualter said: “It’s a really interesting point, and I’m not sure that I’m going to speak to it at all, to be honest.

“I don’t want to make too much of a big deal of it; it’s already a big deal for these guys. A lot of them haven’t played in front of 90,000 people before - that comes with its own emotion.

“I think you can get caught up in it a little bit too much as well, and knowing Scott, as soon as the ball’s bounced, it’s just another game of footy, like any other final or big game.”

Probed on whether West Coast would look to tag Pendlebury, McQualter succinctly said: “I’m not going to share my secrets yet.”

McQualter noted the dangers of assigning a run-with player to Pendlebury.

“The thing with the Pies is they’ve got guns everywhere on the field, so you’ve got to be careful of who you tag and how you tag,” he said.

“And I think you see that all the time with teams tagging Nick Daicos - they can just manipulate things, they’re so experienced, they can move pieces around.

“So, we’ve got to be careful not getting too caught up in that as well - they’re a good, experienced team, and they can beat you in multiple ways.”

AFL legend Jason Dunstall said on Fox Footy’s post-game coverage on Thursday night that “I don’t think ‘Mini’ (McQualter) would do that (tag Pendlebury)”.

“(But) he won’t be charitable … you’re out there trying to win a game of footy.

“West Coast goes there knowing that there’s a lot of focus on everything bar them - they can just attack the ball and have a crack at it.”

It comes after West Coast premiership defender Will Schofield urged his former side to tag the Collingwood legend.

“I’d love to see Brody Hough go to Scott Pendlebury. I really would,” Schofield said.

“You can’t say he’s a passenger in this side. He’s incredibly influential, and I reckon a lot of Nick’s (Daicos) touches come off a Scott Pendlebury clearance.

“You could do worse than to tag Scott Pendlebury in his record-breaking game. That would be the ultimate respect, making it a hard day for him and making sure he doesn’t have a good day. I hope West Coast have that attitude.”

MITCHELL LIFTS LID ON EPIC SPRAY

Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell has explained the reasoning for his scathing coaches’ box spray on Thursday night.

After Nick Watson kicked the Hawks’ third goal of the game in the second quarter, the broadcast panned to the coaches’ box, where Mitchell - with his neck veins pulsating - got on the phone and let someone at ground level know his thoughts.

“We needed to perform at a higher level, and the standards that we knew were required to win games like that,” Mitchell revealed post-game.

“And we weren’t living up to (those), and then after that, did well.”

Mitchell’s four-time Hawthorn premiership teammate Luke Hodge said on Seven that “I’ve played a lot of footy with this man - I’ve never seen him that angry in the coaches’ box”.

“To Hodgey himself, he’s seen me pretty angry a few times - probably just at him some of those times - but he’s been just as angry at me,” Mitchell joked in response in his press conference.

Swingman Blake Hardwick was the star for Mitchell’s side in its narrow nine-point win over the Crows at UTAS Stadium, booting four majors.

“The ability to create score form isolated one-on-ones was a challenge, and Blake was really important for us in those moments,” said Mitchell.

“He’s a phenomenal footballer, his contest is outstanding, he’s a beautiful kick and he’ll get a lot of credit for tonight and so he should, but he should’ve a lot of other weeks.

“Today he kicked four, regularly he’s stopping four or more.

“I’m pleased he’ll get a bit of credit because he deserves it.”

In terms of where Hardwick’s future lies, Mitchell admitted the forward switch may not be viable long term.

“I haven’t got past this game just yet,” he said.

“I’m not sure whether they (Hardwick and Jack Gunston) can both play deep forward.

“I suspect he’ll end up in defence again.”

Hawthorn stalwart Gunston missed his second week straight with a foot sprain, but Mitchell is hopeful he’ll be back in the side to face St Kilda.

“He was not ruled out until the middle of this week,” said Mitchell.

“He could still do some straight line running, just the turning that he wasn’t feeling quite confident enough, we’ll see if that turns a corner.

“We’ve had three five-day breaks in the last seven games, so it’s been a difficult management schedule for us.

“We should get a bit more continuity with our players, and hopefully Jack will be through the other side of it now.

“How we structure up for the Saints game, we’ll work it out during the week.”

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