Oscar Allen: West Coast Eagles forward urged to ‘work your backside off’ despite fresh injury Jackson BarrettThe West AustralianWed, 18 June 2025 9:16AMCommentsCommentsEmail Jackson Barrett
Champion forward Garry Lyon has urged injured West Coast skipper Oscar Allen fight out the rest of the season amid calls for him to be parked for the year.
Allen will miss a number of weeks with the latest in a string of injury issues.
The 26-year-old is already in high demand, with Hawthorn and Brisbane the leading suitors if he decides to leave the Eagles when he reaches free agency at the end of the season.
Lyon made an impassioned plea for Allen to step up in his responsibilities as captain, despite the injury, and says he can still have a significant impact on the Eagles’ young playing list.
“If ever a club needs their captain more than the West Coast Eagles right now, then I haven’t seen it,” he told SEN.
“Get to that club first there in the morning and last to leave. Work your absolute backside off to try and help the club get better, help Andrew McQualter, the new coach who is doing it really tough at the moment, you have got a heap of young kids in there, their heads will be spinning saying ‘this is not what I thought the AFL experience would be like’.
“So be present, be more present than you ever have at that football club and spend as much time in there as you can.
“That will help him with his rehab and help him stay engaged and help the football club, because I think they need it right now.
“Be the captain that you have been elected to be. He had a mis-step, I think, early in the year when he met with another club as captain.
“But you learn from that and here is a chance to learn from it. Don’t disappear now, right now is not the time to go ‘well that’s it for me, I’m out’.
“Now is the time to double down, ramp it up and say ‘boys I am the captain of this club, I know I’m not out there at the moment, but I am here for you, if you want me to help you with your training I will throw balls, kick balls with you, I will do weight sessions’ … that is what I’d love to see Oscar Allen do.”
West Coast did not put a timeline on Allen’s return when they released an official injury update on Tuesday, but said the forward would be out for the medium term and confirmed he had avoided surgery.
The Eagles skipper limped off the ground in the final minutes of Sunday’s defeat to Carlton at Optus Stadium after going down off the ball in an innocuous incident.
“Oscar is understandably disappointed by this setback, but he’s a resilient individual, and he’s already focused on his recovery and continuing to support and lead the team during this time,” Eagles football boss Gavin Bell said.
Allen’s injury will leave McQualter with a thin forward line. Jake Waterman has already been placed on the club’s inactive list with a shoulder injury and is almost certain to miss the rest of the season.
But figures from Champion Data suggest some of the Eagles’ other forwards have been more effective when they are targeted inside 50.
Allen has been targeted 49 times inside 50 by teammates and kicked goals from 14 per cent of those entries, while the Eagles scored from 33 per cent of them.
Young key forward Jack Williams has kicked a goal from 27 per cent of the 33 times he has been targeted inside 50 and the team has scored from an impressive 52 per cent of those entries.
Get the latest news from thewest.com.au in your inbox.
Sign up for our emails
Read more on The West Australian
