West Coast veteran Jamie Cripps is on track to earn another contract at the Eagles ahead of his 250th game for the club.
Coach Andrew McQualter revealed on Monday the Eagles had held discussions with the out-of-contract forward throughout the year, with expectations being that if Cripps remained an effective contributor, he would stay on the list in 2026.
The 33-year-old is slightly down on disposals, which is hardly surprising given the struggling Eagles’ troubles with ball movement and turnovers.
However, he still averages just over a goal per game in 2025, and McQualter said the veteran was playing “good footy”.
“It’s been quite an extraordinary journey for Crippa,” he told 7NEWS.
“Funnily enough, I actually played in his first game when we played together at St Kilda for a year many moons ago. So, to see him go on and have such a great career has been a joy to watch.
“He’s still playing some good footy, and we’ve been really open with Crippa about if his form keeps up, we’ll hold him on, and we’ll continue those conversations for the rest of the year.”
Cripps joined the Eagles in 2013 after two seasons at the Saints and has never played less than 15 games in a full-length season.
He played 14 in 2020’s shortened COVID season.
After taking a significant step back in the 59-point defeat to the Giants at home on Friday night, there could be spots up for grabs in the starting 22, especially after the WAFL side nabbed their second win of the season over Subiaco on Saturday.
And McQualter said he would continue to reward good WAFL form as he has done across his inaugural campaign.
“It was great to see the guys put together a four-quarter performance,” he said.
“I went down to watch that game and was really pleased. There was a bit more experience in the side down there, and that was on show.
“As we’ve done all year, we’ll look to reward guys that have played well and shown some consistent form.”
Midfielder Tom Gross had a game-high 30 disposals to go with six tackles and nine marks while Noah Long booted three majors from 15 touches and Matt Owies kicked four goals.
Mid-season recruit Jacob Newton also added two majors from 14 disposals.
The first-year coach also added he was hopeful Campbell Chesser would get an AFL return ahead of the season concluding.
Chesser underwent ankle surgery in February after a preseason injury, as he did in his rookie season.
Further injury setbacks have limited the 22-year-old to only five WAFL appearances for the year.
The young winger did have an impressive outing in the victory over the Lions, collecting 24 disposals and four tackles.
Chesser played 14 games in 2023 and 18 in 2024.
https://thewest.com.au/sport/west-coast-eagles/west-coast-coach-andrew-mcqualter-reveals-veteran-jamie-cripps-on-track-to-earn-fresh-eagles-contract-c-19278612
