West Coast Eagles have finally landed Tyler Brockman three years after missing out on him in the AFL draft

The kid who grew up barracking for West Coast before shifting allegiances to align with his uncle Greg Broughton’s career – first to Fremantle, then to Gold Coast, then back to West Coast – was on the Eagles’ radar as far back as 2020.

On draft night three years ago, as the pick numbers crept into the 40s and his name was still on the table, Brockman knew he was going to end up at one of two clubs: the Eagles or Hawthorn.

“They were both pretty keen,” he recalled.

The Eagles were keen enough that, as Brockman got closer to their picks in the 50s that eventually got them Luke Edwards and Isiah Winder, they tried ringing a few other clubs to see if they could creep up the order.

“It was when we had picks out the back so we didn’t really have the tools to do it,” recruiter Rohan O’Brien said on Thursday. “We were just holding our breath hoping that he might have gotten through. You try and do a few things on draft night and he was one we looked at getting but I don’t think we even got close, to be truthful.”

The Eagles have their man now.

Brockman was traded back to West Coast from Hawthorn at the age of 20 after 11 games for 10 goals as a teenager in 2021 and a further 15 for 13 goals this season.

Brockman liked the Eagles because of Liam Ryan – a friendship which blossomed when they were playing for different AFL teams a nation apart and not when they were briefly together at the same WAFL club Subiaco.

And the Eagles liked Brockman, because they always have.

Brockman sees in himself a player who is around 10 games from “kicking off” at AFL level.

“I think right now I am still at that stage of getting comfortable (with the speed of the game),” he said. “I think with another 10 games I should be right. It is only going to get better.”

And he sees in the Eagles a team that, albeit two years behind the Hawks, is going to head up the ladder with a group that will grow together.

“They are like Hawthorn, still in their building process,” he said. “But I know I am going to feel comfortable at West Coast and I know that we are going to be somewhere in six or seven years.

“At Hawthorn we were going okay – still towards the bottom of the ladder but I know how good Hawthorn are going to be in the next three or four years and I think West Coast will be two or three years behind them. They are going the right way.”

O’Brien has always liked Brockman because he sees a player who seems to have poise, space and time – and has a knack for creating it for himself.

“He has just got really good footy smarts and I think that has already shown out at AFL level,” O’Brien said. “He hasn’t turned 21 yet but he looks quite composed with ball in hand, he has got good sense around goal.

“We think that he has potentially only scratched the surface with his footy as well. He has played some good footy as a forward. But I think he has game sense to play some other spots as well.

“There won’t be anything wrong if he just plays forward throughout but I suspect he might be able to get up on a wing or even come off half back with his awareness and his ball use a bit.”

O’Brien said the ability to create time and space was “a good thing to have in today’s footy because the ball pings around so much. If you have got that little bit of extra time and can create something it is a good tool to have.”

Brockman only had good things to say about Hawthorn. But he found Melbourne, with its colder weather and heavy traffic, difficult. The lure of coming home to family was strong and got stronger when he and partner Tyrah Kickett welcomed twin daughters Amaliah and Amyrah into the world last year.

It did two things to Brockman.

It made him aware of his responsibilities as a father and provider and spurred him to put in his best pre-season he ever had ahead of 2023. It also confirmed his desire to get home.

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“It is wicked being at home around the family – just knowing that I have that support behind me,” he said.

Brockman’s first aim is to cement a place in the team as a forward. And the first thing that enters his mind on that front is the pressure he must bring on defenders.

“Off that anything will happen from there. Pressuring the defenders first might lead to something good,” he said.