Andrew Gaff future: Will West Coast trade, drop star wingman?

He wasn’t overly exciting.

The most exciting thing he ever did was a dreadful accident that cost Docker Andrew Brayshaw a broken jaw and several shattered teeth.

It was a reckless left-armed roundhouse swipe to push Brayshaw away and it cost Gaff an eight week suspension and a spot in West Coast’s 2018 premiership team.

About 30,000 of the 60,000 at Optus Stadium for that 2018 Western Derby were completely stunned at the sight of Brayshaw’s bloodied face and the other 30,000 were completely stunned with shock that it was Gaff who hit him.

In cricket terms Gaff was medium pace, line and length.

Between 2014 and the end of 2019 he dipped below 20 disposals seven times in 134 games. He went entire seasons when he had 20 or more in every game. Every now and again he would produce his version of a little something off the seam: The game when he would have 30 and kick two goals.

In one memorable match against Adelaide in 2015, his best and fairest year at the Eagles and one of his two All-Australian seasons, he ran up 36 disposals with 10 inside fifties and three goals.

Many other days Gaff could have 30 and not be noticed.

He would trundle up and down his wing, pushing back to defence to provide an outlet option, involve himself once, twice or even three times in a chain of possession heading forward. Rinse, then repeat, then repeat again and again and again for four quarters.

He was West Coast’s set and forget wingman — just put him there and leave him to do his work.

And suddenly he isn’t any more.

Gaff had just six disposals against Brisbane at the Gabba. He has dipped below that 20 disposal mark in nine of his 16 games this year.

It gives rise to two questions as the Eagles prepare to play Richmond this weekend: Will Andrew Gaff be playing AFL this weekend? Will Andrew Gaff be playing AFL football in 2024?

The first question will be answered at West Coast’s weekly selection meeting because for the first time in months, the Eagles have enough fit players that they actually have to pick a team for the Tigers and not just put the fit ones in positions.

The second question is more complex. At a time when the Eagles have to move out some oldies to bring in youth, Gaff has less form than the club’s other veterans but more contract than several.

The lucrative six-year deal he signed at the end of 2018 doesn’t run out until the end of 2024. He is the player with no form to recommend him but paperwork which binds the club to him.

His long-time teammate Josh Kennedy says he knows how it feels trying to find form as a senior player.

“Gaffy has been in a bit of a form slump and he is working through that. He would be trying everything and sometimes you can try too hard to get out of these form slumps and it can be quite difficult. The way the game was played on the weekend didn’t really suit him,” he told SEN.

A small bodied accumulator like Gaff needs movement. It helps him find the ball and the ball to find him.

“West Coast had no free flowing ball movement. It was pretty stagnant — flooding numbers back. It was pretty stationary, stop and kick and he wasn’t able to get into the game,” Kennedy said.

Even if selectors deem that Gaff shouldn’t play in the AFL, Kennedy isn’t sure that the 31-year-old should follow the normal path of finding form in the WAFL.

“Whether he is carrying injury, whether he needs a rest, whether he goes back and plays WAFL. Those conversations will be between Simmo (Adam Simpson) and Andrew on what the best scenario is,” he said.

“How many chances do you give senior players, letting them keep pushing through these form slumps?

“Sometimes it does get to a point where the coach does make that decision to have a bit of rest and recuperation. Whether he does go back and play WAFL I am not too sure.”

“I don’t know whether Andrew will get any benefit out of playing WAFL. You would probably see him just have a rest. It will be interesting to see what happens this week or next.”

If metronomic is the term to describe Gaff in the AFL, unfamiliar would be the term that applies to him in the WAFL. He hasn’t been there since 2011, his first season in the AFL when he played seven games for South Fremantle in stints when then coach John Worsfold and the Eagles selectors decided the teenager needed a rest. It isn’t something he has needed since — until perhaps now.

Simpson wasn’t giving a lot away either way when he did his regular television slot on Channel Seven on Monday.

“We have got a different type of side at the moment. We are either really really young or quite experienced. He has got his own standards that perhaps he hasn’t hit this year and trying to get out of that form slump is a real challenge for him at the moment but it is something we need to work through,” he said.

Sources close to Gaff believe he will be at West Coast next year and would like Simpson to shift him off his wing and put him inside the contest where his footy smarts might get him involved in the game.

But in a team that has lost every game since round two with only one of those defeats smaller than 40 points, it is hard for the coach to take too many liberties to try and get something out of one ageing player.

More Coverage

Eagles report card: Big calls loom on Gaff and missing veterans

Mark Duffield

The Eagles need to see what players like Reuben Ginbey and Elijah Hewett can do around the contest.

And Hewett and Ginbey need the support of a couple of the seasoned inside mids like Dom Sheed and Tim Kelly to make sure that are not swamped.

Will Andrew Gaff, West Coast’s set and forget wingman, be set aside and forgotten?