Noah Long tipped to star by West Coast veteran Jamie Cripps as Eagles launch AFL resurgence

Noah Long is yet another player who proves that the number of the pick you are taken with is just a number if you make it so. He was pick No.58 in 2022, ahead of only Port Adelaide’s Kyle Marshall, but went on to play 19 of West Coast’s 23 games as a small forward, kicked seven goals and generally looked like he belonged.

When Cripps was asked to pick the players who have stood out this pre-season to date, he nominated Reuben Ginbey, whose running is “next level and easily the best” on the track.

He labelled Reid a “terrific fella” coping well with the hype.

But he predicted Long would be a second-year standout, with traits he hasn’t often seen in young players.

“The young boys are setting a good standard with how they have come back. Reuben and Longy have come back in incredible nick,” he said. “Longy is a great team player and he is going to be a dangerous small forward.

“He is light on his feet. He can change angles really well. He is clean with the footy and you don’t see a lot of young guys who are real clean and smart decision-makers. He has come back real fit and hopefully he can have a really good year.”

Cripps, a 212-game veteran who is now the second-oldest player on the Eagles list behind only Jeremy McGovern, said there was a great summer feeling at the Eagles.

The youngsters were desperate to improve, while the older blokes were equally desperate to atone for the past two seasons, which have produced just five wins from 45 games.

“Everyone wants to get better,” he said. “We definitely don’t want to be at the bottom of the ladder any more.”

The Eagles are chasing rapid change.

Cripps is at the vanguard of that evolution.

“We have 21 or 22 players under 21 so we are pretty young,” he said. “They are all starting to speak up out on the ground and in meetings, which is good. It is good to listen to what they have to say.

“It changes bloody quickly. I am the second-oldest at the club now. I am trying to understand what all of these young blokes are saying. I have no idea what they are talking about. They have got their own language. I just sit there and give them a nod.

“It keeps me feeling young and I am just so excited to get stuck in it.”

Cripps’ 2023 season reflected the club’s. After strong games produced four goals in the first two weeks of the season, he was one of four casualties for the Eagles in the disastrous round three western derby loss to Fremantle.

Luke Shuey (hamstring) was the first to go, then Cripps broke his ankle, then McGovern snapped his hamstrings and forward Liam Ryan suffered a serious hamstring injury by crash-landing after a marking attempt.

Cripps didn’t play again until round 16.

McGovern returned a week after him.

Shuey only missed three games but then another seven after his return match against Port Adelaide. He was in and out of the team for the rest of the season and retired.

Ryan didn’t return at all.

“Once that happens (missing three months of football) it is hard to come back from,” Cripps said. “You can do all of the training you want but you need a good five or six games before you feel like you are playing your best.

“Getting the injury that I did, you play catch up for the rest of the year. I had a couple of OK games leading up to that one but it was good to finally feel like I could run out a game and everything came together.”

And then Cripps was one of the club’s shining lights in their best performance of the season, the stunning round 23 upset of the Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium which may have saved coach Adam Simpson’s coaching tenure.

His five goals and eight tackles earned him three Brownlow votes that day. He said it was a good reminder for the Eagles that their best was still around the mark in the AFL.

“We knew that was the footy we could play as a group,” he said. “The frustrating thing about the time before that was we knew that was the footy we could play. It was just playing it consistently.”

Cripps denied the match was about saving Simpson for the players.

“He didn’t make it about himself,” Cripps continued. “We hardly spoke about it. We wanted to go out there and play a four-quarter effort, which we hadn’t done all year. It was good to go out there and do that.

More Coverage

Analysis: Once stagnant Eagles changing at warp speed

Mark Duffield

Duffield: Echoes of Cousins as Harley-mania hits Perth

Mark Duffield

“It gives you motivation for this year because you know we are not that far off it. The Doggies are a really good team and are always thereabouts. It gives you a good feeling coming into this year.”

Cripps said 19-year-old Ginbey was “easily the best” trainer at the Eagles at the moment.

“He is a big boy. He is looking really fit at the moment. I can’t wait to get into a few games. He will throw a few boys around,” he said.