Brownlow medallist Tom Mitchell has slammed West Coast over photos of its players sprawled on the ground on the first day of pre-season training, calling the scenes “utterly embarrassing” and a sign of “serious mental weakness”. The retired midfielder made the comments in a video posted to Instagram, after images showed Eagles players on their hands and knees and lying on their backs at the end of a running session this week.
West Coast’s first-to-fourth-year players returned to training on Monday, along with several senior players including recruit Jack Viney, 7NEWS reported. The group was put through gruelling running drills at Mineral Resources Park in Lathlain, and photos taken by The West Australian showed players spread across the goal square afterwards.
Mitchell, who won the 2018 Brownlow Medal and played for Sydney, Hawthorn and Collingwood, said the players had just completed their first running test of 11 200-metre sprints “from all reports”, and that he knew how hard that test was.
‘That is serious mental weakness’
“And don’t get me wrong, AFL pre-season is one of the hardest things you’ll ever do,” Mitchell said, as quoted by 7NEWS.
“But look at the body language. To the far left there, there’s a player on his haunches. Just to his right, a player laying on his back. Below us here, four players on their hands and knees and another player below on his back.”
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“That is serious mental weakness. There’s no leadership there. Thank God they got Jack Viney to stamp out some of this crap. I could not be more passionate about this.”
“They’re basically showing all the opposition out there already. That as soon as it gets hard, we’re going to roll on the ground and act like we’re dying.”
‘The best teams had rules around this’
Mitchell said West Coast were not the only club guilty of it. “This is an embarrassing image. And this is West Coast in this example. But you see this often with a lot of teams around the league,” he said.
“And the best teams I ever played on actually had rules around this. Not showing weakness. Again, you’re allowed to forget at times and go to your hands and knees. But get straight up. This is embarrassing for the Eagles on day one of pre-season.”
In a comment on the post, Mitchell added: “I hope a WCE player or coach watches this video and does something about it because they’ve been down for too long and they’re a huge and impactful club for the league at their best,” Zero Hanger reported.
Zero Hanger noted West Coast have finished in the bottom four in each of the last five seasons, though the Eagles showed signs of improvement in 2026, particularly at home.
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Viney says first day felt like school
Viney, who joined the Eagles from Melbourne during the trade period, chose to start training two weeks earlier than he was required to, according to 7NEWS.
“It kind of felt like the first day of school. I was a bit excited, nervous but excited at the same time, making lots of new friends,” Viney said.
“I think I would have just had FOMO if I was sitting at home in Melbourne, so I definitely wanted to get over here and get amongst it. Personally, missing so much footy last year, I’m just keen and hungry to get into training and put in some hard work.”
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