Premiership-winning captain Shannon Hurn has been lured back to West Coast in the role of development coach as the club attempts to fast-track their growing band of youth.
Hurn retired at the end of 2023 following a club-record 333 games for the Eagles.
After taking a year off, the 37-year-old feels ready to take on a coaching role, and he'll have plenty of youth to work with at the rebuilding Eagles.
The Eagles expect around half of their squad will be 22 or younger following this year's national draft.
“It’s a great opportunity and I’m looking forward to getting back into the club - mainly to help the young kids, give them some tools about how to be successful at the AFL level, work out their strengths and where they can fit in the game," Hurn said in a statement.
“Just try to help them find their way in the first four to five years so they can hopefully set themselves up to have a great career.
“Obviously the last few years haven’t been great and this is a good opportunity to be back in football and especially at West Coast.”
Hurn captained West Coast to the 2018 flag and will go down as one of the club's greatest ever players.
His appointment to a development role comes as the Eagles complete the final stages of their hunt for their next senior coach.
Brett Montgomery, Jarrad Schofield, Steven King, Andrew McQualter and Hayden Skipworth are believed to be in a five-man battle for the job.
King, an assistant at Geelong, suffered a huge health scare on Friday when he collapsed at Cats training and had to be taken to hospital.
The 45-year-old had been in Perth earlier this week to interview for the Eagles' head coaching role, and West Coast released a statement wishing him a speedy recovery.
Meanwhile, Jeremy McGovern has taken out West Coast's best and fairest award for the first time.
McGovern polled 184 votes, beating Elliot Yeo (177) and Jake Waterman (155).
