BARRETT: Oscar Allen got caught. Now, he must pay the price

The Eagles skipper had every right to meet Hawks coach Sam Mitchell but that meeting must come with a heavy cost, writes Damian Barrett

Oscar Allen in action during West Coast's clash with Gold Coast in round one, 2025. Picture: AFL Photos

OSCAR Allen has every right to meet with rival clubs as he wrestles with his football future.

But he must – before he next plays – relinquish captaincy of the West Coast Eagles.

There is no other option for him. Not with the Eagles in turmoil. Not with the form he is in. Not with the fitness he is carrying. Not with a rookie coach just three matches into the role. Not with Harley Reid needing high-end adult guidance as he tackles his own future just 18 months into an already-volatile career. Not while Chad Warner is being sold a future in royal blue and yellow.

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An AFL captain needs to lead in everything he does. The title requires personal sacrifice beyond that required by other players on the list, and being publicly exposed in meeting with the coach of another club is not part of allowances.

Oscar Allen and Harley Reid during West Coast's loss to Gold Coast in round one, 2025. Picture: AFL Photos

Not surprisingly given his aggressive, and successful, approaches to players in the past two years, Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell, along with the Hawks’ arguably most powerful recruiter – his wife Lyndall – flew to Perth on Sunday to meet Allen.

The pitch of a Hawks future came after Allen had three kicks and one handball for the Eagles in a loss against their hated crosstown opponent Fremantle.

On Saturday night, Mitchell had coached the 2025 premiership favourite Hawthorn to its fourth win, from its fourth match of the season, against GWS in Launceston. Having last year stolen Tom Barrass out of West Coast – the key defender had been signed to the Eagles through to the end of 2027 – Mitchell returned to prey on the vulnerable club, this time seeking to lure the skipper who at the end of 2025 carries free agent status.

Allen also has had interest tabled by reigning premier Brisbane.

Like all players, Allen is obviously within his rights to forensically examine all options for his future. He knows the industry is brutal, where for every opportunity provided by a club there are hundreds more dreams either being ended or not even given the chance to start.

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Allen in 2025 is Mitchell’s Barrass and Josh Battle of 2024 – men identified by the Hawks coach to be future Hawthorn premiership players.

But ask Tom Mitchell and Jaeger O’Meara how they felt when they were cut by Mitchell at the end of 2022. Sam Mitchell’s vision did not involve that duo. That’s OK, and it’s not a knock on Mitchell. That’s how footy works. But it underlines why all players are not just entitled, but obliged, to meet with all potential suitors.

Just not when you have the status as captain. If you want to test the market, you either don’t accept the role in the first place, or give it up when being caught for doing so.

Oscar Allen leads West Coast out against Fremantle in round three, 2025. Picture: AFL Photos

After joining the AFL competition in 1987, the Eagles proudly presented themselves as impenetrable to outside forces for the best part of 34 years, through to end of 2021. But they have looked broken since the start of 2022.

And now Allen, the man identified as the one to lead West Coast back to premiership-winning ways, looks broken on-field, too. In three matches in 2025, he has totalled 16 kicks and four handballs. Maybe he is carrying the after-effects of a serious knee injury which wrecked most of his 2024 season. Or maybe he is being weighed down by the decision soon required on his own future. Maybe it is both. Something must give – the captaincy, for starters.

Shedding himself of the leadership role, and thus leaving Liam Duggan one-out as Eagles skipper, is a decision he must make. And if he doesn’t, it should be one made for him by three-game coach Andrew McQualter, with the urging of club great and current CEO Don Pyke.

X: @barrettdamian

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