West Coast Eagle Brady Hough desperate for more wins in 2023 after his unexpected 15-game breakout season

Brady Hough is still pinching himself after an unexpected breakout year for West Coast, but the 19-year-old says he is desperate to help turn the Eagles’ horror season around as he gears up for 2023. It is almost a year ago to the day since the Harvey product told media he was a long way off making the team’s senior side, having just being drafted with one senior WAFL appearance under his belt. But fast forward 12 months and the defender already has 15 AFL games to his name, proved his versatility after being used on the wing in the latter half of the year and even topped his season off by winning West Coast’s Emerging Talent, an award once held by the likes of Ben Cousins, Chris Judd and Nic Naitanui. Hough was propelled into a side plagued by injuries and COVID protocols in round one but quickly won the confidence of selectors and managed to hold his spot for the majority of the year. He played a crucial role in the side’s first win in round four over Collingwood, which would mark one of only two in the disaster season that left the Eagles only one spot away from the wooden spoon. Hough said losing week after week had become frustrating, but was confident his side would quickly recover. “It has been a little frustrating, but the Eagles don’t stay like this for long,” he said. “After the game you’re a bit down in the dumps but the bond was always really strong for the boys, we haven’t stayed too down, always been up and about and gone into every game thinking we could win it. “It was a pretty disappointing year but the chemistry is still there and we are still a really tight group.” Hough said he still felt like he was living a dream by playing at the Eagles and had far more senior experience than he was expecting. “Everyday I walk through the doors, I still can’t believe it, I’m just a country footballer from Harvey, it’s an unreal feeling,” he said. “I love every moment I’m there, every moment out on the track with the boys. “This year has been unexpected, it was on the back of a few injuries and things that happened earlier in the season and it gave me the opportunity to play those 15 games, which I’m grateful for and is pretty crazy to look back on now.” Despite his list of individual achievements throughout the year, Hough said his greatest moment of 2022 was playing in Josh Kennedy’s final game, with more than 50,000 fans packing out Optus Stadium for the emotional farewell to the fan-favourite forward. “Being a part of that and to even have been able to play with a legend like him, I was really grateful,” he said. “My debut game was pretty unreal too, that build-up throughout the week was pretty crazy. “Winning the (Emerging Talent) award was a great honour, it’s unreal to have my name up against the players who have won that award previously and if I have half the career they had, I’ll be happy.” Hough said he felt well rested after a good off-season, where he took time out at home in Harvey and visited his brothers in Yallingup and Broome, but was raring to get back to training. “I’ve got a lot of good mates and family in Harvey, so it’s really good to catch up with them and get home for a bit,” he said. “I went into my old primary school and did a little clinic with the kids there, so it was good going back, I also bumped into a few kids at the oval that look up to me and stuff, so it’s pretty humbling. “I had a bit of pain in my legs at the start of the off-season so it was good to have that break, but I’m feeling really good now, ready to get stuck into it.” Hough said one of his greatest role models at the club had been Jack Redden, who announced last month he was retiring after 14 years in the AFL. But he said he was over the moon when former skipper Shannon Hurn had signed another one-year deal and was keen to get the most out of him in what was likely his final season. “Hurn is so experienced and so good with us younger boys, he’s always got something to say and you just take it on board,” he said. “His knowledge of the game is insane, I just keep picking his brain wherever I can and to have him around for another year is really going to help us young boys, especially with another group of exciting young boys coming through the draft. “Then when I moved up the wing, Redden really helped me out a lot, it’s these really experienced players that have really helped me.” West Coast’s younger players are expected to return for preseason training next week, with its senior players coming back next month.