West Coast have been implored to find more avenues to goal before next season to become less predictable as their reliance on dual spearheads Jake Waterman and Jobe Shanahan is exposed.

Premiership forward Mark LeCras says if the Eagles continue to “only have eyes” for their spearhead and his emerging protege in 2027, they will become too predictable for opposition defenders.

In Champion Data statistics obtained by The West Australian, Waterman is the most targeted forward in the AFL with the Eagles looking for him with 34.4 per cent of their entries inside 50, ahead of Port Adelaide’s Mitch Georgiades (31.9 per cent) and Gold Coast’s Ben King (31.1 per cent).

Waterman (46 goals) and second-year forward Shanahan (29) have kicked 35 per cent of the Eagles’ 213 goals leaded into the round, with their next best forward being pre-season signing Milan Murdock who has booted 15 majors in 18 games.

Only six Eagles have kicked 10 or more goals with Harley Reid (14 goals), first-year midfielder Willem Duursma (14) and veteran Elliot Yeo (13) the only other regular contributors on the scoreboard.

It has laid bare a stark heavy reliance on the forward duo, with Shanahan targeted with 20 per cent of the Eagles’ entries — the 17th most in the AFL —, while the pair are looked for 54.4 per cent of the time, which is the highest of any pair of players in the AFL.

2018 premiership hero LeCras said the Eagles needed more options in attack if they wanted to continue to improve in 2027.

“They need more forward line depth. Whether it’s a young guy who can step up or someone who they’ve already got, if they only have eyes for Jake Waterman or Jobe Shanahan who stepping up has given them another layer but if it’s one-dimensional going inside 50 it’s easy for opposition sides to plan against,” he said.

“And it becomes easier to top. If they can get some mid-sized forwards and small forwards stepping up and kicking goals it’s going to make them much more damaging.

“If you have the opposition who are planning against it and are zoning off players who they know aren’t going to get the ball kicked to them inside 50, they can cut across and make it a two against one quite easily, the way sides play.

“In terms of having an even spread of targets going inside 50 and not being so one-dimensional it makes it much harder to plan against. If you can have some guys standing up and kicking goals, then it’s going to make the more unpredictable. The more forward depth the better, the more even spread of goalkickers the better.”

West Coast coach Andrew McQualter conceded if they were able to spread the responsibility more it would help their scoring, but backed the development of several young players.

“Last week Cooper (Duff-Tytler) had three marks inside 50 and three shots on goal, Jack Williams has kicked two (goals) pretty consistently over the last month,” he said.

“Jake obviously attracts the ball so much because he works so hard and his presence and Jobe is becoming a real force.

“We want to be able to spread the load through those guys as much as we can through those guys. If we can isolate a certain matc-up that becomes a win for us when you’re playing a little bit of a taller forward line which we’ve been doing.

“And these guys are still working their way of playing together ... the more these guys play together, understand their patterns, understand how each other work, we think they’re going to become serious threat over the next few years.”

One position in particular the Eagles have struggled to find a consistent performer has been in the small forward role.

The loss of Liam Ryan to St Kilda last year has been compounded by the mid-season of retirement of champion Jamie Cripps.

McQualter has cycled several players through the role in 2026 including former defender Tom Cole (eight goals in 15 games), Malakai Champion (four in eight), Harvey Johnston (four in eight), Matt Owies (two in three) and Jack Hutchinson (three in six) without finding a real threat.

Second-year Eagle Tom Gross showed promise in the loss to Collingwood on Sunday with the highest-rated game of his career, kicking two goals from 14 touches, having been forced to move out of the midfield to break into the AFL side.

It didn’t come as a surprise though, with Gross averaging 19 disposals and kicking 17 goals in 14 WAFL games this year.

McQualter said the 19-year-old had shown signs that he could become a dangerous forward with continued development.

“I was pleased for Grossy. His WAFL form showed up in the AFL which is terrific,” he said.

“He’s probably spent more of his junior career as a midfielder and he actually played a bit deeper forward but the more Grossy builds up his tank over the next few years of pre-seasons and work, he’s got great class. He helps our team score, he’s touch (so) he can definitely evolve and be a key pillar in that role.

“It’s the challenge of all players the understanding of your stats sheet will look different compared mid to forward, but it’s our job internally to value the things we need to value and highlight the roles and what they’re doing to help the team perform and win.”