Eardley embracing second role change at SharksSaturday, August 31, 2024 - 8:05 AM - by Chris Pike

BEING ahead of the wheel is what makes any great coach and now for the second time, Bill Monaghan has changed Cam Eardley’s role with East Fremantle unexpectedly to great effect and the 182-game veteran is enjoying the new lease on life up forward.

Sometimes making a move while a player is still at his best in the position he is playing so well can be a master stroke, and that has now happened for a second time by Monaghan with the Sharks for Eardley.

After coming back from his time in the AFL with Geelong in 2014, Eardley cemented himself as one of the best and most consistent midfielders in the WAFL and was still at the peak of his powers on the ball early in the 2021 season.

However, Monaghan wanted to make a move and Eardley was moved into the East Fremantle back-line. The rest is history as he became one of the best intercept marking defenders and creative set up players out of the back-line in the competition.

That saw Eardley be a premiership winning vice-captain in that role last year with the Sharks and again for most of 2024 after missing the first month he continued to excel as part of the East Fremantle defensive unit.

Once again though, Monaghan threw a curve ball the way of Eardley and moved him forward going back a month in what proved a crucial derby win against South Fremantle where he kicked four goals from his nine shots in Round 18.

Eardley has now kicked 11 goals in the last four games of the season while having 19 shots. It’s worked tremendously well as he and the Sharks begin another finals campaign this Sunday afternoon against Claremont in the elimination final at Revo Fitness Stadium.

Surprise move works a treat again

Just like when Eardley went into his defensive role back in 2021 having spent his life as a midfielder up to that point, nobody was as surprised as him when Monaghan informed him that he would be moving forward a month ago.

Initially it was because Cody Leggett was suspended for that derby against the Bulldogs that ended up being crucial for South Fremantle missing finals narrowly and East Fremantle making it.

However, once Eardley showed he could create himself nine shots on goal in a game and it became a natural to keep him forward and the 182-game veteran is enjoying the change.

"I was probably as surprised as everybody else about it and we were probably missing a couple of personnel for that week, and I don’t know if the coaches just wanted a new look or if it was for team balance or whatever," Eardley said.

"But it sort of has seemed to work and they have been good in terms of just letting me play with some freedom in the forward-line.

"Our forward-line is always dangerous so it's nice to be a part of that and it's nice to not necessarily have to defend the entire game, and be on the other side of it. So I'm enjoying it."

Learning a total new craft

Having become such a master playing behind the ball where Eardley's ability to show courage by putting his body on the line and use his ability to read the play and take intercept marks down back, playing forward is a completely new craft.

It's something that just a month into the role is feeling new to him and is a work in progress, but he is enjoying the chance to try and learn something new as a 31-year-old 182 games into his WAFL career.

"I'm still getting used to not being behind the ball where I can read the footy coming in, and instead having to be the one to kind of direct where it's going," Eardley said.

"I probably am still running to stupid spots at times, but I think the more I play there the better I'm starting to understand the role.

"I always enjoyed playing behind the ball where I was able to read where it was going, but the coaches and the other boys in the forward-line have been great. They've sort of given me full license to jump at the ball if it's there, and try to use one of my strengths to try and help the team."

Pride in Sharks overcoming plenty

For a second straight season East Fremantle hasn’t been able to play or train on its home ground at East Fremantle Oval, and Eardley continues to be proud in the way his teammates and coaching staff don't let that hinder them.

The turmoil it can cause at times and the disruption of it is anything but easy, but at the same time Eardley feels it has a positive impact.

That's in the form of pulling the players and teammates together even more just to focus on what they can control and that's playing and training to the best of their ability.

"I don’t think people probably outside the four walls of East Freo really realise how turbulent our season has been in terms of training venues and even the days we're going to be playing," Eardley said.

"There's been times we've been waiting until mid-week to find out what day or where we're playing that weekend. That's nothing to do with the club's fault, that's just how it's worked out and there was that element of that last year too to prepare us a little bit.

"I think we've trained at 12 different grounds this year and haven’t played a home game, and now we play a home final at Claremont against Claremont.

"That's the good thing about the group and coaching staff, though, to be able to ignore all that and even use it as a little bit of more motivation to spur us on."

Being targeted as reigning premiers

After experiencing a premiership for the first time in 2023, Eardley has noticed that there is a significant target on East Fremantle's back as the reigning premiers in 2024.

He understands that fully because he himself would naturally have that feeling of that extra spur to try and beat the premiers of the previous season any time you play them, but he does feel like it took the Sharks a little bit of time this season to learn how to deal with that.

"I think that might have been one of the factors for us having a bit of a slow start early days where we probably weren’t ready for teams who found a little bit more to play against us," Eardley said.

"That was our story last year where teams probably weren’t giving us much of a chance and that might have willed us on that little bit more.

"Then that has probably flipped this year and we probably struggled with that or took a while to recognise that teams were that little bit motivated to try and knock off the reigning premiers.

"We hadn’t dealt with that before so it probably just took a little while and I've been on both sides now, and it's always a nice challenge to test yourselves against the reigning premiers."

Earning another finals chance

Eardley was part of an East Fremantle team that made a preliminary final in 2014 in his first season back in Western Australia, but after that it was a long wait to play finals again.

The Sharks didn’t play finals again until 2022 so for Eardley that went from his 22nd game in the 2014 preliminary final until his 146th appearance in the qualifying final of 2022.

There was that preliminary final appearance of 2022 where the Sharks learned plenty from on the way to winning that breakthrough premiership in 2023.

There have been plenty of obstacles to again overcome in 2024 including starting the season with minus four points and now not having a home base to train or play at. But the Sharks have overcome that to qualify in fourth position with a 12-6 record.

Now East Fremantle will have to play an away elimination final this Sunday against Claremont at Revo Fitness Stadium despite earning home ground advantage, but it's also a ground the Sharks have won at three times this season by an average of 60 points.

"I think it was a similar story last year where we were 4-4 and it just took a little bit of a while before it started to click," Eardley said.

"That was a little bit to do with personnel and a few boys had interrupted pre-seasons and what not, but it's all about trying to find form at the right time.

"We had won five in-a-row before that East Perth game so we've been playing some good footy going into the finals. We're supremely confident that we are playing good enough footy to go all the way even though we have to do it the hard way now obviously and come from fourth."