West Coast coach Adam Simpson says he won’t throw defender Jeremy McGovern up forward to fix scoring woes

West Coast coach Adam Simpson has shut down suggestions he should throw star defender Jeremy McGovern forward to help fix their scoring woes as they prepare to tackle Sydney in Mt Barker on Saturday. The Eagles are coming off a three-goal outing against the Western Bulldogs last weekend, despite matching their highly-touted opposition for inside 50s and winning the clearances at Marvel Stadium. It has been suggested the Eagles look to McGovern or fellow strong-marking defender Tom Barrass as options to go into attack to help the Eagles hit the scoreboard more frequently. Simpson said such a move wasn’t a certain fix and would keep McGovern in defence who was in “All-Australian form”. “It’s not as easy as you think just to flip someone up the other end and expect them to have immediate impact. When was the last time you saw it in an AFL game where you’re All-Australian full back goes forward?,” Simpson told Wide World of Sports on 6PR. “We think our back six is working pretty hard, our midfield group are getting enough supply and our forward half we’d like to get a bit more from when we get it in there and lock it in there. “It (a potential move) is definitely in the back of my mind, but we’ll keep working with what we’ve got at the moment and hopefully get a better result.” The Eagles will blood a debutant in rookie small forward Loch Rawlinson, who will take on the Swans in his home state of South Australia, joining Josh Rotham in the side with Tyler Brockman (concussion) and Jamaine Jones (omitted) coming out of the team. Simpson said the teenager would start as the sub and he hoped would bring pressure they’d been lacking to retain the ball inside their forward line. “The part of the issues we’ve had is the ability to keep it (the footy) in our front half,” Simpson said. “Now we’re getting a bit of supply we think we’re probably leaving a few more repeat entries on the table with forward pressure and the ability to compete and lock the ball in there. “He’ll help with that, so we’ll judge him on his pressure and his ability to tackle and bring a bit of grit to that front half. “It’s probably a little bit early for him … without expecting the world from him we just want him to come in and bring some pressure for us.”