Speaking after the Eagles' 17-point win over Gold Coast on Saturday afternoon, Worsfold said he was pleased with the way his young players such as Mark Hutchings, Jamie Cripps and Adam Carter were performing.
“Jamie Cripps, he spent a bit of time on Ablett, so that was a great opportunity for him," Worsfold said.
"He hasn’t had a lot of time in the midfield yet, but we think he is developing as a player who will be able to do that.
“Hutchings has been a very, very good WAFL player for two or three years, he’s learning more than he would by just dominating in the WAFL throughout the remainder of this year.”
The Eagles have been hit hard by injuries this year, with key players missing large parts of the season, making it hard for the match committee to select a consistent team.
Worsfold said the challenge was now on the young players to make their mark.
“The job for them now is to show enough to challenge the Shueys and those guys when they want to come back into the side and these guys can say ‘we can hold our own’ and you’ve got to make the call on who the best 22 is."
The Eagles shrugged off a resilient Gold Coast side to win by three goals, with star forward Josh Kennedy bagging five goals, but Worsfold admitted there were some problems that needed to be addressed.
“A bit around stoppages, they’re pretty classy through there, and as much as we are pretty proud of the way our boys held up, we have got a lot of work to do to get Wellingham, Hutchings and Gaff gelling together through there.”
Dean Cox played one of his best games of the season, collecting 44 hit outs and 19 disposals as well as kicking a goal, and Worsfold praised the veteran ruckman for his contributions, but also acknowledged young ruckman Scott Lycett.
“For us, Coxy was good, but I am still pretty pleased with the way Scott Lycett is coming along. He took a good mark late in the game and used the ball well.”
Lycett won 15 hit outs, collected 13 possessions and kicked a goal.
