West Coast premiership hero Will Schofield has blasted the Eagles' decision to part ways with Warren Kofoed, saying the long-time strength and conditioning manager shouldn't be the fall guy for the club's woes.
The Eagles announced on Monday night that Kofoed, who has been at the club for 15 years, will step down from his position at the end of the year "to pursue other opportunities".
It comes amidst a crippling injury run that has heavily contributed to West Coast winning just three of their past 40 matches.
The Eagles hit rock bottom last Saturday when they lost to Sydney by 171 points.
Calls are growing for coach Adam Simpson and chief executive Trevor Nisbett to be sacked, and Schofield was left stunned when the news came out of Kofoed's impending departure.
"What a remarkable time to release this," Schofield tweeted.
"I'm sorry, but he ain't and shouldn't be the fall guy for this.
"In my 10 years under Warren Kofoed, myself nor teammates were not ravaged by injuries."
The news of Kofoed's departure came on yet another messy day of damage control for the Eagles after dual premiership player Chris Waterman hit out at the club for their treatment of his son Jake.
Jake Waterman's AFL career is in doubt after being diagnosed with a serious medical condition that resulted in him being hospitalised for more than a week earlier this month.
Chris Waterman, who won the 1992 and 1994 flags with West Coast, revealed his son is battling ulcerative colitis - an inflammatory bowel disease that is an autoimmune condition.
"There's that small percentage, according to the doctors, that it (never playing again) could possibly happen," Chris Waterman told SEN.
"They (the doctors) want to get him back to normal health. They think that's where it's going to head.
"Whether he lives on medication for the rest of his life or not is still unsure.
"It may or may not be incurable, and the final stage is potentially surgery. We're hoping we don't get to that.
"We're hoping the infusions will settle the inflammation down. Maybe he'll just have to do infusions for a few more years until it gets to normal."
Jake Waterman was sent home to Perth on the morning of West Coast's 122-point loss to Adelaide in Adelaide on June 10, before checking into hospital two days later.
His dad felt the club should have checked on his son more regularly once he fell ill.
"They've got to do what they can do and act on it and make sure they keep their eye on him if they want him on the list," Waterman said.
"He's a 25-year-old coming out of contract, so you'd be putting some time into him, I would have thought."
West Coast's general manager of football Gavin Bell released a video on Monday night stating that various people at the club, including himself, regularly checked in on Waterman once he was sent home from Adelaide.
