The West Coast Eagles almost mounted a terrific comeback at GMHBA Stadium on Friday night, with Aimee Schmidt kicking a goal in the final 90 seconds of the match to put West Coast in the lead by three points.

But, although they were pipped at the post by Geelong, senior coach Michael Prior said there were still positive signs to take away from the club’s 19^th match in the AFLW competition.

Namely, the group’s efficiency inside 50 (53%) which was their best of the season, with 10 scoring shots from 19 entries.

“We got more scoring opportunities tonight, which we’ve been working on obviously with our entries and competitiveness,” Prior said.

“So it was good to see that come to fruition. We haven’t had that in the first three games, so slowly, but surely we’ll get there, it will just take a little bit of time.”

Prior was also impressed by West Coast’s younger players, including midfielders Bella Lewis (17 disposals, seven tackles), Charlie Thomas (13, one) Mikayla Bowen (11, six, one goal) and Sarah Lakay (six, 21 hit-outs).

“I think Sarah in the ruck was really impressive, it’s her second game so she’s done well,” Prior said.

“’Bows’ on the wing, we know what we’re going to get from her, pretty much week in, week out.

“Charlie Thomas had her best game for the season for us, she showed a lot pre-season and hasn’t really lived up to that in the first two rounds, but I thought tonight she was pretty good for us.”

The senior coach was also proud of the girls’ work rate and effort – and despite a heartbreaking loss in the final moments of the game – is confident the group are growing and maturing with every match played in the competition.

“I thought we fought it out, obviously fought it out until the end, but started slow, which was disappointing,” Prior said.

“We spoke about the start and how important it was down here, but to our credit, we fought the game out, we were one down for the whole game.

“We lost Aish McCarthy early, which really hurts with your rotation, so from that end I was really proud of the girls and what they’ve been through over the last two weeks.

“To be right in the game, come that last minute, was a really good effort by them.”

West Coast now look towards their fifth match of the season against St Kilda, which will be played in three days’ time at Trevor Barker Beach Oval.

This will be the final match in the Eagles’ Melbourne hub, with Prior saying the team must get recovery right this weekend in order to bounce back and clash with another side on Tuesday.

“Purely going to be recovery for our girls, we won’t train, we’ll go for a walk, maybe on the Monday before the Tuesday game,” Prior said.

“But, we’ll recover in the next two days and up against St Kilda which is a game we’re looking to win.”