Senior coach Michael Prior said the West Coast Eagles’ 74-point loss to Brisbane was ‘really disappointing’ but the team are going to dig deep to bring an improved performance against the Western Bulldogs next Saturday.
West Coast will look at bringing a four-quarter effort which has been an ongoing problem this season, as well as focussing on halting the momentum that handed Brisbane their commanding win.
After half time the team managed to kick four goals, but must bring that performance in all four stanzas and win their first quarters, according to Prior.
“We can try and do a number of things around our ball movement, our team defence and our stoppage structure,” Prior said.
“But at the end of the day if the effort piece isn’t there we can’t do anything and nothing is going to work for us.
“So I really pushed that at half time and they showed a little bit of fight in the third quarter, but five minutes doesn’t get it done so we need to be better.
“Really difficult one, I think we’ve worked really hard on our team defence stuff and really pushed that but today it was non-existent.
“So we need to review that really hard, look at where we can improve in that area and stop the run.
“We tried a few things, putting a few girls behind the ball, but Brisbane were still able to score so we just need to be better than what we were today clearly.
“I’m sure if they come with the right attitude then we can compete a lot better than we did today.”
Prior also commended the leadership from Emma Swanson, with the skipper again earning best afield honours from the coach.
Swanson finished the day with 22 disposals, six clearances and 10 contested possessions, all while playing with a fractured finger.
“Hats off to ‘Swanny’ determined right from the get go to play,” Prior said.
“She could easily have missed the next three games, get her finger right but she wants to lead the team and I thought she did that today.
“If you had to pick your best player at half-time it was ‘Swanny’ again, I can’t speak highly enough of her and what she’s done for our group both on and off the field.
“The way she’s led and her performances have been second to none, so I tip my lid to her.”