1. Defender Evie Gooch has been both reliable and consistent across the season, and was at the top of her game against Bulldogs. The hardest working Eagle afield, Gooch finished the day with 22 disposals and five intercepts and used her experience in the midfield when needed. The 2021 recruit – formerly at Fremantle – has easily had a career-best season and continues to build on her form with every match. Bringing a selfless attitude and unwavering work rate, Gooch’s role as an informal leader on-field has helped the backline exponentially with Belinda Smith (seven intercepts) Sophie McDonald (five) and Ashton Hill (three) all contributing in a 60-point loss to the Bulldogs at Optus Stadium.

2. The backline was the hardest working in a difficult game, holding the Bulldogs to 18 scoring shots from 37 inside 50 entries. While the West Coast forwards were starved of the ball, the defenders battled it out in the Bulldogs’ forward 50 and impressed with their work rate and steadfast efforts in the match.

3. Across the field, the Eagles seemed to bring a more steady performance than the 74-point loss to Brisbane the week prior. Winning the day in tackles (58 to 45) and one percenters (35 to 20) the defensive efforts never failed, but marks (39 to 78) and inside 50s (17 to 37) let the group down in the round nine clash at Optus Stadium.

4. The Eagles were also beaten around the contest, finishing the match with 85 contested possessions to the Bulldogs’ 112. While effort and work rate is the starting point for any successful team, winning the contest is one of the most crucial components tangibly. West Coast are sitting second-last in average contested possessions (91.1) in the competition and had 26 hard ball gets to the Bulldogs’ 40 while sitting last in the competition on average (21.7).

5. There are positive takeaways from the match with defender Beth Schilling the final debutant from five in the 2021 draft class. Schilling showed some good signs and finished the day with seven disposals, three tackles and four intercepts. She was joined by West Coast’s first pick in Charlie Thomas (nine disposals, three intercepts) and Sarah Lakay (nine hitouts) with the Eagles’ younger contingent continuing to improve across every match this season.