West Coast coach Adam Simpson admits there are no quick fixes for the injury-hit Eagles’ situation after the team suffered their biggest defeat at Optus Stadium against Richmond.
The Eagles have been smashed over the past three weeks capped off by Friday night's 109-point shellacking from Richmond at Optus Stadium, their worst-ever loss at the venue breaking the record set by Sydney a fortnight ago.
The result leaves the 2018 premiers sitting last on the 2022 ladder with a 1-6 record and a percentage of 55.3 per cent.
West Coast's 2022 campaign has been severely disrupted by injuries to key players while more than half of its squad has entered health and safety protocols during the season but that has coincided with the closure of the club’s premiership window, having missed the finals in 2021 after finishing sixth and seventh in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
"We're on a path, there's going to be a little bit of pain," Simpson said.
"We're disappointed for our fans and members who came and watched us tonight.
"We have obviously deviated a fair bit from three years ago. No one wants to be in the situation that we're in right now but we are. This hasn’t been just tonight. It's been here for most of the year. Regardless of what's happened we are in a period of transition, no doubt."
West Coast is the only AFL club who hasn’t had a top 10 draft pick in the past decade, and the club didn’t field one player under 21 on Friday night.
The Eagles have been forced to use 37 players from their squad this year plus five top-up players, meaning youngsters have been exposed, but Simpson explained they still needed to play veterans like Josh Kennedy – who was a lone hand up forward with four goals - and Shannon Hurn.
"We still need leadership," Simpson said.
"We still need ‘JK’ at the moment, we still need Shannon Hurn.
"There's plenty of room for our kids at the moment with what we've got. See what we can do to assess our list in the next 15 weeks. We'll get a pretty clear picture of where we're at by the end of the year."
Simpson admitted there were no quick fixes for the Eagles.
"We're clearly not at the level at the moment," Simpson said.
"There are so many areas to fix. It's going to take time, unfortunately tonight we butchered the ball. We've got a lot of work to do."
It doesn’t get any easier for the struggling Eagles, who take on the Brisbane Lions away next round, followed by reigning premiers Melbourne at Optus Stadium.
Simpson was hopeful Tom Barrass, who was a late withdrawal due to a hamstring injury, and Willie Rioli, who was subbed out at half-time, had only suffered corks and could be available to face the Lions.
The Eagles coach was less bullish about midfielder Elliot Yeo who missed the game with concussion.
