Adam Simpson concedes the first half of Sunday’s loss to Greater Western Sydney was "not good enough", but the West Coast coach saw some positives, especially in the form of fledgling duo Isiah Winder and Callum Jamieson.
The Eagles were blown away by the more efficient hosts in a 14-goal-to-five opening, but rallied after being challenged by the coach at the long break and narrowly won the second half.
Ultimately, a 52-point loss – West Coast’s sixth defeat in a row - was disappointing and Simpson lamented an inability to stop the Giants rebounding from their forward line.
“The start wasn’t great. Beaten up around the ball, around the contest and they were really efficient in the front half, in particular the first quarter,” Simpson said post-match.
“In the second quarter we got some supply, which we haven’t had for a fair few weeks, and our inability to keep it in our front half was not good enough.
“I think they would’ve kicked at least eight goals from our forward half, which is a reflection of how you defend behind your ball movement.
“The second quarter, in particular, they must have kicked six goals from our front half, so that’s a new problem.
“But we settled a little bit at half-time, went back and gave a bit more effort in the second half, and I think we won the second half.
“But the first and second quarters were not good enough.”
Simpson didn’t excuse the inconsistent effort across four quarters, despite the undermanned Eagles again barely having enough fit and available players to field a team due to injuries and COVID impacts.
“It’s a challenge, but it’s one we’re up for. It’s not going to be a quick fix. We’ve tried to introduce and stabliise some things off-field and around the club, and how we want to develop and improve all of our players,” Simpson said.
“We’re not healthy at the moment – we’ve got 23 players available – but that doesn’t excuse effort.
“What we’re looking for is four quarters of effort, and we didn’t get that today, but it’s a slow burn.
“We’re not going to turn the corner tomorrow. We’ve got to get healthy, we’ve got to get fit and we’ve got to get more consistent.”
Winder stood tall with a team-high three goals in his best performance of an embryonic five-game career, while Jamieson was highly-impressive again in the ruck with 13 disposals and 12 hit-outs.
“We can take some little wins out of today. ‘Izzy’ kicking three, really good for him. He’s probably played four or five games – a couple as a sub – and Jamieson … looks good, exciting,” Simpson said.
“Pleasantly impressed with his ability to adapt to the contest. He’s still probably got some kilos to put on but he competes, and that’s what we admire. That’s what we like, so we’ll keep growing that.”
Simpson also hosed down concerns about skipper Luke Shuey, who was subbed out in the dying minutes in his comeback from another hamstring complaint.
“It’s not a hamstring. It’s back-related. The message came that his back was getting really tight. Long flight, all that sort of stuff. It’s nothing to do with hamstring, put it that way,” Simpson said.
“He’s missed a bit of footy, but I thought you really noticed him when he was around the ball, so he’ll only get better.”
