West Coast midfielder Elliot Yeo said there were positive takeaways from Sunday’s loss to Greater Western Sydney – including the Eagles narrowly winning the second half – but admits the 52-point defeat was disappointing to watch.

After the Giants managed to boot 14 goals in the first two stanazas, Adam Simpson’s men rose to the challenge and managed to kick eight of their own, thanks in part to a three-goal effort from youngster Isiah Winder.

But Yeo said West Coast must continue to work on their defensive set up behind the ball, with eight of the Giants’ 21 goals rebounded from the Eagles’ forward half.

“They really jumped us,” Yeo told 96FM.

“At the start of every game you want to go out and assert your ascendency and they obviously did that and slammed on a few goals.

“You don’t want to put yourself in that position because then you’re playing catch up.

“After half time if the scores were level, we would’ve won the game, which is surprising, and also it’s a good sign we’re progressing.

“There’s positive signs and they’re the things you need to look at, we still need to review it and look at how teams score so heavily against us.”

Josh Kennedy also concedes West Coast’s sixth consecutive loss was tough to swallow but said the effort was there.

“I think the boys are trying, I think every single player out there is definitely trying,” Kennedy told 6PR.

“Our defence probably wasn’t up to scratch, there’s a few compliance things around stoppage and team defence that didn’t happen.

“GWS were able to move the footy forward, especially from our forward 50 all the way to score a goal, which was quite disappointing to watch.

“But the boys did adjust after half time and put up a bit more of a fight, and I think the last half basically for us, came down to fundamentals, just missing kicks and missing handballs.

“In the overall scheme of things, if you’re going to be doing that, at least there’s some effort, and compliance to game plan, you’d be pretty happy at the moment.”

The Eagles now hope to secure their second victory of the season against an in-form Western Bulldogs at Optus Stadium on Saturday night.