West Coast needs to remain focused on the little wins and development to fight through a difficult season, coach Adam Simpson says.
The Eagles were outclassed by the Western Bulldogs to the tune of 101 points on Saturday night at Optus Stadium, their seventh-straight loss, amid a campaign where challenges just keep coming.
Simpson only had about 24 or 25 players to pick from in round 11, an improvement on recent weeks, but it is going to take time to turn things around and the most important thing is for the club to remain united.
“You need small wins, you need to focus on development, we need to get healthy and fit and you need to stick to our process,” Simpson said post-match.
“We can’t deviate. If you deviate every week you won’t get anything out of these next 10 weeks.
“We’ve got to learn the hard way, unfortunately. If we can turn a half into three quarters, and three quarters into a game and be competitive as we can, then that’s the growth we’ll get.
“We’ll get some opportunity into our young players. We’ll get some fitness and game running into our senior players and then hopefully when the time’s right we can be more competitive.
“We’re not happy, absolutely. But we can’t keep changing every week what we do – and we won’t.
“We’ve just got to stick fat.”
The Eagles showed some pluck in the first half and were only 32 points down at half-time, thanks to Tim Kelly’s dominant midfield showing and Jack Darling’s return to form in attack.
Kelly finished with 38 disposals, 11 clearances and a goal, while Darling booted a team-high four majors and took eight marks.
“There was some individuals who stood up for us tonight as best they could. Darling, Kelly, I thought Tom Barrass had a really good match-up with (Aaron Naughton),” Simpson said.
“Darling has been working really hard to get back to his full presence in the front half, and with limited supply – 35 or 36 inside 50s – he looked a real threat.
“We just couldn’t get it in there.”
Compounding West Coast’s issues was a back problem for star defender Jeremy McGovern, who was subbed out before half-time, while skipper Luke Shuey played through sore ribs.
“Losing ‘Gov’ was a big loss for us. A bit of nerve damage. I don’t know how bad but it came down through his legs so he couldn’t play,” Simpson said.
“He’s had it before, so hopefully it’s not too bad.”
On a brighter note, gun midfielders Elliot Yeo and Dom Sheed got through their WAFL comebacks unscathed earlier on Saturday as they build towards AFL returns.
