Chasing wins and playing “guilt-free” football by giving maximum effort are top of West Coast’s agenda as the Eagles seek to build on promising signs within recent losses, coach Adam Simpson says.
Despite going down to quality outfits Melbourne, Geelong and Port Adelaide in recent weeks, West Coast’s undermanned team has clearly been up for the fight.
Sustaining that across four quarters has been a challenge, although the distinct, contest-based style West Coast has adopted is holding up against some of the competition’s premier sides.
“At the moment we’re chasing effort. Guilt-free footy we’re sort of calling it. When you’re driving home you might not have won but you’ve given everything you can,” Simpson said.
“And we still want to play to win. We’re still preparing to win, we’re still challenging our team to win.
“We’ve got some KPIs we’re trying to get as well. On the back of that there’s a different style of play we’re looking at with what we see as a success indicator that we’re not getting every quarter, but when we do get it we seem to be winning quarters.
“That’s giving us small wins, but we’d really like to win a game – that’s the challenge.
“(Our fans) want to see some of our younger players coming through. They want to see us play a brand that’s exciting and stands up and is good in the contest.
“Then win, lose or draw at least you’ve had a go. It’s a tough industry. We’re here to win but there’s a way we want to go about it that hopefully down the track it pays us back when we get younger players more experience, we get some senior players back.”
A large crowd is expected at Optus Stadium on Saturday night as West Coast hosts Carlton and the Eagles have swapped one veteran for another with ex-captain Shannon Hurn returning and skipper Luke Shuey out of the side with an ankle complaint.
Xavier O'Neill also returns to the team in place of Zane Trew, who is a chance to be the sub alongside fellow emergencies Rhett Bazzo, Harry Barnett and Callum Jamieson.
Simpson refuted suggestions Shuey hurt his hamstring after returning to the field against Port Adelaide and testing out his ankle following a first-quarter tackle from Ollie Wines before he was subbed out of the match.
“It’s the ankle mainly. There’s a bit of tendonitis in that hamstring that he probably could’ve played with this week,” Simpson said.
“It’s been there for a few years and it’s been a real challenge for him. He’s done everything he possibly can. We’ve really done every possible way.
“We’re exploring the next challenge for that and what we can do. We’ve got to get the ankle right first.”
The Eagles had 26 fit players to choose from against the Blues and are lacking height in defence ahead of a significant challenge shutting down the past two Coleman medallists, Harry McKay and Charlie Curnow.
“We’ll look at sharing the load a little bit but (Josh) Rotham is going to have to do a job at stages,” Simpson said.
“Shannon is not that tall but he’ll have to help out as well. That’s going to be a real challenge for us, they’re two really good forwards.”
