It was a tough day out on the track for the travelling West Coast team, falling to a dominant Gold Coast by 73 points at Heritage Bank Stadium on Saturday.
Eagles coach Michael Prior said the Suns were too strong for the young West Coast side to stop, suffering a 15.9 (99) to 4.2 (26) defeat.
“Very disappointing for us,” Prior said.
“Obviously Gold Coast were hurting from their defeat last week and they were dominant in all areas.
“That starts in the midfield, they were clearly a lot better and stronger in there and the clearance count was out of control so on the back of that, they lived inside their forward half and scored on the back of it.”
West Coast put on a gallant display in last weekend’s RAC Derby and showed positive signs in defeat, but were unable to replicate their pressure and intensity against a solid Suns side this weekend.
“We obviously didn’t deliver on the pressure aspect like we did last week,” Prior said.
“As the game went on it dropped, especially in that third quarter.
“With a side that’s on top like that, if your pressure is falling away as well, you’re in a bit of strife and that’s exactly what happened to us today.”
West Coast’s Eleanor Hartill was withdrawn from the game after a second-quarter head knock, while Shanae Davison suffered a shoulder dislocation in a nasty incident in the final term.
“Eleanor suffered concussion so she goes into concussion protocols and will miss next week,” Prior said.
“Davo’’s shoulder popped out but was able to get it back in, so we’ll just monitor her during the week and see how she pulls up.”
Looking ahead to next weekend’s clash with Carlton, Prior said the team will be working on stoppages and team defence.
“A focus for us, reviewing that game, will obviously be our stoppage work,” Prior said.
“We were very good at that last week and this week was really disappointing.
“And then also our team defence aspect and how to win that ball back when they’ve got so much of it.”
In a positive passage of play from the Eagles, experienced West Coast defender Belinda Smith was swung into attack and kicked her first goal of her 52-game AFLW career, before setting Kellie Gibson up in the goal square for another major.
“I was pretty happy with ‘B’’s game, she provided a bit of run for us,” Prior said.
“We had Stanton (Jamie) who kicked four goals in the first half, and I asked the playing group who wants to play on her, and she put her hand straight up, so she wanted that job.
“She played on her for a quarter and a bit before we made that move of putting a few mids to halfback and pushing ‘B’ forward so yeah, she’s one that really tried today.”
