Despite the result not going in West Coast’s favour, the Eagles showed improvements around the ground in the 2.9 (21) to 5.4 (34) loss to Sydney at Henson Park on Sunday.

Eagles coach Michael Prior said converting in front of goal was the difference in the game.

“We asked for a bit of increased pressure in that third quarter,” Prior said.

“It started off really well, dropped away a little bit in the second quarter but found it again in the third.

“So we had our chances, we’ve just got to work on connection going inside our forward 50 and turning those 9 points into a few goals.

“I think we ended up having more scoring shots than they did, but they converted and we didn’t, so that was the difference in the game.”

Prior said the team has been working on giving the forwards a better chance inside 50.

“You’re always going to have more inside 50s on this ground, just given the size of it,” Prior said.

“It’s something that we’re working really hard on, to try and get it in there more often.

“We’re really low in that area and we want to give our forwards a chance because we think we can score when we get in there, we’ve just got to score between the big posts and not the little ones.”

With six weeks remaining in the 2023 season, Prior said if the team can maintain this level of effort, games will start going in the Eagles’ favour.

“What we saw today was an increase in our effort and intensity around the footy,” Prior said.

“I think that‘s going to take any side a long way, so if we keep delivering on that, I just said to the girls that I can now hold you to account at that level.

“I thought that was a real uplift for us, and if we maintain that, games will start going our way, so that was a pleasing aspect from today.”

Eagle’s captain Emma Swanson impressed with a game-high 22 disposals, four marks, three tackles and one incredible goal, and Prior said she played her role well.

“I thought ‘Swanny’ was outstanding today,” Prior said.

“She had a bit of a job to play on Chloe Molloy, and Molloy hit the scoreboard a couple of times and had 13 (disposals) for the day so, I thought she did an outstanding job and really led for our side today.”

The Eagles face Port Adelaide on Friday night at Mineral Resources Park, and Prior said the team will be ready despite the short turnaround.

“We’ve got a really short turnaround, we’re in Sydney, we play Friday night back in Perth so we’ll deal with that,” Prior said.

“We won’t train much during the week and we’ll freshen up and get ready to go.”