Following the departure of Michael Prior earlier in the week, newly appointed caretaker coach Rohan McHugh is embracing the opportunity to take over the helm for the final two games of the season.

McHugh, the team’s former backline coach, said he’s grateful to be able to step up and take the lead ahead of Saturday’s clash with the Western Bulldogs at Mineral Resources Park.

“It means a lot, it’s pretty surreal and I’m just super grateful,” McHugh said.

“For a little boy who grew up in country Victoria in an 800-person town, now working for the West Coast Eagles who I loved as a kid, it seems a bit surreal.

“It’s a two-week thing but I’m just pumped and super grateful to be in the position.”

With just two rounds remaining in the 2023 season, McHugh said he just wants the players to focus on bringing out their strengths.  

“For the players, just having fun and going back to playing footy,” McHugh said.

“Our education session on Wednesday was based purely around their strengths, and that’s my job for the next two weeks, to help them bring their strengths.

“They know what they are, and I think we’ve probably forgotten what they are a little bit when you start losing, but that’s been our focus this week, and for the next two weeks its just helping them bring that out.”

West Coast captain Emma Swanson said McHugh has been embraced by the playing group since stepping into his new role.

“It’s hard to say a bad thing about him, especially when you hear him talk with that much passion,” Swanson said.

“‘Ro’ has been with us now for the last two seasons, and his background has enabled him to build relationships with the players, and that’s what’s really stood out.

“He’s taken our backline for the last couple of years and the girls can’t say a bad word about him.

“He’s a lot of fun, he brings the energy and I’m really looking forward to what he can do with us over the next two weeks.”

The Eagles produced a remarkable upset win last weekend against the fifth-placed Bombers at Windy Hill, and McHugh said he was impressed with how well the group banded together to pull off the incredible victory.

“In my first review on Wednesday, we spoke about how mature and intelligent that win was,” McHugh said.

“That’s probably not be something we’ve associated with the group as the youngest list in the comp, but we were super proud of how intelligent and mature they were, adapted to the conditions, and just really grounded it out.

“There was some real grit in the last five minutes of that game in particular, 104 tackles probably tells the story, equal AFLW record, and we’ll be after a number similar to that this weekend.”

West Coast take on the winless Bulldogs on Saturday, but Swanson said her team won’t be underestimating the hungry visitors.

“They’re a really strong side,” Swanson said.

“We haven’t had too much of a look at them yet, we’ll look at them today at training, but I know watching them over that past couple of weeks, they’re pretty hungry for a win.

“No team ever wants to go a whole season without a win so they’re going to come out pretty hungry and it’s going to take our best footy as well to hopefully get the win.”